I think the person or persons that wrote this article are BR (bad reporters) I mean they can write an article that they know will reach thousands of people and they take no concern in publishing misinformation. YES they were informative enough to say that they are healthier than cigarettes, but they also wrote complete speculation. I mean you can't believe everything you read on the internet but someone writing on behalf of one of the most popular afternoon talk shows in the United States should be more conscious of what they write.
Let me pick this article apart.
1. The heat turns the liquid into vapor, which the user inhales instead of smoke. That's why they call it "vaping" not "smoking." If that sounds like B.S., it is because it is-it's bad science.
A. Actually, thats not so much bad science as it is bad context. The definition of vapor actually INCLUDES smoke. Smoke is considered a vapor officially by the marriam webster dictionary. The difference in our vapor and smoke being that tobacco SMOKE contains many solids, including carbon molecules that create the physical smoke smokers inhaled and exhaled. It is those combusted carbon molecules that the 500+ chemicals in and added to the tobacco leaves and cigarette paper that we inhaled as smokers. In nicotine vapor from electronic cigarettes and personal nicotine vaporizers, the vapor is created by vaporizing (not combusting) a substance with a high viscocity and a high vapor output. The Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine in our e-cigarettes carries the nicotine to our mouths where it is absorbed orally into the bloodstream.
2. The answer is: Yes…and we don't know. They are safer, but that doesn't mean they're safe. We just don't know if they should be considered safe for anyone, but probably not, and certainly not the way they are sold.
A. "But Probably Not?" Really? This is sad to see. This is opinion inserted into an article on behalf of a popular celebrity doctor. The writer is saying Are E-cigs safer than smoking? Probably not. Thats a misinformed opinion that is so very sad to see. I hope the writer of this article can learn from this mistake.
3. They still contain addictive nicotine and potential carcinogens (that is, cancer-causing agents), and they impede lung function
A. "Still Contain Addictive Nicotine" Well, this is true. Although we can choose to step down our nicotine levels. Smokers cannot. And our nicotine has no chemical alterations that turn it into freebase nicotine. That is, nicotine that can be absorbed through the lungs. Our nicotine is in a form more readily absorbed through our mouths than our lungs. Vapers don't even have to inhale. Smokers do. So, our nicotine is absorbed much more slowly. For that reason, we're getting much less nicotine as soon as we make the switch to vaping as compared to the amount we got smoking. & because our nicotine is absorbed more slowly and it isn't freebase nicotine, its also reaches the brain slower, which makes it a bit less efficient in giving us that relaxation or rush. This is why our e-cigs & PVs are great for weaning us off of cigarettes using the taper method. & this is why we don't really get the buzz that cigarettes once gave us. At least not as easily as with a cigarette buzz.
B. "Potential Carcinogens" The only carcinogens that we've found in vaping are carcinogens that we all come into contact with on a daily basis. MOST of the "carcinogens" that studies have found in e-cig atomizers are chemicals that our bodies produce naturally. We're talking alcohols, we're talking TINY, TINY amounts of substances that are relatively safe in small quantities. & each and every substance that has been found in e-cig atomizers in studies, has been found in LARGER QUANTITIES in tobacco smoke. In addition to this, from what I've read, MOST of these cancer causing things that have been found in our atomizers, are ALREADY in each & every one of us. OUR BODIES MAKE a lot of the substances that were found! Look THIS up YOURSELVES! PLEASE! I don't want to be inaccurate. I'm reporting on what I've actually read & seen. Google this if you don't believe me.
C. They do not IMPEDE LUNG FUNCTION in EVERY individual. They have the potential to SLIGHTLY constrict the upper respiratory system. From what I've read over the internet on respected websites, & right here on ECF, this isn't the case for a lot or MOST of us!!! The FACT OF THIS is that e-cigs and vaporizers do NOT destroy our lungs like cigarettes do. The PG/VG simply has the possibility to irritate our upper respiratory system.
4. And the fastest growing group of users is teenagers. Makes you think they are just selling e-cigs to addict teenagers so they will graduate to full fledged cigs. Maybe that's why e-cig companies have been bought by Big Tobacco.
A. The fastest growing group of binge drinkers has been teenagers for how many years now? The fastest growing group of fatal car accident causers has been teenagers. The fastest growing group of drug users... Teenagers. Would we rather our teenagers be smoking? People are going to do what they can to keep withdrawal away. Your not going to stop 25% of the population of the US from using nicotine. We nicotine users can have full, meaningful lives. Nicotine can cause changes in our brains that occurre over time from the addition of nicotine into our bodies. These changes can sometimes be permanent and therefore, depending on how long one has been using nicotine, if you quit using it, you may never truly feel yourself. The same thing can happen to people whom quit sugar, pain medication, some street drugs, alcohol, anxiety medication, or caffeine. It is called a dependance. Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, or PAWS = The depression & change in mental status that can last months, years, or forever, after quitting an addictive, mood altering substance. So if we quit cold turkey, we can have trouble with our careers, with raising our children, and our overall happiness. So please don't tell us to "Suck it up and quit" because it isn't always that simple. Just because teenagers are picking up e-cigarettes doesn't mean they shouldn't be available to those that genuinely NEED nicotine. Not only do we NEED nicotine--- Nicotine is our pleasure. Nicotine is our relaxation and our release. We like our flavors and we are ADULTS. Maybe the government should try regulating HOW we get our hands on tobacco products. Require two forms of ID. Raise the federal smoking age to 20. Mandate a course in all public high schools that shows what SMOKING does to the body. Invest some money in UNBIASED E-CIG/PV RESEARCH! How about the government take an interest in the health of the people rather than banning anything new, hm?
C. E-cig companies are being bought by tobacco companies because tobacco companies KNOW that smoking is being phased out and VAPING is gaining in popularity as a SAFER alternative to nicotine from tobacco leaf combustion. Why would a tobacco companies agenda be to purchase a company on the basis that the company has a product that will appeal to teenagers? The Big Tobacco companies main agenda is to make a profit. PROFIT! If teens will vape, so be it. Teens will do whatever they want. Thats our CULTURE. You don't shut down the US free market because of our unruly teen culture. This question is to anyone that sees adulthood as a number: Is it okay for an 18 year old to smoke just because they have been on the earth 18 years? Is it okay for a 55 year old man to have sex with an 18 year old girl on her birthday just because shes now the legal age to make that decision on her own? Why are we being so beurocratic? Its inhumane. How about we invest in cultivating a better informed culture.
5. Proponents of e-cigs counter that they reduce the harm of smoking by acting as a substitute. Again, that seems like B.S. (bad science) to us.
A. Again, read what I posted again. What is BS ("bad science") about a safer alternative or substitute to a drug delivery system that is harmful to the human body? People that have been smoking cigarettes or using tobacco for 5-10 years have developed a dependance. People that have allowed themselves to become dependent of an external substance to feel baseline normal need that substance. You either slowly taper off of the substance slowly and hope that you do not get Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome symptoms, or you quit cold turkey, have severe physical and mental withdrawal, and hope that you won't get PAWS. I mean do the people that are lobbying against e-cigarettes and vaporizers even understand the nature of nicotine addiction? Its pathetic that people might actually stand up and attack something that they haven't lived through... and that they don't even FULLY understand themselves.
6. The popularity of the electronic alternative has grown over the past several years, but there is virtually no research into any of its health effects.
THIS IS BAD SCIENCE. THIS is BAD REPORTING. There ARE most certainly many documented studies that suggest and/or PROVE that e-cigarettes ARE safer than smoking tobacco leaf paper rolled cigarettes. I'm sorry but this one statement is disingenuous to the readers of this blog and to the millions of DR. Oz fans and that is despicable and DEPLORABLE if the blatant lie was intentional.
7. Indeed, only a small handful of studies have been completed, and none has provided adequate sample sizes or long-term results to demonstrate safety. And it's still the Wild West of e-cigs, so there's no established standard for contents and ingredients.
A. Actually, the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association, or AEMSA--- exists for a reason. & e-cig and PV users can choose to buy from AEMSA's approved list vendors (from which the e-liquid is tested regularly) if they so wish. Just because something isn't approved by the FDA doesn't mean the PEOPLE don't regulate it! The FDA is an ORGANIZATION that the government allows to review/suggest & adopt laws. They aren't supposed to be CZARs with unlimited power. & I believe the FDA knows that and there are some genuinely good people on the FDA board that DO believe ecigs are healthier. Who's opinion is it that there is NO attempt at regulation? That opinion is based in falsehood and faulty research.
B. "None of them has provided adequate sample sizes" what are you even saying right now? Who's opinion is this now? Your profession is a WRITER and your using the wrong grammar? C'mon?
8. "even the Federal Drug Administration states that consumers "have no way of knowing whether e-cigarettes are safe…how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use," or whether they will entice kids and adolescents to vape or smoke."
A. One Abbreviation: AEMSA- The American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association. I'm starting to see a pattern in this article. KIDS. ADOLESCENTS. VAPING is a gateway to SMOKING. Scare tactics. I want proof for these statements. Who in their right mind would pick up an e-cigarette and say "Hm, that tastes great and gives me a bit of energy... But I think I would like to try something that tastes like burning paper, smoke, and wet cured leaves. This is blatant repetition of things that reporters know sells to the public. So this reporter is actually using a tactic to get his/her article attention from undereducated readers just like he/she accuses the e-cig industry. Guess what? E-cigarettes are sold from people who quit smoking with them on this forum and that works for us. We aren't buying them from big tobacco companies and we aren't going to buy into this reporters BS lies and opinions. (bad science)
9. "They probably also cause the same skin aging and wrinkles-in primary and secondhand smokers-as cigarettes, but again, there isn't the research to say definitively."
A. Good save at the end there. "There isn't the research to say definitively" Hmmm. Is there research that says caffeine causes wrinkles? Is there any research that says sugar causes wrinkles? On what basis does the article writer base his opinion that our e-cigarettes " 'PROBABLY' also cause the same skin aging and wrinkles-in primary AND SECONDHAND SMOKERS" as cigarettes" ??? Seriously? Does this not make anyone else here a little uneasy? Do you seriously believe that propylene glycol is going to give you wrinkles? Or is it the nicotine you believe will speed the aging process? Since nicotine IS a stimulant, it might contribute to wrinkles... But how is this going to "Probably" cause skin aging and wrinkles in second hand vapers??? LOL? Really? How stupid do you think your readers are? Because I don't think they are stupid at all and I think they'll be able to see right through your BS. (Thats BULL ....)
