NY1 is a local station in New York City owned and operated by Time Warner. They aired a "man on the street" interview piece with commentary from a doctor this morning. The reporter interviewed an uninformed user, IMO, and then interviewed a doctor who is not friendly to e-cigarettes.
NY1 has limited access to anyone who is not a Time Warner customer. However, the full text from their site follows:
As public pressure mounts on smokers to quit, many are turning to alternative means to get their nicotine fix, such as electronic cigarettes, but there is still very little public information about this recent smoking trend. NY1's Health reporter Erin Billups filed the following report.
"Paul" is among the 21 percent of smokers who have tried electronic cigarettes, a device that heats up liquid nicotine into a vapor. Speaking with NY1 in Chelsea, he does not want to show his face on camera, because of the growing public sentiment against smoking.
He says he bought e-cigs to try to quit smoking.
"It's something that's better than smoking a full cigarette of nicotine and stuff like that. They say it's better," Paul says.
This common assumption explains why more people are flocking to it. The Centers for Disease Control says about 6 percent of all adults tried e-cigs in 2011, double the number of those that tried it in 2010.
While the CDC admits e-cigs do appear to have far fewer toxins than traditional cigarettes, the agency and Dr. Jonathan Whiteson at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in NYU Langone Medical Center caution that the new technology should not be seen as a way to quit smoking.
"Each manufacturer will claim a certain amount of nicotine is in the vapor on each puff, but that has not been proven scientifically," says Whiteson.
Many, including Paul, do not really know what they are inhaling.
"I've never read the full ingredients, which probably isn't exactly good," he says.
Chemicals known to cause cancer seem to be present in e-cigs' vapor.
"We have had some preliminary studies that implicate some chemicals like nitrosamines and diethlyene glycol are in the nicotine vapor," Whiteson says. "This is not the kind of chemical you should be exposing yourself to or allowing your children to be exposed to."
E-cigs are not federally regulated, so it is pretty easy for anyone, including children, to get their hands on them. Online, I just need to enter my birthday and pay with a credit card and they arrive in a couple of days.
"I'd like to know a little bit more about the ingredients and what actually goes into something that you're inhaling into your lungs, absolutely," Paul says.
The FDA is in the process of trying to regulate the new technology, which is already becoming a contentious fight with e-cig manufacturers.
This is the kind of reporting that does not help our cause, and it seems unfair to pit uninformed users on the street against medical doctors.
ETA: Erin Billups is the reporter of the piece. The user interviewed also did not want his face on camera, so was wearing a hood at the time. It definitely does not help the perception of e-cig users. Additionally, the doctor interviewed did not seem to be an expert regarding e-cigarettes or the most informed.
NY1 has limited access to anyone who is not a Time Warner customer. However, the full text from their site follows:
As public pressure mounts on smokers to quit, many are turning to alternative means to get their nicotine fix, such as electronic cigarettes, but there is still very little public information about this recent smoking trend. NY1's Health reporter Erin Billups filed the following report.
"Paul" is among the 21 percent of smokers who have tried electronic cigarettes, a device that heats up liquid nicotine into a vapor. Speaking with NY1 in Chelsea, he does not want to show his face on camera, because of the growing public sentiment against smoking.
He says he bought e-cigs to try to quit smoking.
"It's something that's better than smoking a full cigarette of nicotine and stuff like that. They say it's better," Paul says.
This common assumption explains why more people are flocking to it. The Centers for Disease Control says about 6 percent of all adults tried e-cigs in 2011, double the number of those that tried it in 2010.
While the CDC admits e-cigs do appear to have far fewer toxins than traditional cigarettes, the agency and Dr. Jonathan Whiteson at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in NYU Langone Medical Center caution that the new technology should not be seen as a way to quit smoking.
"Each manufacturer will claim a certain amount of nicotine is in the vapor on each puff, but that has not been proven scientifically," says Whiteson.
Many, including Paul, do not really know what they are inhaling.
"I've never read the full ingredients, which probably isn't exactly good," he says.
Chemicals known to cause cancer seem to be present in e-cigs' vapor.
"We have had some preliminary studies that implicate some chemicals like nitrosamines and diethlyene glycol are in the nicotine vapor," Whiteson says. "This is not the kind of chemical you should be exposing yourself to or allowing your children to be exposed to."
E-cigs are not federally regulated, so it is pretty easy for anyone, including children, to get their hands on them. Online, I just need to enter my birthday and pay with a credit card and they arrive in a couple of days.
"I'd like to know a little bit more about the ingredients and what actually goes into something that you're inhaling into your lungs, absolutely," Paul says.
The FDA is in the process of trying to regulate the new technology, which is already becoming a contentious fight with e-cig manufacturers.
This is the kind of reporting that does not help our cause, and it seems unfair to pit uninformed users on the street against medical doctors.
ETA: Erin Billups is the reporter of the piece. The user interviewed also did not want his face on camera, so was wearing a hood at the time. It definitely does not help the perception of e-cig users. Additionally, the doctor interviewed did not seem to be an expert regarding e-cigarettes or the most informed.
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