can ya stand just one more? my pals at ACSH decided to give PVs a try (these guys are epidemiologists, physicians and have decades and decades of experience!). Here's the ACSH "Morning Dispatch" report on it (I subscribe via email):
E-cigarettes getting more and more popular
How mainstream are e-cigarettes these days? Last week this writer found a starter kit advertised for $19.99 at the cash register of his local 7-Eleven in Manhattans TriBeCa district. Well, if theyre good enough for Katherine Heigl...
The NJOY mini-kit came with an e-cigarette, USB charger and two nicotine cartridges. After letting it charge, ACSH staffers were vaping during our Dispatch meeting this morning. (Yes, really).
We were impressed by the devices realism, including a tip that glows red when you take a drag. It does a great job of mimicking a real cigarette, says Dr. Whelan.
While this writer who has never smoked cigarettes before had a bit of a coughing fit after taking too deep a drag, most staffers didnt notice anything after taking a few puffs and exhaling an odorless vapor.
Its not designed to give you a thrill or a high, explains Dr. Ross, a former smoker. But addicted smokers would most likely feel it satisfied their desire to have a cigarette.
According to the NJOY users guide, the made-in-China e-cigarette has never been tested or proven to be a smoking cessation device and is not sold or marketed as such. The guide says the nicotine cartridge consists of four major ingredients: water, nicotine, flavoring and proplyene glycol. ACSHs Dr. Josh Bloom, a chemist, says propylene glycol is a common ingredient in propellants such as asthma inhalers and is metabolized by the body into pyruvic acid, which is a natural breakdown product of glucose so its essentially natural.
Propylene glycol has been used safely for decades. Other than the nicotine, theres nothing remotely dangerous in these e-cigarettes, and its easy to see why it would help smokers quit, adds Dr. Ross. The only entity to have found toxic diethylene glycol in an e-cigarette is the FDA, but its unlikely that the maker would have used that toxin instead of the benign propellant. I suspect the FDA made an error.
totally banana worthy!
