Should Tobacco Cigarettes Be Harmful?

Steven Reinberg is a senior staff reporter for HealthDay. He also has won awards for his health journals and has written for both consumer and professional audiences. Reiberg wrote this piece for HealthDay and then it was published on WebMD. WebMD is online source where anyone can go to get health information. All the information comes from over 100 doctors and physicians that WebMD works with so that they can provide accurate information. This article provides information on the the benefits of electronic cigarettes outweigh the harm they might cause. Using the liquid for electronic cigarettes cuts out all the extra chemicals that are found in traditional cigarettes.

The popularity of e-cigarettes and vapes has grown exponentially within the last couple of years. These two alternatives offer a “safe” way to consume nicotine or just a substitute to regular cigarette smoking. These products omit water vapor instead of tobacco smoke, constructing it as less of a health risk. Nicotine can be added to the mixture to help quit smoking or offer a healthier option to those with nicotine dependence. There has not been widespread research on conventional e-cigarettes, in addition to data on vapes been relatively premature. These smoking devices have not be regulated by the FDA yet, but the FDA has looked into e-cigarettes and its contents (FDA, 2015). Many e-cigarettes that are thought to be free of nicotine, have

Smoking is an addiction that can risk one’s health, which in turn can lead to death. As time advances, both smokers and non-smokers are beginning to understand the harm in this deadly habit because not only does it harm smokers, it can impact anyone who encounters the smoke second-hand. Since the public has become aware of the health risks induced by smoking, cessation tools such as nicotine replacement therapy are being invented to help terminate the desire to smoke. As technology improves, smoking devices like the electronic cigarette are invented and can be considered an effective cessation tool. Electronic cigarettes can deliver low doses of nicotine to ease withdrawal symptoms. Furthermore, as electronic cigarettes increase in

The addiction to tobacco, nicotine, and smoking is something the humans have embraced and battled since the early 1800’s. With more and more people falling into the habit and becoming addicted, many detrimental health effects on the body caused people to question what was going on and what was causing these negative reactions in the body. Soon enough, the healthy and “cool” cigarettes that everyone was smoking became the face of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, birth defects, and many other deadly bodily reactions. In the early 2000’s electronic cigarettes (ECs) were developed by a Chinese pharmacist that hoped to allow smokers to maintain their nicotine addiction, but limit or end the harmful and detrimental effects of tobacco on the body, due to his father’s death of tobacco-attributable lung cancer.1 A typical EC consists of a rechargeable lithium battery, a heating tool called an atomizer, which vaporizes a humectant (typically propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and/or polyethylene glycol 400). The humectant contains liquid nicotine. When the smoker inhales, the heating tool is activated by an airflow sensor, and the nicotine is vaporized.1 2

The profitable business of electronic cigarettes has raised over $3 Billion dollars annually, vastly spread across over 466 brands which have joined the ordeal. Above all, known as a “gateway drug”, electronic cigarettes have claimed the once-ordinary lives of people, specifically to those who have turned from tobacco cigarettes. What is more, scientists have determined that not enough research has been executed to automatically assume the healthiness of e-cigarettes. Despite this, many have claimed that e-cigarettes, are, and will be the new “healthy” drug, so to speak. Provided that e-cigarettes do not release harmful smoke, they are still not safe for one’s health given that not enough research has been performed on them.

“ The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror – not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray ”. – David Byrne. Smoking has been an habit in teenagers and adults for a very long time and it is well known that it is harmful for them as well for the environment. Technology has advanced, and now there are electronic cigarettes, called E-cigarette, which are devices with battery that carry nicotine heated aersosol in a fashion that imitates common cigarettes, while carrying lower levels of toxins than a conventional lit cigarette. They can be used indoors, which allows smokers to get their fix wherever and whenever they want. A study from NBC News (Leshae) shows that electronic cigarettes are a technique for smokers to try quitting their addictions. Manufacturers consider that e-cigarattes are healthier than normal tobacco cigarattes, since smokers are inhaling vaporized nicotine rather of carcinogen-filled smoke. However, according to a Thomas Jefferson University Alumni article, some reseachers have found harmful ingredients in certain e-cigarettes, such as ethylene glycol poisoning, a primary ingredient in brake fluid and antifreeze. E-cigarettes mey seem like a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes, nevertheless there is some research that proves the contrary and we still don’t know its long term effect.

E-cigarettes have exploded onto the scene in the past three years. Whole stores dedicated to these devices have opened their doors to the public and business is thriving. E-cigarettes are battery-charged devices that have an atomizer, or heating element, in them to vaporize liquid nicotine. The user is able to inhale this vapor and get the nicotine without the other 4,000 chemicals present in tobacco cigarette smoke (Schroeder). Nicotine is a chemical that is produced by the tobacco plant. People have discovered that by smoking the leaves of a tobacco plant the nicotine in the leaves is delivered into the bloodstream. Nicotine by itself is not an awful drug as far as drugs go, although it is highly addictive, it is the tar in cigarettes that does so much damage. Tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of death in the U.S. with 480,000 Americans dying prematurely from tobacco related disease. Kicking this habit remains difficult for most (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Mark Twain once wrote “It’s easy to quit smoking, I’ve done it hundreds of times.”

The conclusion is that due to the amount of time the “e-cig” or the vape pens have been on the market more research is required to look at its short and long-term safety effects on a smoker's health. The use of second generation vaporizers considerably reduce cigarette consumption without causing significant side

Everyone should know that smoking cigarettes is a bad habit and is dangerous for the user's health. Yet, these cancer causing, teeth yellowing, bad breath causing cigarettes are still being smoked everyday by people all over the world. It used to be seen as cool to smoke and it seemed like everyone did it. Like a fashion fad, smoking cigarettes soon became out of style. People still smoke, but not as much as they used to. In 2003 electronic cigarettes were first introduced the United States as a safer alternative, making smoking or vaping, as its called now, a cool fad again. Smoking had been at an all time low until recently when alternatives to traditional smoking such electronic cigarettes or hookah have become popular especially among the younger generation(Rifkin para. 2). Many smokers are now using electronic cigarettes over traditional

Smoking is the single highest cause of preventable death in America and puts users at significantly greater risk for disease compared to the rest of the population. Tobacco use costs the U.S. more than 289 billion dollars annually in medical expenses and lost productivity (Surgeon General, 2014). The problems associated with smoking are due in part to its addictiveness. Nicotine is the addictive substance found in tobacco and its chemical dependence is as strong as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol (CDC, 2014). Getting all smokers to quit entirely is not realistic due to nicotine’s addictive characteristics.

Electronic cigarette products do contain nicotine, although the health effects are negligent in line with the rest of common tobacco products. Tobacco products are those in line with cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and pipe tobacco. A News Medical article regards nicotine just as it is derived from the plant it comes from, "Nicotine is a chemical compound that is present in tobacco" (Anaya). Nicotine, being derived from the tobacco plant, may well close the case regarding whether or not it deserves the title as a 'tobacco product'. The stigma regarding a tobacco product revolves not only around the presence of nicotine but also of tobacco products being the cause of death to one-third of users. The sticky stigma of a

On the contrary to the general concept and motif behind the production of e-cigarettes, several studies have proven that these electronic devices that were created as an unassailable and riskless alternative to derail and overcome one’s cigarette addiction and dependency, happen to be equally as harmful and destructive as the nicotine infused drug. Maria Mironidou Tzouveleki, Evanthia Tzitzi, and Panagiotis Tzitzis stated “The vapour of e-cig contains toxic and dangerous substances as the smoke of conventional cigarette but in different quantities.” (Mironidou Tzouveleki, Tzitzi, 2015, p. 235.) Ever since e-cigarettes made their debut in the market back in 2003, researches had their doubts and implications about this particular substitutive

For years, there have been studies to suggest that e-cigarette release toxic compounds. However, the source for such findings was recently discovered at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and it indicates that there is not a direct link to the source, but rather wide range of individual factors like temperature and age, for example, that differently affect the emission levels. Toxic chemicals like acrolein and formaldehyde are released from e-cigarettes which decomposes the two solvents (propylene glycol and glycerin) that are used in the vaporization of e-cigarettes. To find the ingredients used in the vapor, researchers compared two different e-cigarettes using gas and a liquid chromatography. They discovered that the puffs which are

In 2012, a European Commission study on awareness of e-cigarettes concluded that two-thirds of Europeans, with a higher likelihood among young males, were familiar with e-cigarettes (GCRC 13). Most e-cigarettes users, however, are current or former conventional cigarette users, because not only are e-cigarettes a healthy substitute for conventional cigarettes, but studies have also shown that e-cigarettes assist with the cessation of them. Despite the potential benefits, it is still apparent that more scientific studies are needed in order to learn about the side effects, ingredients, and to regulate product quality of e-cigarettes. (GCRC 8).

E-cigarettes appear as an innocent alternative to the real thing but the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory identifying the “volatile” substances in the device and its emitted smoke may not be that harmless after all (“FDA: Second-Hand Smoke From E-Cigarettes May Be Harmful To Your Health”, 2013). Electronic cigarettes contain organic substances including propylene glycol, flavors, and nicotine which are emitted as a mist into the air in enclosed areas. FDA studies show that these microscopic liquid particles have the possibility of penetrating deep into our lungs. Also cited by the FDA in a German publication on electronic cigarettes shows