To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

Since its invention by Han Li in 2003, electronic cigarettes have only developed for more than ten years. In recent years, electronic cigarettes have spread rapidly in the European and American markets. Traditional cigarettes entered the European and American markets around 1850. It took nearly 100 years before medical literature linked smoking with lung cancer, and most people did not begin to face the health hazards of smoking until around 1970. In comparison, the history of e-cigarettes is much shorter, and e-cigarettes are still unfamiliar and new to most people in China. The Rashomon of electronic cigarettes has just begun.

There are many debates about e-cigarettes. Today, this article will list some common debate points and make some simple analysis.

Are e-cigarettes more harmful than traditional cigarettes?

The claim that e-cigarettes can reduce harm has been made clear by the British Department of Public Health that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than ordinary cigarettes, and smokers are encouraged to switch to e-cigarettes. The main authors of this report are from various research institutions in the UK, including King's College London, Cancer Research UK, UK Tobacco and Alcohol Research Centre, University of Stirling, etc. The report is 243 pages long.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

The father of modern smoking cessation, British psychiatrist Michael Russell famously said in a 1976 BMJ article: "people smoke for nicotine but they die from the tar." We have analyzed the harm of traditional cigarettes in the previous article: tar is extremely harmful to the human body, and thousands of harmful gases will be produced by burning it, and nicotine as an addictive substance will make people addicted, and second-hand smoke and three Hand smoke also indirectly affects the health of those around you.

Smoking is harmful to health. I believe most people are well aware that it is a fact, but it is also a fact that quitting smoking is too difficult. Since it is difficult to quit smoking, it is better to replace it with other products, so electronic cigarettes appeared.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes avoid the burning of cigarettes, so it also avoids the generation of harmful substances (tar, harmful gases produced by combustion) in traditional cigarettes, and also avoids the problems of second-hand and third-hand smoke. From this perspective, compared to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes indeed reduce the harmful substances produced by the combustion of traditional cigarettes. For smokers who are addicted to smoking for a long time, it is indeed a good solution to replace traditional cigarettes with electronic cigarettes and reduce the intake of harmful substances.

"A drop of nicotine can kill a horse"?

The statement "one drop of nicotine can kill a horse" cannot be equated with the level of harm that inhaling nicotine can cause to the human body. Only a small part of the nicotine absorbed by inhalation is absorbed by the human body, but through the metabolism of the human body, it will be rapidly degraded and excreted after entering the human body. As long as nicotine is not consumed in large quantities every day, the harm to the human body is very small.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

Although nicotine is not a carcinogen, long-term excessive intake may cause neurodegeneration and cardiovascular disease, and theoretically may lead to brain development problems in children and fetuses. Regarding the possible health risks of nicotine, it is not necessary to talk about nicotine discoloration, but it still needs to be faced. For people who are not addicted to smoking, it is also best not to try nicotine inhalation devices, including e-cigarettes.

Can e-cigarettes cause popcorn lung?

This is because some brands of e-liquid may have butter-flavored flavorings that may contain diacetyl (butanedione). In the United States, 8 workers in a popcorn factory once suffered from "obstructive bronchiolitis", which is a case of "popcorn lung", hence the name.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined that "butanedione" is a "generally recognized as safe" flavoring agent, and no adverse health effects have been observed with consumption or consumption. The case of the popcorn factory in the United States occurred at very high exposure levels, meaning long-term exposure to large amounts of diacetyl, but the concentration of diacetyl in e-liquid is very low, several times lower than cigarette smoke. Hundred times, there are many e-liquids that do not need to add butanedione at all. Therefore, there is no need to worry that e-cigarettes will cause "popcorn lung". If you are really worried, pay attention to the quality inspection report when purchasing, and choose a brand with reliable quality.

Are e-cigarettes completely harmless?

The main components of e-cigarettes are propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavors and nicotine (there are also nicotine-free vaping products), which are heated by electronic components to generate aerosol. The aerosols of e-cigarettes are not completely harmless. They contain some tiny particles that may cause cancer, and may also contain some heavy metals and volatile compounds.

The toxic and harmful components produced by cigarette combustion, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, toluene, N-nitrosonicotine, nitrosamine ketone, etc., and these toxic components produced by electronic cigarettes are much lower than ordinary cigarettes. This data is provided in the "Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes" published by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in 2018.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

Therefore, e-cigarettes are not as completely harmless as some businesses advertise, but they still have important harm reduction significance. For smokers, this is also a choice of the lesser of two rights. It is precisely because of this that after being questioned by many parties, the Public Health Agency of England still insists on using e-cigarettes to help more smokers replace traditional cigarettes.

Compared with the well-known and well-known hazards of traditional cigarettes, there are about 500 different brands and 8,000 different flavors of electronic cigarettes. Core structure, composition, power, temperature, contact plastic, packaging, etc. For example, one study found that two e-cigarettes from the same batch produced a 25-fold difference in formaldehyde concentrations. Therefore, when choosing electronic cigarettes, you should choose a reliable brand and a brand with authoritative test reports, and try your best to avoid unnecessary intake of harmful substances.

Can e-cigarettes help quit smoking?

In the study "Survey on the Use of Electronic Cigarettes among Smoking Populations in Beijing" published in the "Chinese Journal of Clinicians" in 2015, the author also stated that electronic cigarettes can make smokers quit smoking or reduce the amount of smoking, and 47.1% of smokers said they smoked. decreased.

Although the World Health Organization believes that it is not completely certain that e-cigarettes can help completely quit the habit of smoking, at least, it can make people smoke less traditional cigarettes, and e-cigarettes are still worth recommending to smokers.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

Will e-cigarettes affect youth smoking rates?

In January 2019, a charity called Cancer Research UK said there was a lack of evidence that e-cigarettes lead young people to smoke in the UK. Smoking among young people has been declining, and the probability of non-smoking young people using e-cigarettes is very low, around 0-1%.

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

However, the situation in the United States is different. In 2010, 1.8% of minors had used e-cigarettes, this proportion rose rapidly to 13.0% in 2013, and further increased to 16% in 2015. According to the survey results published by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in the United States, the number of youth e-cigarette users in the United States is still increasing rapidly, from 1.5 million in 2017 to 3.6 million in 2018, including more than one in five high school students. .

To smoke or not to smoke? 6 Myths About E-Cigarettes

What worries the U.S. government is not only the growing data-more and more minors are coming into contact with e-cigarettes, but also the targeted product design and marketing of the e-cigarette industry to minors. The CDC’s survey also shows that nearly 70% of youth e-cigarette users will use various flavored e-cigarette products (there are seven thousand different e-cigarette flavors), and 50% of youth e-cigarette users will use mint and menthol flavored products. e-cigarette.

Electronic cigarettes have appeared and become popular in the market, but in just over ten years, the research on electronic cigarettes is still in the stage of "fighting with gods", and the Rashomon of electronic cigarettes has just begun.

China's supervision of e-cigarettes is also expected to usher in more perfect regulations before the end of this year, and put forward clear requirements for smoking sets, e-liquids, atomized emissions, etc., hoping to effectively regulate the standards and development of my country's e-cigarette industry. It is also hoped that the future development of e-cigarettes will be less harmful and more beneficial to smokers and the public environment.