E-cigarettes: No Smoke Without Fire
Currently 700,000 europeans die each year as a result of smoking related illnesses so you can imagine how amazing a new product would be that produced "no harmful substances". The E-cigarette is a device which uses a heating element to vapourise a solution containing nicotine and other flavourings, claiming to cut out the damage to lungs caused by the tar and other chemicals found in cigarettes. There doesnt seem to have been too much research on the effects of the device yet but preliminary research indicated Diethylene glycol was found in the cartridges in 2009, a poisonous liquid. Chemicals such as Anabasine, myosmine and beta-nicotryine were found in many samples of the solutions used, all of which are harmful to humans and found in ordinary cigarette smoke.
The NHS has also conducted small amounts of preliminary research on the effects of the vapour produced on human lungs and found that "smoking" a single E-cigarette could produce and increase in airway resistance, reducing the diffusion of gases into and out of the lungs.
Another major health concern is the fact many children are now getting their hands on them, increasing the number of nicotine addictions in younger persons. A survey of 24,658 students in the US found that its use had doubled. However the same survey also found that the use of other tobacco substances such as bidis and krekets had fallen at roughly the same rate as the E-cigarettes usage rates increased.
What do you think? Are E-cigarettes the way forward?