The Controversy Around Electronic Cigarettes

Do e-cigarettes truly help smokers quit this vice?

The controversy revolving around electronic cigarettes is never ending: while some believe in their efficacy, others state there are safer and better methods to quit smoking.

It is true that smoking cigarettes have lost much of its popularity in the United States, but there are still 480,000 people dying each year because of this habit, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, there are sixteen million American citizens that have developed smoking-related diseases.

In this light of events, behavioral sciences and psychiatry professor and Duke Center for Smoking Cessation director at Duke University Jed E. Rose argues that e-cigarettes are true helpers in quitting this habit. He is opposed by medicine professor Pamela Ling from University of California’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education in San Francisco.

Rose believes that his previous and current research has proven that current approaches for quitting are mostly ineffective for those who have picked up the habit. He has urged for alternative approaches but in the meantime,

“Electronic cigarettes have an unparalleled potential to reduce the public-health impact of smoking, by allowing smokers to replace the habit and nicotine of smoking without the toxic effects of combustion.”

Ling has compared the rate of people who quit after using nicotine patches (six percent) with the one of those who used electronic cigarette (seven percent) and concluded that the difference is so small, smokers should completely give up on even the gesture of smoking.

She has backed her opinion with reports from the World Health Organization, the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians, organizations that all do not recommend electronic cigarettes because the evidence of their success is quite poor.

However, the issue does not lie in the number of people who quit, but in the fact that many add electronic cigarettes to their tobacco use. However, in the end, it all goes down to profit.

Since cigarettes have been proven to be so deadly, why are they still on the market? Because of the grand tobacco companies. Advocacy organizations for electronic cigarettes have stated they are independent of such companies. However, e-cigarette subsidiaries have been acquired by all major tobacco companies in the United States. Additionally, they also own the e-cigarette brands featuring the largest market. Coincidence?

Unfortunately, all revolves around profit in our world. If you truly wish to do good for yourself, you have to stay informed on all methods for quitting smoking and choose the one most suited to you.

Image Source: Snopes