Row Over Electronic Cigarettes
A row has erupted over claims made about electronic cigarettes as a replacement for standard cigarettes in pubs, to circumvent the smoking ban, and as a form of therapy for smokers trying to quit.
Health campaigners have called for detailed research to be carried out into the health implications of electronic cigarettes. They say that electronic cigarettes have yet to undergo the rigorous testing to which other nicotine products are subjected.
Several media reports have claimed that an increasing number of pubs are selling electronic cigarettes, which are apparently legal to smoke indoors.
The typical electronic cigarette is made of stainless steel, has a chamber for storing liquid nicotine in various concentrations, is powered by a rechargeable battery and resembles a real cigarette.
Users puff on it as they would a real cigarette, but they do not light it, and it produces no smoke. Rather, it produces a fine, heated mist, which is absorbed into the lungs.
Developed in China in 2004, the electronic cigarette is sold there and in numerous other countries, including the UK, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Israel, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey. Some retailers are selling almost 2,000 of the £40 kits every month.
Some companies supplying the electronic cigarettes claim that smoking electronic cigarettes is a healthier alternative to normal cigarettes because they use cartridges that just contain the nicotine and so smokers no longer inhale carcinogenic substances such as tar, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.
A source at one company, Electronic Smoking, said, “E-cigarettes allow you to smoke in places where cigarettes would not normally be allowed like bars and restaurants because they eliminate secondhand smoke.” Further the company beleives that their product is a "lifesaver" and that it will ultimatelybecome the "nicotine replacement therapy of choice."
In response,
Dr Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General of the WHO's Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster warned, “WHO has no scientific evidence to confirm the product's safety and efficacy. Its marketers should immediately remove from their websites and other informational materials any suggestion that WHO considers it to be a safe and effective smoking cessation aid.”
Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said: "At the moment we don't know enough about this product. The electronic cigarettes fall into a regulatory gap and they haven't been chemically tested."
Source: Croner's / Guardian
