Are E-Cigarettes Safe?

Many people smoke e-cigarettes because they believe they are a healthier alternative, as compared to tobacco cigarettes. This strategy appears to be a fallacy, since e-cigarettes may pose just as much of a risk, if not more, than tobacco cigarettes. They may be trading the devil that they know, for the devil that they don't know.

What Are The Dangers of E-Cigarettes?

1. Diacetyl is an artificial flavor used for adding a buttery taste to microwave popcorn. It has been linked to respiratory damage, including inflammation and permanent scarring of the airways. This condition has been dubbed "popcorn lung," in workers at microwave popcorn plants. Diacetyl is just one of the chemicals used to flavor e-cigarettes.

2. Research on e-cigarettes were done on the first generation products. The new products deliver nicotine more effectively, but with additional heat, chemicals and fine particles. The chemicals and fine particles can especially be dangerous, since they penetrate deep inside of the lungs. E-cigarettes really haven't been around long enough to sufficiently study their long term health dangers.

3. The health risks associated with nicotine are well researched and documented, no matter how nicotine enters into the body. Nicotine adversely affects your cardiovascular, respiratory, renal and reproductive systems.

4. Researchers found smoking a mere 10 puffs of an e-cigarette, can increase your risk of heart disease.

5. Within the first hour of smoking an e-cigarette, there is a rise in endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) on the same scale as smoking one traditional cigarette. These cells indicate damage to the inner lining of your blood vessels. It takes 24 hours for these cells to return to normal. If you have a cigarette or an e-cigarette, at least once a day, these cells never have the time to return to normal.

6. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, did not find sufficient evidence to recommend using e-cigarettes as a method of helping people to quit smoking tobacco cigarettes. Other major health and medical organizations agree that there is poor evidence that e-cigarettes are an effective means to quit smoking tobacco.

Despite media attention on the potential health risks from using e-cigarettes, sales continue to climb and are expected to reach $4.1 billion this year.

According to the CDC, more people in America are addicted to nicotine than any other drug. Nicotine may be as addictive as heroin, cocaine or alcohol.

Read More