A growing trend in the United States is the use of an electronic cigarette as an alternative to regular cigarettes. An electronic cigarette burns a liquid solution containing a controlled percentage of nicotine with no carcinogens, and this provides the user with smoke that is actually vapor. According to Allen Mask M.D. (2014), “Sales of electronic cigarettes have boomed from $500 million in 2012 to $1.5 billion in 2013” (Mask, 2014). The growth of sales in electronic cigarettes over the years is because it is being marketed as a healthier alternative, and more stores are opening to help assist others on selling as well as fixing their devices. The reason why electronic cigarettes are a healthier alternative than regular cigarettes is that cigarettes are the leading causes of preventable death in America, because electronic cigarettes produce vapor not smoke, and it has helped people quit.
This paper will focus on looking at if e-cigarettes and other therapies are a valid way to help stop smoking. Doctors and patients alike need a definitive answer for this. This is a topic which is relevant at the moment as e-cigarettes become more prevalent in the United Kingdom (UK). As “current use [of e-cigarettes has] more than doubled from 2.7% of smokers in 2010 to 6.7% in 2012.”3 This paper will cover nicotine as a neurotoxin and how it affects the brain and body, what mechanisms nicotine uses and adverse signs and symptoms of nicotine use and overdose. This paper will also cover nicotine replacement therapies (NRT’s) such as gum, patches and oral spray but will focus mainly on e-cigarettes. It should be noted that as e-cigarettes have not been tested thoroughly, therefore they can’t be marketed as a nicotine replacement therapy by UK law at time of writing.
There is quite a bit of controversy regarding the use of E-cigarettes. A known fact according to the CDC and data from the 2011 and 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is that, “the percentage of U.S. middle and high school students who use e-cigarettes more than doubled from 2011 to 2012” (Bayless, 2014; Corey et al., 2013). The advertising and targeting of children by e-cigarette companies is evidenced by the large amount of advertising featuring celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, attractive packaging including devices that look like flash drives, and candy flavorings that appeal to children such as chocolate, mint, bubble gum, cherry, and watermelon, to name just a few (Bayless, 2014; Dotinga, 2014; Madigan, 2013; Hahn, Riker, & Brown, 2014; Johnson, 2014; Weskerna, 2010). Another concern is the rise in calls to Poison Centers for nicotine poisoning. In a study by Chatham-Stephens, Law, Taylor, Melstrom, Bunnell, Wang, Apelberg, & Shier (2014) between September 2010 and February 2014, e-cigarette exposure calls increased from one in September 2010 to 215 in February of 2014. Exposure were by inhalation, eyes, and skin with adverse effects that included vomiting, nausea, eye irritation, and a suicidal death caused by intravenous injection of the nicotine liquid used to refill e-cigarettes (Chatham-Stephens et al., 2014). E-cigarettes are not regulated or approved by the FDA, so there is no control over ingriedients or their concentration. The concern as stated by Fielding, a member of the American Public Health Association, “I’m particularly concerned that this could be a gateway drug” (Big US cities, 2014). E-cigarettes are sold in numerous businesses right here...
In the world that surrounds the human race every day, debates about cigarettes are ongoing. Many think that cigarettes should be banned and made illegal just as heroin was. On the contrary, giving up old habits such as smoking can be hard to accomplish and is fought otherwise. The truth is that with every drug there’s a cost that must be paid, although cigarettes are more settled, the life threatening effects cause cancer, heart disease and death.
Someone you might know, whether your grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, or even yourself, smokes or has smoked cigarettes. If you haven’t yourself, you’ve seen the effects and consequences one can encounter. Not always, but sometimes, you see the struggles and sickness your loved one can go through and you’d give anything to make that someone feel better. Technology has been on a rise and possibly figured out a safer way. Smoking an electronic cigarette or perhaps a traditional cigarette still provides the nicotine, but it’s possible one can change not just someone’s health for the better but others around them.
Cigarettes are bad. Since the scientific discovery of 1964 on health effects of smoking, no one can deny their link to cancer and other life-threatening disease anymore (Komaroff). More than six million people die due to smoking related diseases every year (Daube et al., 1001). Each one of these cancer sticks contain 400 toxins (Tarshis, 5). Before laws regulating cigarette advertising, companies knew exactly how to influence young adults. Many may recall Joe Camel which was a “cool” camel often seen wearing sunglasses in the 90s or doctors proclaiming Marlboros were better or even Santa Claus claiming he preferred Lucky Strike. Each brand has its personality. Marlboro was known for his Marlboro Man, a mysterious manly cowboy who is always armed with his hat and his cigarette. While Vogue was a feminine fashionable brand which were often flavored. It wasn’t uncommon to see marketing tactics such as putting collectors baseball cards inside the pack. Although laws every where in the world limit to which extend tobacco companies can market their products. Advertising that targeted
Thesis statement: Research suggest that electronic cigarettes, while less harmful than conventional cigarettes, have significant health risk and safety concerns.
Regular cigarette users are now using electronic cigarettes to kick their habits of smoking tobacco to the curb. Studies have shown that electronic cigarette use is more helpful than nicotine patches for the smokers who are wiling to quit. Fairchild and Colgrove provide an article debating on whether electronic cigarettes should be banned from society and the benefits of the e-cigarette “The Case for Tolerating E-Cigarettes”. The authors incorporate a simple approach to establish that nicotine is not good for anyone who uses cigarettes. Therefore, a well-known alternative to cigarette users, electronic cigarettes were created to reduce the harmful effects associated with smoking cigarettes. Many risks associated with smoking cannot completely be eliminated so regulation of tobacco products is a better way to help decrease the harmful effects associated with smoking tobacco. The federal government has took interest in proving safer tobacco products for over fifty years. In 1964, the Surgeon General linked smoking with lung cancer however, he included that new kinds of cigarettes were necessary to provide safer tobacco products. In the early 1970’s the government spent about 6 million dollars trying to come up with new ways to develop safer tobacco products. The health secretary Joseph A. Califano Jr., found in 1978 that more research should be put into developing less hazardous cigarettes. Although Califano believed smoking was the public enemy he believed in the safety or making a safer cigarette for smokers. Even the American cancer society, who stressed concern over the creation of less hazardous cigarettes, supported less harmful cigarettes that would satisfy smokers. The tobacco industry manipulated it’s products by making su...
From my late teens, into my mid-twenties, I was a smoker. At first, it was just recreational; however that changed fairly quickly. I began buying them and smoking regularly throughout the day. It then progressed to smoking a pack per day until it was too late. I was officially addicted. I knew it was a terrible habit and I was shamed of it and would hide it from friends and family hoping they wouldn’t find out. Finally, after coughing hacking, and repeatedly getting sick several times a year, I came to the realization that I had to quit. However, it wasn’t as easy as I had anticipated. After relapsing several times before I was finally able to quit, I broke this terrible habit successfully. It was an extremely difficult habit to break and I’ll never go back. I was a lucky individual who had the mental toughness and willpower to overcome this strong addiction, but Americans struggle to quit each year, and many never do. However, there’s a new product on the market today called electronic cigarettes that are believed to aid individuals in the fight against addiction. It’s a battery powered device that heats a nicotine diluted solution into a vapor that is then inhaled. It’s believed to be a healthier, more affordable alternative to tobacco cigarettes. It is much safer because it doesn’t have nearly as many harmful chemicals as tobacco cigarettes and it’s believed to be much more affordable for consumers. However, many critics believe that electronic cigarettes are extremely addictive and just as harmful. Although electronic cigarettes are believed to be detrimental to people’s heath due to low quality product standards, harmful components in filling solution, and reports suggesting they’re addictive and just as harmful as toba...
The sale of electronic cigarettes in 2012 alone was 1.7 billion dollars in the United States alone. The FDA is in the process of regulating what goes into the making of ecigs. These are just a few ideas from the article “Smoke Signals” published in Up Front Magazine by Alessandra Potenza. Electronic Cigarettes are proving to be healthier than traditional cigarettes and may help smokers quit their addiction, but they still pose a threat to younger generations due to their nicotine content.
I think that e-cigarettes can be a good tool for some people in being able to help them cut back and hopefully quit smoking entirely. I think that this type of device does help smokers to be able to slowly wean themselves off of cigarettes by still having the familiar habit of bringing a cigarette to their mouth while they gradually lessen the amount of nicotine that they consume. I also feel though that because of the fun flavors available like bubble gum and bacon that this does create an enticement for kids and teenagers to want to try them, and this could lead to them adding the nicotine and thus becoming addicted. I have concerns over the health safety of e-cigarettes, yes they are probably much better than smoking actual cigarettes, but what about the vaping chemicals do they have health risks that are unknown to us at this time?
Almost everyone knows the health risks involved with smoking tobacco. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) give habitual smokers the most promising results of tobacco reduction or cessation. There are some that disagree with the use of e-cigarettes however; the benefits are exceptional for those looking to quit this habit. It significantly lowers their health risks related with smoking tobacco and, unlike cigarettes, it does not release any harmful toxic chemical substances. E-cigarettes are also more cost efficient than buying a pack of cigarettes. Although there are some that oppose the use of the economical e-cigarettes, the advantages are greater because
Living in a world where many prefer to believe what is shown to them, rather than doing some of their own research, can lead to consequences. (Figure 1) Some people believe electronic cigarettes are a safer and healthier alternative to the actual cigarette because of how they are advertised. “Because they [e-cigs] deliver nicotine without burning tobacco, e-cigarettes are purported to be safer and less toxic than conventional cigarettes. Despite these claims, there’s still no real data on the effects of e-cigarettes (positive or negative), yet marketing materials still bill them as a healthy choice” (Worthington emphasis mine). Drug advertisements normally show the beneficial side of
Electronic cigarettes or “e-cigs” were made to resemble the taste and feeling that a tobacco cigarette gi...
Cigarettes are one of the most common killers known to mankind. Cigarettes kill about 6 million people every year, and that number isn’t going to go down in less we do something about it. Smoking in the twentieth century killed only 100 million people, whereas a billion could die in our century. There are several more reasons why we should ban cigarettes, and I am going list them.