Makers of Electronic Cigarette call it a safe, healthy alternative
2008-3-18BOSTON -- Makers of a new product say it can give smokers satisfaction without the health risk.
The "E-Cig", or Electronic Cigarette, is claimed to be safe because there is no tobacco, tar, or smoke. The pen-sized cigarette is made of plastic and metal and is battery charged. The tiny white cartridges contain water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor, and supply enough nicotine for up to two packs of cigarettes.
"There is no second hand smoke, there is no tobacco in this product as far as I know," says Jonathan Winickoff, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital.
7NEWS put the new product to the test by giving smokers a chance to try the E-Cig for a week.
"You actually inhale something and you get nicotine from it so its definitely a big help, I'd say," remarked Joe Callahan, who has been a smoker for 10 years.
"I found it awkward especially like in public and people are like "what's that?" and I was constantly explaining but you know," said Erica Cassesso, an on and off smoker of 11 years.
"It's a little difficult to inhale, it takes a lot of force," said Angela Harrar, a decade long smoker, "which might be one of the reasons why I didn't take to it as much as I had hoped."
None of the testers said they were able to extinguish their cigarettes completely, but they did say it helped them cut down by substituting the E-Cig for real ones. The testers also said they liked how they could get a nicotine fix inside public places.
Lighting Up The Powerful Global Smoking Lobby
2008-01-17ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2008) — Global public health efforts to reduce smoking are at odds with the interests of the tobacco industry. According to a new case study competing tobacco companies co-operate via a global network of national and regional manufacturing associations to undermine public health measures to counter smoking.
Patricia McDaniel, Gina Intinarelli and Ruth Malone from the University of California,
The International Committee on Smoking Issues (ICOSI) was formed in 1977 by seven tobacco company chief executives to create common anti-tobacco control strategies and build a global network of regional and national manufacturing associations. Later renamed INFOTAB, multinational companies built the organization rapidly: by 1984, it had 69 members operating in 57 countries.
According to the authors, INFOTAB material, including position papers and "action kits" helped members challenge local tobacco control measures and maintain tobacco-friendly environments. In 1992 INFOTAB was replaced by two smaller organizations: The Tobacco Documentation Centre, which continues to operate, distributes smoking-related information and industry argumentation to members, some produced by cross-company committees. Agro-Tobacco Services, and now Hallmark Marketing Services, assists the INFOTAB-backed and industry supported International Tobacco Growers Association in promoting tobacco's economic importance in developing nations.
"Policymakers should be aware that although these associations claim to represent only national or regional interests, they are allied to and coordinated with a confederation of trans-national tobacco companies seeking to protect profits by undermining public health," says Ruth Malone. "Cigarette manufacturers and their attorneys played the biggest role. Under their explicit direction, INFOTAB set policies and crafted strategies that ensured that the global tobacco community spoke and acted as one."
Tobacco is the second major cause of death worldwide, with 84% of smokers living in developing and transitional economy countries. Litigation against the tobacco industry led to the public release of over 47 million pages of internal industry documents housed in paper depositories and online electronic archives.
Journal reference: Patricia A McDaniel, Gina Intinarelli and Ruth E Malone. Tobacco industry issues management organizations: Creating a global corporate network to undermine public health. Globalization and Health (in press) http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/
Adapted from materials provided by BioMed Central, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.