Aye, Toro Health Sites
Keep yourself and those you know healthy
E-Cigarette Whats The Fuss?
March 2nd, 2010 by admin
Federal regulators and antismoking groups are taking steps that could snuff out electronic cigarettes, the smokeless nicotine products embraced by a growing number of people trying to kick the habit or avoid bans on smoking in public.
e cigarette typically consist of a metal tube containing an atomizer, a battery and a cartridge filled with liquid nicotine. When a user sucks on an e-cigarette, a light-emitting diode causes the tip to glow and the atomizer turns the liquid nicotine into a vapor — thus it is called vaping instead of smoking. The vapor can be inhaled and then exhaled, creating a cloud that resembles cigarette smoke but dissipates more quickly and doesn’t have the lingering odor.
Most e cigarette sold in the U.S. are manufactured and tested in China.
The American Lung Association, along with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, recently called for e-cigarettes to be removed from the market. The groups say e-cigarettes have yet to be proven safe and that kids may be attracted to the products, some of which come in flavors like chocolate and strawberry. “Nobody knows what the consumers are actually inhaling,” says Erika Sward, director of national advocacy at the American Lung Association.
But e-cigarette companies say their product is a better alternative to cigarettes because there is no smoke or combustion involved. “Anybody who doesn’t think this product without any smoke attached to it is orders of magnitude less harmful than cigarettes just has no concept of basic science,” says Jack Leadbeater, president and chief executive of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Sottera Inc., which sells the Njoy brand of electronic cigarettes.
There are three large U.S. companies and dozens of smaller ones selling electronic cigarettes, most of which are made in China. Sales of the products, which barely registered in the U.S. just two years ago, have more than doubled over the past 12 months to an estimated $100 million, according to the Washington-based e cigarette Association, an industry association formed this spring.