More and more smokers are turning to e-cigarettes. While
not exactly "healthy", but they do seem to be a healthier
option, in comparison with traditional cigarettes.
Since they were invented in China in 2003, e-cigs with
their false-fire tips and smoke-like mists are becoming
popular alternatives to smoking all over the world. They
usually look like the "real thing" - most often like filter
cigarettes, though they also come in the guise of cigars
and pipes. They are battery-operated and contain
cartridges, usually filled with nicotine, flavours and
other chemicals. With every puff, a little LED lights at
one end, while the other end delivers a fine vapour of
liquid into the user's lungs, with the surplus exhaled
though the mouth or the nose in a smoke-like mist.
There are die-hard smokers who dismiss e-cigarettes as
simply not as good as the real thing. They bemoan the loss
of the ritual lost (no lighting that fire, no watching the
stick become smaller and smaller) and say that the whole
thing feels like sucking on a plastic ballpoint pen.
However, many traditional cigarette smokers like the
digital version. Some claim they have never looked back
since they pulled the first drag on an e-cigarette. They
say they feel better, breathe easier and smell nicer.
E-cigarette smokers do not have yellow nails, they do not
cough, they do not emit second-hand smoke, they do not
leave the trail of cigarette ash and cigarette ends
everywhere they go. Plus, they have more money in their
pocket: after the initial investment, digital smoking is
cheaper.
Just how healthy e-cigarettes are as an alternative to
traditional cigarettes depends on the composition of the
liquid in the cartridge. The long-term effects of inhaling
the nicotine-laced e-cigs are simply not known.
And therein lies the biggest problem about e-cigarettes:
there are not enough medical studies about them and the
content of the cartridges is poorly regulated, if at all.
In some countries, like New Zealand, e-cigarettes are
legal, but nicotine cartridges are not. If they want to go
digital, New Zealand smokers have to go for the
non-nicotine kind of e-cigs. In the United Kingdom,
electronic cigarette use is currently unrestricted. Same
goes for many other countries, including South Africa. When
the e-cigarettes were first introduced into the country
about a year ago, South African health authorities said the
product has been launched without regulatory supervision
and advised the public to approach it with "considerable
caution". Since then, nothing has been done.
No doubt, many eyes will be glued to the USA, where a
battle is raging between proponents and opponents of
digital cigarettes. Whatever the outcome, many other
countries will probably follow the American example.
The e-cigarettes reached America through the usual
non-regulated channels soon after they were invented in
2003. Today they are available in more than 4,000 retail
outlets and on many Web sites. According to the
distributors, sales of electronic cigarettes have grown
from about $10 million to $100 million during the twelve
months leading to September 2009.
Currently, the American Food and Drug Association (FDA) is
trying to classify the e-cig as a tobacco product or
cigarette in order to impose tighter regulations. The state
of Oregon has even sued one distributor of e-cigarettes,
alleging that the company made false health claims about
its nicotine delivery device and targeted children with
sweet flavours such as bubblegum, chocolate and cookies 'n'
cream.
The long-suffering pariahs of the modern world, the
smokers, who thought they have - finally - found a socially
acceptable alternative are, of course, bitter. Some are
accusing the authorities of wanting them to continue
smoking "US made cancer sticks instead of Chinese made
e-cigs" in order to keep on paying the tobacco tax, even if
it means "dying for their country" in the process. Others
see in the move to ban or restrict the use of e-cigarettes
a conspiracy mounted by the multi-billion dollars worth
smoking cessation drugs industry.
But, of course, it is not all about those who are already
hooked on smoking. It is also about all the multitudes that
are not - and that may be tempted to start puffing on that
strawberry or chocolate flavoured stick. That is why
antismoking groups warn that the more benign version of
cigarettes will only encourage the habit - which, depending
on the content of nicotine and on the number of puffs, may
even turn out not to be benign after all.
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