Eating can cause health problems.

People fear newness because it signifies change that could possible make life uncomfortable, or even dangerous for those who don't want to adapt to that change.

Fear is useful, but oversold.

Yeah lets pull them off the shelves, but not pull ciggs off the shelves... brilliant!

No, that's absolutely not what this "study" found. As Dr. Michael Siegel calls it, this is typical "science by press release." From Dr. Siegel's blog, "The Rest of the Story," regarding this "study":

"Had the study in question actually evaluated the safety of electronic cigarettes, by analyzing the constituents of the e-cigarette vapor or the health effects of the product on users, then it would be appropriate for the researchers to disseminate a conclusion about the safety or lack of safety of electronic cigarettes. But I think it is irresponsible to disseminate such a conclusion when the study provided no information on the safety of using the product."

http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/

@Nick Thompson

My thoughts exactly..

I totally agree as well. Also it said leak will lead to exposure to a dangerous and addictive chemical.hmmm would that be more harmful than cigs. I think not.

I have been using one for 6 months now and my cough has gone and my blood pressure has gone back to normal as well. I will take my chances with this instead of going back to smoking

The study to determine health risks of e-cigs was based on order accuracy, disposal methods, and basically nothing of any ACTUAL HEALTH significance. Wonder if the research team was funded by a government grant or the tobacco industry?

Fortunately the e-cigarette lobby is non-existent compared to the tobacco lobby which still pretty much owns a piece of Congress. It'll take a couple months to pull e-ciggs but tobacco will NEVER leave. Although honestly, if Repubs have their way, no legislation will ever pass again if it doesn't have something to do with making rich people richer, so I guess we can forget about pulling either from the shelves.

Nobody would claim that electronic cigarettes are completely innocuous, but they only have to be less toxic/harmful/nasty than cigarettes to be a better alternative. It'd be great to be informed of any dangers attributed to e-cigarettes, but until it's shown that they are worse than cigarettes, it's irresponsible to scare people into choosing the greater of two evils.

And yes- using phrases like, "could lead to exposure to a dangerous and addictive chemical," is scare tactics. We're not talking about toxic waste or crack cocaine, it's nicotine- which is the same dangerous and addictive chemical found in cigarettes.

The claim of possible health problems is also apparently unsubstantiated.

Big Tobacco must be really worried about losing profits because they're applying all kinds of political pressure to hinder the development and marketing of ecigs.

The sky is falling.....

Really? A device that dispenses a known poison (Nicotine) is dangerous?

The study does not show any health risks they are claiming. It only showed that some cartridges leaked. I know people who have quit using e-ciggs. They can't be any worse, in fact must be healthier than the hundreds of chemicals added in regular ciggs. I am currently using them to quit smoking, and haven't had a "regular" cigarette since.

I agree. This is a good study with a poor conclusion. The conclusion should have been "the scientist are now working with companies producing electronic cigarettes to improve labeling and instructions for use and disposal, and investigating ways to improve the safety and results of the product". Even if smokers continue to expose themselves to risk in using these, they can at least do so without exposing their companions to second hand smoke. That doesn't preclude room for improvement, but this is certainly a step up from the status quo.

And yes Andrew, we should be pulling about 80% of our meat off the shelves too. It's a worldwide menace and the source of several epidemics. That's not a reason to stop researching its effects though.

What about the propylene glycol solution? propylene glycol is used in more than 80% of fogers used at Halloween or at clubs, dances. What health risk is there with just propylene glycol?

I've got to agree with everyone else. As someone who's literally watched someone die from lung cancer, pulling these quit-smoking aids from the market would actually be the dangerous thing to do.

I do not have problem of health risk of cigarets for their smokers. It is they will and they can choose if to smoke (and have a heath problems). I got a problem with heath risks the smokers do to all the others, and with odour they produce so that sitting in a restaurant means to wash then everything otherwise you scent like ash-disher.

Maybe I'm missing something here but, all I'm hearing /reading about is the effect of pg liquid. What about the vg juice (vegetable based) options of e-liquid here? There is also organic vg e-liquid available now. I've always used this kind of juice. Did anyone here an FDA response to that? I would be very curious to know what they could possibly say since vg liquid is made with food products we eat regularly.. potatoes, peppers etc?

some of the people are not ready to take off the traditional Cig.. that's why they are saying these and that all the time to prevent anymore smoker to switch on e cig..

saying that its dangerous.. it is clearly that the e cig produce only fog/vapor from vegetable glycerin or PG .. it does not produce any of the 4000 chemical of an regular combustion cig.. e cig does not involve any combustion .. just a heat between 35 degree C

to 40 degree C (not sure about the heat) because vegetable glycerin or PG are vaporized between 35 c and 40 c..

let's do a basic experiment.. smoke a regular cig.. and blow it into a plain white paper.. and then do the same with e cig.. see which one is "cleaner" i can confirm you that e cig produce nothing on the plain white paper while traditional tobacco gives a very very dirty yellowish look on the white paper..

the product are used back in the days .. The electronic cigarette was invented by a Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik in 2003

that means it was almost 8 years of people using the product.. not even once that people reported they are ill or what so ever for using the e cig.. so come on guys.. its way better then the traditional Cig~

Well, I have been a cigarett smoker for about 20 years. Started the E cigg 3 months ago and haven't looked back. But now....it is a different story. I am having A LOT health problems. I think when I was smoking a real cigarette I was healthier. Everyone should know...do not use the E cigg, I am having heart issues, esophogus issues and I am only 42 years old. This has all started about 3 weeks ago. I thought this was the next big GREAT thing and it worked a miracle on me, now I think all of my health issues are related to the E cigg. And none of the doctors can tell me a thing about it becasue they do not know anything about it because no one has done a real study on them. We need to think before we start handing these out to the public as the answer to quitting smoking. Now I am facing a lot of unanswerable issues and it is with my health.

There is no way I would go back to real cigarettes. I as soon as i started using these 2 years ago i was able to jog again without coughing and wheezing. The greatest thing i ever did for my healthy.

My first kist cost over 200 bucks (ripped off) but now i get them for 20 bucks for a better model (808d-1) http//:www.vaporhawk.com highly recommended.

I get upset now when people who smoke say they don't want to use electronic cigarettes because they are just about to quit. Everyone that has said that to me over the last few years still smokes tobacco.

Do yourself a favor and don't believe these scare tactics that ignore the millions of people who's lives have been be saved by switching to electronic cigarettes instead of tobacco.

Gotta go for a jog now I've finished using my e-cig while writing this comment. Do these studies ever examine the users of electronic cigarettes or are they just commisoned by big tobacco?

I strongly suggest we ban the production, distribution and consumption of Emmenthaler cheese, as it has not been seriously investigated by self-appointed experts and therefore can be deadly. Or lemonade - home made, without any control from official, competent health-care organizations... How stupid can one get? Not too stupid, if paid for by huge tobacco companies... In less than a year, I saved more than 2000 euro by switching to e-cig, and that was taking into account all e-cig expenses and the occasional pack of cigarettes I still indulge myself with... Now consider that here in Romania, my wife's and my monthly incomes combined hardly reach 1000 euro, so we saved 2 month's worth... With no tar, smoke, carbon dioxide and monoxide, nu nitrogen oxides and myriads of compounds a burning cigarette tip, oscillating between 200 and 1000 degrees Celsius, can produce with paper, tobacco, aromas and other secret, habit-making components! But not to worry, it HAS been tested and found predictably deadly by the morons, therefore, sell away!

Check and double check, by all means, expose negligence in design and sloppiness in workmanship, discover better designs, promote them for free, YES, PLEASE, DO THAT!!! But withdraw from the market? How stupid and/or corrupt can you be, in your shameless pride?

This "study" is basically worthless. It's not about actual potential health risks (which would likely have to do with effects of PG or VG or chemicals in the flavoring) - This study has the tell tale signs of links to corporate interests and/or the FDA. The surgeon who recently removed two giant polyps from my vocal chords (result of heavy, long-term smoking combined with constant lecturing) was overjoyed when he heard I'd replaced smoking with "vaping." I'd be very interested in learning about the real side effects of regular vaping; however, all I've been able to find on the internet are ridiculous articles like this one. Currently the research is being done by those with vested interests.

I have to add one more thing: I quit smoking within 3 days of starting to use electronic cigarettes. I smoked 1-3 packs a day for over 27 years. It's quite possible that there are negative effects associated with regular inhalation of propylene glycol; however, that same substance is used in asthma inhalers and the FDA has no problem with that. Chantix causes suicidal ideation, surreal and violent nightmares, and is associated with heart attacks. Yet the FDA approved that drug as a smoking cessation "tool." Nicotine is no worse for a person than caffeine. The problem would appear to be that big business doesn't have a patent on the technology.

I read about the benefits of electronic cigarettes here - http://www.allecigs.com/benefits-of-electronic-cigarettes. E-cigarettes are safer than tobacco cigarettes! If ever they get banned, then tobacco cigarettes should be banned too... It is appalling that some gov't agencies/groups out there are going strongly against an invention that could possibly save lives.

ok here ya go guy an official FDA study of 2 diferent e-cigs

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ScienceResearch/UCM173250.pdf

btw I use the Volcano INFERNO e-cig have been smoke free for 75 days, saved over $600.00 us, and feel better than I did smoking analog cigs :)

@Lee Greer

Thanks for the data, Lee. BTW, "analog cigs", LOL!

Just switched, myself. We all know nicotine isn't the best thing in the world for us (neither is caffeine), but eliminating carbon monoxide and carcinogens has to be an improvement, right?

Come on... The purpose of changing to E-cigs is not too keep on smoking? I hope at least, for me it´s in order to be able to quit more efficiently:

Step 1:

Change addiction to e-cig (handle all addictions from cigarettes except nicotine)

Step 2:

Cut down on nicotine in the blend (handle physical addiction while maintaining psychological addiction (have a cigarette in hand, doing something when waiting etc.)

Step 3:

Stop putting nicotine in the blend completely (self-explanatory yea?)

Step 4:

Quit it all together

Y'know...the main thing I drew from this article (or at least the study it's talking about) is "please apply the same level of care and maintenance to your e-cigarette as you do your other electronic devices." While I guess I can understand the worry about leakage, it's not what I would call a "health risk."

Many of these articles leave out Vegetable Glycerin which is natural and our retaler advised us to purchase. Also Christoffer, there is a choice of nicotine in these oils. from none to 31.2mg. So the choice is there. The loss will not be for the tobacco farmers but to the cigarette companies and the goverment are trying to find a way to tax this product too.

Also, these articles leave out that the risk of second smike is obviously gone. Its our free will if we want to damage our own health with this addiction. The fact of the matter is that the risks have become lower to ourselves and those breathing the smoke.

The psychological risks are to TEENAGERS. Which is illigal for them to smoke nicotine anyways.

TO ANDREW, I fully agree. These articles about PG are OUTDATED. Like any new technology new versions are made. I mean, we are at generation 4 IPOD. Just a example there. This technology can only get better. Its only been two years and ONE bad batch.

As a physician and surgeon, I am heartily recommending these to my traditional cigarette smoking patients who have tried many times to quit with other methods. The "study" this Gizmag article referenced is a joke of monumental proportions as everyone is pointing out. It's hard to fool the Gizmag crowd...maybe the common person who only reads headlines in newspapers, but not here. :)

The main thing about quitting traditional cigarette smoking is NOT quitting the nicotine (our body produces our own natural nicotine)... it's getting away from the thousands of toxic chemicals, tars, radioactive products found in burning tobacco smoke. In a hundred years, when it's only e-Cigs, people will look back in horror on the millions of lives killed by tobacco over the centuries by cancer, pulmonary disease and hypertension.

e-Cigs are a GOD-SEND for getting off tobacco. It will actually save hundreds of thousands of lives the world-over in the next decades, if we get enough people to switch over to e-Cigs.

Sincerely,

Dr. Rings, MD

I recently tried the "clean air" test, as an ex smoker I have been very acutly aware of the colour/staining that is derived when puffing cigarette smoke out even very gently through white tissue paper, yes, its yellow, or brown even with the slightet breathe.

With the e-cig I tried vigorously the same test, repeatedly, every time, even breathing out over the same patch at least four times, the paper remained as white as it was to start with, clearly there is less crap going into my lungs using the e-cig, there is just one chemical compared to about 80, there is no burning involved, just a vapour, I think I would rather just have nicotine in my lungs than a accompainment of arounf 79 to 80 others along with it.....I dont think banning is the answer, It should be our choice, incedently, the liquis I buy DOES have a toxic warning on it, with a skull & crossbones....I dont recall seeing that on any fag packets !!!

The one big problem with trying to tell if someone is having health issues from an electronic cigarette, is this; there aren't any, at least to my knowledge, e-cig smokers that did not smoke regular cigarettes before.

So the problem here is a who person starts smoking e-cigs and puts traditionals down, their body is going to go through alot of things and maybe even feel worse then when they smoked. There are tons of chemicals in cigarettes and depending on what brand some of those chemicals can be more addictive than nicotine itself. So when you smoke a e-cig you could go through withdrawl from the chemical that you were addicted to, and it could be worse than nicotine withdrawl. Along with this possible withdraw, your body will also need to detoxify, your bloodvessels need to cleanse and your blood pressure and heart rate that were once in tune with smoking cigarretes and those chemicals that ran through the vessels will now have to get back to normal. This alone can lead to health problems especially if you are at an age lets say 30 and up, when the average persons body starts to decline in functionallity.

Now with all this going on a former smoker now e-cig smoker is likely going to think that e-cigs are making them sick. This could be the case but to test that theory change brands of actual model and change the liquid you use, always use USA made. This way you can rule the e-cig itself out by then stopping using the ecig, but don't pick up cigs because if its withdrawl then the traditional cigs will cure it just like heroin makes junkies feel better. Now if you still feel these things after this then its likely not the e-cigs you're body is just not used to not having a steady flow of whatever was in your cigs and its going haywire.

This will be the biggest argument against e-cigs in the coming years and I expect it soon. The first reported death by lung cancer of a e-cig user will be attributed directly to e-cigs and not the traditionaly tobacco cigarettes they once smoked, and then... they will come after us.

Until that day I'll keep my picketting sign in storage and enjoy my Kona Velvet Milkshake 100% organic e-liquid. Actually after then too because if is not impossible to find a guy who makes mod units and they can't pull all our food off the shelves so the resources for vaping will always be there. Also by that point I don't even see myself vaping nicotine.