Electronic cigarettes much safer than real ones: Study

A new study has suggested that electronic cigarettes, the battery-powered devices that provide tobacco-less doses of nicotine in a vaporised solution, are much safer than real cigarettes.

Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researcher Michael Siegel said that the review is the first to comprehensively examine scientific evidence about the safety and effectiveness of electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes.

“Few, if any, chemicals at levels detected in electronic cigarettes raise serious health concerns. Although the existing research does not warrant a conclusion that electronic cigarettes are safe in absolute terms and further clinical studies are needed to comprehensively assess the safety of electronic cigarettes, a preponderance of the available evidence shows them to be much safer than tobacco cigarettes and comparable in toxicity to conventional nicotine replacement products,” said the authors.

For study, the researchers reviewed 16 laboratory studies that identified the components in electronic cigarette liquid and vapour. The authors found that carcinogen levels in electronic cigarettes are up to 1,000 times lower than in tobacco cigarettes.

“The FDA and major anti-smoking groups keep saying that we don't know anything about what is in electronic cigarettes. The truth is, we know a lot more about what is in electronic cigarettes than regular cigarettes,” said Siegel.

The report also reviewed preliminary evidence that electronic cigarettes can be effective in suppressing the urge to smoke, largely because they simulate the act of smoking a real cigarette.

The authors also argued that E-cigarettes might also offer an advantage over traditional nicotine delivery devices because smoking-related stimuli alone have been found capable of suppressing tobacco abstinence symptoms for long periods of time.

The review will be published in the upcoming issue of Journal of Public Health Policy.