SUN EDITORIAL:

Healthier than tobacco?

Although unapproved, a new way of obtaining a nicotine high is gaining ground in U.S.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

There’s a new cigarette on the American market whose nicotine can be inhaled anywhere, even in areas governed by “clean indoor air” laws. It comes with a battery.

Electronic cigarettes, manufactured mostly in China, have been for sale in Asian markets for a few years. Now they are making inroads in this country. Sales here by way of the Internet, TV infomercials and mall kiosks have become brisk, according to a New York Times story published this week.

Cartridges that are both refillable and replaceable are the business end of electronic cigarettes, which contain no tobacco and emit an unregulated, seemingly harmless mist but no smoke. The most popular cartridges are those that contain nicotine, the drug craved by tobacco addicts.

The perceived advantage of e-cigarettes is that the hundreds of other harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke are not present.

Some brands resemble pens while others look almost like regular cigarettes. The main idea is to give tobacco smokers the sensation they’ve grown comfortable with — holding a cigarette between their fingers and inhaling every few seconds to achieve a nicotine high.

E-cigarettes are even packed with propylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze and in theater productions to simulate smoke. This gives them a “lit” look.

Many smokers are turning to the product as a way of either kicking or reducing their tobacco habit. Other people are trying it out of curiosity. As the Times pointed out, however, studies of e-cigarettes have never been completed in this country, either by private labs or by the Food and Drug Administration.

In fact, the FDA has never even authorized e-cigarettes to be sold in the United States. An FDA official interviewed by the Times called them “unapproved drug device products.”

Nevertheless, e-cigarettes are here and they are growing in popularity. The FDA would be doing the public a service by undertaking a study to determine the extent of their effects on health.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

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By uddeboda

June 6, 2009

5:23 a.m.

Suggest removal

Dont you have nicotine patches in the USA
By KillerB

June 6, 2009

7:34 a.m.

Suggest removal

"An FDA official interviewed by the Times called them "unapproved drug device products."

To require approval on something as how people indulge themselves in their pursuit of happiness is one of the signs we live in a police state.

That FDA official and his keepers need a lesson on liberty -- you know, the kind the Constitution mentioned in its Preamble:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
By akovor

June 6, 2009

8:27 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By nerdovision

June 7, 2009

8:34 a.m.

Suggest removal

Wait a second here... You are telling me that smoking cigarettes are bad for me? You have got to be kidding me, I had no idea! Now the government wants to take control and inform everyone that smoking is bad for us? I am sure they are going to make it illegal to sell these things to kids from now on and stop any advertising of them and possibly put warnings on every pack!
What a FARSE! All these things have come to pass! This is just one more thing that the government is going to take control over! Next will be the banks, businesses, fuels, energy, and eventually food and water! Total government control is coming soon! Wake up sheeple or soon we will all be saying: Welcome to The United Soviet States of America!