E-Cigs - I always wondered about the safety

Parent Cafe
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<p>[PLOS</a> ONE: Why Have Tobacco Control Policies Stalled? Using Genetic Moderation to Examine Policy Impacts](<a href=“http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0050576]PLOS”>Why Have Tobacco Control Policies Stalled? Using Genetic Moderation to Examine Policy Impacts)</p>

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But that’s the statistic drawn from the cohort of those people who were capable of quitting that way. In other words, if hypothetically, 30% of people are able to successfully quit smoking, and of that 30% it turns out that 90% (or 27% of all successful quitters) used the spontaneous cold turkey method – that doesn’t mean that the 70% who didn’t quit could successfully do so, if only they just woke up one day and decided to give it all up.</p>

<p>I made up the numbers for purpose of illustration, but I’ll bet that anecdotally you would find that a majority of those non-quitters were also people who tried and failed the spontaneous cold-turkey method. Almost all smokers I know tell me that they want to quit – and most tell me that they have tried to quit and failed. </p>

<p>So if you turned that statistic around and asked, “what percentage of people who spontaneously decide to quit smoking and stop are successfully able to kick the habit” you would see that the success rate is rather low, especially since mathematically a person can succeed only once, but that they can try and fail many time. </p>

<p>I do know one thing: nagging from friends and relatives doesn’t work.</p>

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<p>Exactly. If you took a group of smokers, and asked how many had tried to quit cold-turkey, I think you’d find that virtually all of them had.</p>

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<p>What I wonder is, where do young people get the money to buy cigarettes?</p>

<p>As a college professor, it seems to me that in the past couple of years I have noticed a slight increase in the number of students who smoke (or at least don’t smoke in secret). Is smoking becoming less stigmatized among young people?</p>

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<p>The odds of successfully quitting on any given attempt – by any method – are horribly low. In the range of 10%.</p>

<p>They jimmy around with the statistics in studies on nicotine gum and Chantix by defining success as not smoking at week 12 – while still taking the drug or using the patches. Of course, the real test is when you then try to wean off the nicotine (and still not smoke). It’s torture. Go thru heck for 3 months resisting the urge to quit and the payoff is you still have to go thru nicotine drug withdrawal – or chew the gum for five or six years! The real test should be at 6 months or, better yet, at 12 months…</p>

<p>The biggest study on how successful quitters did it was a National Health Service study in the UK. There, the NHS government health care system provides free patches/gum, counseling, and so forth. They pitch the standard plan to quit in advance, practice resisting triggers, use pharma nicotine. When they surveyed a county, they found that successful quitters did none of that. Didn’t practice, didn’t plan. Didn’t go to the NHS office. Quit without even 1 hour of advance thought. Didn’t use nicotine replacement. Just quit. Completely spur of the moment.</p>

<p>I can relate to that. I quit at 1 am, shortly after coming back from a midnight run to the all-night convenience store to buy cigarettes in preparation for a predicted morning snow storm. I opened one pack. Lit the cigarette. Took one puff. Put it out, and never took another puff. I threw the packs in the trash a few days later.</p>

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<p>Hah. This is timely. A new Gallup poll last month asked about quitting smoking:</p>

<p>[Most</a> U.S. Smokers Want to Quit, Have Tried Multiple Times](<a href=“Most U.S. Smokers Want to Quit, Have Tried Multiple Times”>Most U.S. Smokers Want to Quit, Have Tried Multiple Times)</p>

<p>Here’s the question on what method people used to quit:</p>

<p><a href=“http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/3ehwjtfcw027bml1rpu_og.png[/url]”>http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/3ehwjtfcw027bml1rpu_og.png&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A few of the many responses:</p>

<p>48% Just quit/Decided it was time/cold turkey
5% Nicotine patch
3% Used electronic cigarette
1% Nicotine gum</p>

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<p>The tobacco companies are buying up the ecig companies so they have more revenue streams and $$$$. There is evidence that some of the ecigs analyzed provide different amounts of nicotine than advertised–the one labelled as 0% found to contain some, the amounts in the others varying widely from the labelled amounts, containing carcinogens, etc. </p>

<p>In our state, our DOH is helping distribute language that owners can use so that their smoke free bans apply to e smoking devices as well as tobacco. The theaters, airlines and local buses have all adopted no ecig policies. </p>

<p>There CAN be an odor from the devices that can be offensive to others. In the theater, the vapor was distracting to other theatergoers. </p>

<p>People are also using the devices for other drugs, including ice and alcohol. Our state recently passed legislation banning sales to minors–kids as young as 2 were being solicited!</p>

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<p>I’m surprised that the tobacco companies didn’t introduce e-cigs first. I think they test marketed a few early variations and they didn’t prove reliable. </p>

<p>I’m not sure that the Chinese e cigs really work that well, either, but I have to confess that I would never, ever, ever, take a puff of one. I live by an absolute 100% commitment to never put a molecule of nicotine in my body again (I know the risks, this time) and I don’t trust the zero nicotine claims as far as I can throw them.</p>

<p>Plus, to be honest, I have zero desire to smoke anything at this point. I don’t miss smoking one iota. No temptation at all.</p>

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<p>Thought sales were already banned to minors, but even if they weren’t, I have a very hard time believing they were being solicited to 2-year-olds. Where’s the money in that? Is a 2-year-old even able to communicate in a way conducive to selling them anything, even if they somehow had money? Did you mean to type 12?</p>

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<p>HImom wrote: “People are also using the devices for other drugs, including ice and alcohol.” </p>

<p>What is “ice” - I have never heard of that before.</p>

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<p>Slang word for Meth.</p>

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<p>“Ice” is methamphetamine. No, a man said he was at the mall with his 2 year old D and the vendor of e-cigs there was trying to entice her to try the product. The dad was horrified!</p>

<p>In HI, there were NO bans on sales to minors and there is NO federal legislation about e-smoking devices, only FDA recommended language.</p>

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<p>“Ice” is methamphetamine. </p>

<p>Oy.</p>

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<p>Interesting to see Jenny McCarthy peddling these devices, given her anti-vaccine campaign. She’s on the record against putting any toxins in the human body. If I were cynical about it, I’d say the calculation is, “If Jenny, of all people, says it’s OK, the it must be.”</p>

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<p>Interesting study done by the CDC [Kids</a>’ Use Of Electronic Cigarettes Doubles : Shots - Health News : NPR](<a href=“CDC: Kids' Use Of Electronic Cigarettes Doubles : Shots - Health News : NPR”>CDC: Kids' Use Of Electronic Cigarettes Doubles : Shots - Health News : NPR)

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