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Tag: health
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American Medical Association updates view on E-cigarettes
AMA’s Updated Stance on E-cigarettes
The American Medical Association (AMA) has expressed its support for an FDA proposal aimed at bridging the gap in federal regulations concerning the purchase, labeling, packaging, and advertising of electronic cigarettes. This was announced by the incoming AMA President, Dr. Robert M. Wah. He emphasized that this new policy will steer the AMA’s future endeavors to robustly advocate for the proposed FDA regulation, a significant step towards enhancing public health and preventing the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.
AMA’s Policy on E-cigarettes and Nicotine Delivery Systems
The new policy introduced by the AMA, in addition to enforcing minimum age restrictions for purchases, advocates for the following product requirements for electronic cigarettes and nicotine delivery systems:
- Transparency in the design, content, and emissions;
- Safety measures such as child-proof and tamper-proof packaging and design;
- Improved product labeling;
- Restrictions on flavors that are attractive to minors; and
- Prohibition of unsupported marketing claims promoting these products as a tool for tobacco cessation.
The AMA is also actively encouraging the development of strategies to prevent the marketing of electronic cigarettes and nicotine delivery systems to minors and to mitigate the adverse health effects of nicotine on minors.
AMA’s Commitment to Public Health
Dr. Wah reiterated that the AMA’s top priority is to enhance the health of the nation. The association will persist in advocating for policies that help alleviate the burden of preventable diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, both of which can be associated with smoking.
About the AMA
The American Medical Association is a leading national organization. It is committed to empowering the nation’s physicians to consistently deliver safer, higher quality, and more efficient care to patients and communities. For over 165 years, the AMA has remained steadfast in its commitment to leverage its unique position and knowledge to shape a healthier future for America.
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Top Scientists Warn WHO Not to Stub Out E-cigarettes
Top Scientists warn World Health Organization not to classify electronic cigarettes as tobacco products.
LONDON (Reuters) – A group of 53 leading scientists has warned the World Health Organization not to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would jeopardize a major opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking.
The UN agency, which is currently assessing its position on the matter, has previously indicated it would favor applying similar restrictions to all nicotine-containing products.
In an open letter to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, the scientists from Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia argued that low-risk products like e-cigarettes were “part of the solution” in the fight against smoking, not part of the problem.
“These products could be among the most significant health innovations of the 21st century – perhaps saving hundreds of millions of lives. The urge to control and suppress them as tobacco products should be resisted,” the experts wrote.
Leaked documents from a meeting last November suggest the WHO views e-cigarettes as a “threat” and wants them classified the same way as regular tobacco products under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
That has set alarm bells ringing among a number of medical experts – and in the booming e-cigarette industry. A total of 178 countries are parties to the international convention and are obliged to implement its measures, with the United States the one notable non-signatory.
A move to classify e-cigarettes alongside regular cigarettes would push countries into taking similar tough measures to restrict demand, including raising taxes, banning advertising, introducing health warnings and curbing use in public places.
Uptake of electronic cigarettes, which use battery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced inhalable vapor, has rocketed in the last two years and analysts estimate the industry had worldwide sales of some $3 billion in 2013.
But the devices are controversial. Because they are so new there is a lack of long-term scientific evidence to support their safety and some fear they could be “gateway” products to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking – though the scientists said they were “unaware of any credible evidence that supports this conjecture”.
BIG TOBACCO BACKS SCIENTISTS
For tobacco companies seeking to offset the decline in traditional smoking, investment in e-cigarettes was an obvious choice and all the major players now have a presence, prompting Big Tobacco to line up behind scientists on this occasion.
Kingsley Wheaton, director of corporate and regulatory affairs at British American Tobacco, said classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products would mean smokers find it harder to access a less risky alternative.
The Geneva-based WHO said its position on e-cigarettes was still in flux ahead of a key meeting on the FCTC scheduled for October 13-18 in Moscow, where proposed regulations will be discussed.
“At this point the only thing I can say is that we are elaborating these regulations and they will soon be available to you,” Armando Peruga, programme manager for the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative told reporters this week.
Gerry Stimson, emeritus professor at Imperial College London and one of the organizers of the letter to Chan, told Reuters that the WHO’s position was “bizarre” and its stance on e-cigarettes was harsher than that of regulators in Europe and the United States.
“We want to make sufficient noise now before things get too set in stone,” he said.
By Ben Hirschler
(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva, editing by David Evans)
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Electronic Cigarettes Help You Quit Smoking – New Study Reveals
Electronic Cigarettes will help you quit smoking says a new study.
A new study of almost 6,000 smokers over five years has shown that the use of electronic cigarettes will help you quit smoking. Smokers are 60 percent more likely to successfully quit smoking if they use electronic cigarettes vs. other nicotine products such as patches and gums, or cold turkey.
This finding shows that electronic cigarettes will reduce tobacco-related deaths and illnesses dramatically when used by cigarette smokers looking to stop the tobacco habit. The use of electronic cigarettes will reduce lung cancer and other chronic respiratory diseases, and will reduce cardiovascular diseases, which are the number one killer in the world. People who quit smoking will reduce their chances of cardiovascular disease in half within one year of quitting smoking. Within five years of quitting smoking, the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, and bladder. Within 2-5 years of quitting smoking, the risk of stroke is reduced to that of a non-smoker.
Robert West of University College London’s epidemiology and public health department stated: “E-cigarettes could substantially improve public health because of their widespread appeal and the huge health gains associated with stopping smoking,” It was Robert who leads this study.
This huge 5-year study surveyed 5,863 smokers between 2009 and 2014 who have tried to quit smoking. Of those smokers, 20% successfully quit smoking with the aid of e-cigarettes compared with 10.1% of those using traditional nicotine replacements such as patches and gums.
Those against electronic cigarettes point to a lack of long-term scientific evidence to show the safety of these devices, and also worry that e-cigarette use will become a more accepted practice, after spending many years reducing the use of traditional tobacco cigarettes. West agreed that the long-term results are not there, however, urges people to weigh them against the strong evidence we have on the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. He stated: “It’s not clear whether long-term use of e-cigarettes carries health risks, but from what is known about the contents of the vapour these will be much less than from smoking”.
Tobacco smoking kills half of the people who do it, and kills an estimated six million people each year, according to the World Health Organization.
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Electronic cigarettes with nicotine “very similar to drinking coffee” UK Professor reports
Electronic Cigarettes effects are very similar to drinking coffee
A UK professor has made a striking comparison between the effects of electronic cigarettes with nicotine and drinking coffee. This statement was made following a recent test conducted at Queen Mary University in London, England.
The Test and Its Findings
The test, supervised by Professor Peter Hayek, involved a subject who had his levels of carbon monoxide checked after using an electronic cigarette and then a tobacco cigarette. Hayek stated, “Many people perceive nicotine itself as a dangerous poison, but if nicotine is consumed without the accompanying toxins, as with an electronic cigarette, then the health effects would be very similar to drinking coffee.”
BBC reporter Graham Satchell further clarified that “E-cigarettes contain no discernible toxins or carbon monoxide.” The test involved using a carbon monoxide detector before the test, immediately after using an electronic cigarette, and then immediately after using a tobacco cigarette. The results clearly demonstrated that electronic cigarettes do not increase carbon monoxide levels in the body, unlike tobacco cigarettes.
The Dangers of Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is highly dangerous for the body. There is substantial evidence that high levels of carbon monoxide in the blood of smokers is a primary factor leading to increased rates of cardiovascular diseases, such as angina and heart attacks. It is evident that the reduced oxygen supply caused by carbon monoxide is a significant factor.
References:
- Electronic Cigarettes vs. Smoking – How do they compare?
- Carbon Monoxide in Cigarette Smoke
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Electronic cigarette Vapor vs. Cigarette Smoke – A practical experiment
Electronic Cigarette Vapor vs. Cigarette Smoke
When people are smoking cigarettes, one of the biggest preaching points from non smokers is second hand smoke. We have now seen the dramatic negative effects of non-smokers who work in smokey envirnments for years and years. From cancer to lung deseise to heart demise, all by just breathing in second hand smoke.
I remember back as a smoker setting up a fan in the window of my office. I would smoke in my office and attempt to exhaust the tobacco smoke from the room with this window fan. The realiziation of just how disgusting tobacco smoke is came after a few months when I moved the fan from the window. There was a yellow brown stain in the exact dimensions of the fan on the screen, and it was disgusting! All I could think of was the inside of my lungs being coated with this disgusting film. This was after all just the second hand smoke from the room.
I’m sure many of you have had experiences like this, or other ones similar. Cleaning the inside of the glass of a car window after smoking in it, or even house windows and walls after years of smoking.
I watched a great YouTube Video – You can see it here – About an experiment someone does comparing the second hand cigarette smoke with second hand vapor from an electronic cigarette. While this is by no means a scientifically valid experiment, never the less, it becomes obvious very quickly in the experiment the difference between the vapor of an electronic cigarette and the smoke from a tobacco cigarette.
What this experimenter did is essentially run a full cigarette through some paper towel using the force of water coming out of a bottle. He then did the exact same thing using an electronic cigarette. With the paper towel with a tobacco cigarette, what you saw was very similar to what I was talking about with the yellow/brown disgusting sludge that built up with my window fan. With the electronic cigarette, the paper towel remained completely white. Here is a photo:
Now as I said in the beginning of this article, this is in no way a scientific experiment, however it is a pretty neat side by side comparision of e-cigarette vapor vs. tobacco smoke vapor that I think is really quite interesting.
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Health Canada moves to get read on e-cigarette use
Seven years after the first electronic cigarettes arrived in this country, Health Canada is finally taking steps to get a handle on the booming market for the controversial devices.
The department’s Controlled Substances and Tobacco Directorate proposes to award a contract, worth up to $232,000, to Montreal firm AC Nielsen to provide data on retail sales of e-cigarettes in Canada over the past two years, along with ongoing monthly totals.
In an email, Health Canada said the data will give the department up-to-date information on the number and type of e-cigarettes and nicotine-replacement therapy products sold in retail outlets, the companies involved and sales trends.
The information will support ongoing work by the Federal Tobacco Control Strategy “to track tobacco-related trends and emerging issues and commitment to continue the downward trend in smoking prevalence in Canada,” Health Canada said.
In 2012, 16 per cent of Canadians 15 and older smoked tobacco cigarettes, the lowest rate ever recorded and down from 25 per cent in 2001. Just 11 per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds were smokers, half as many as in 2001.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat up a liquid containing nicotine or flavouring agents and dispense metered doses of mist to users.
The experience is akin to smoking but concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals in the mist are up to 1,000 times lower than in tobacco smoke.
In the U.S., sales of e-cigarettes, which first entered the North American market in 2007, are approaching $2 billion U.S. a year, and are expected to top $10 billion a year globally by 2017.
Though e-cigarettes are widely available here, no reliable sales figures exist in Canada. But in 2012, eight per cent of Canadians 15 and older reported having tried smokeless tobacco products, which include e-cigarettes.
The devices exist in a regulatory grey area in this country. While they can be sold legally, Health Canada has not approved nicotine e-cigarettes. In 2009, it advised Canadians not to use them, saying they “may pose health risks and have not been fully evaluated for safety, quality and efficacy by Health Canada.”
More recently, the department has been cracking down on businesses offering e-cigarettes with nicotine cartridges, ordering scores to stop selling them.
Supporters tout e-cigarettes as smoking cessation devices and replacements for traditional tobacco cigarettes. But others fear they could attract new users to tobacco and undercut decades of effort to stigmatize and restrict smoking.
In a recent policy brief, the Canadian Public Health Association said the challenge is that there are limited data to substantiate any of the claims made about e-cigarettes.
The paucity of reliable evidence “favours a prudent approach” to managing the sale of e-cigarettes, the association said, arguing that existing controls on their sale should be maintained pending additional research into their risks and efficacy as smoking cessation devices.
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