"If it bleeds, it leads." The media's fixation to paint e-cigarettes as the spawn of Satan overshadows the often boring news that they are actually safer than traditional tobacco. Understandable, because safe doesn't sell clicks.
Below are 5 scientific studies -- none conducted by e-cig manufacturers -- showing that e-cigs are not tobacco's evil cousin. You won't see these findings making the headlines on USA Today:
1. The toxins found in e-cigarettes are 9 to 450 times lower than those found in cigarette smoke
A 2013 study published in Tobacco Control determined that toxins from e-cigarette vapors were ridiculously lower than the type exhaled via traditional tobacco cigarettes. That rather puts the argument about dangerous secondhand fumes into firm context. Put the other way:
2. Regular cigarette smoke delivers 1,500 times more harmful chemicals than e-cigarettes
A study reported in Science Direct yielded the unsurprising findings that you get way more harmful constituents (HPHCs) in tobacco smoke than from e-cigarette smoke. In fact the scientists conducting the study concluded that the level of toxins from the vapors were comparable to those you'd get inhaling ambient air.
But what about the children who get poisoned by e-cig liquids? the anti-vapers scream. Well here's some information for them:
3. Children under 5 are more likely to get poisoned by cosmetics and household cleaners than ingesting e-cigarette liquids
Don't get us wrong -- e-cig liquids are potentially lethal in the hands of children. But vapers are not leaving e-cigarettes around the house for kids to glug.
Information from the American Association of Poison Control Centers shows that of the 2013 calls/cases brought to the nation's poison centers involving children under 5, 13% are attributed to cosmetics and personal care items and 10% to household cleaners.
In general, the safety issues of e-cigarettes are a non-issue compared to their advantages. It's not just vapers or quacks who're saying this:
4. Anti-smoking organizations consider e-cigarettes an effective smoking cessation device
For example, the UK organization Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) cites that e-cigarettes are "a safer alternative to cigarettes" and that "there is evidence that they can be effective in helping smokers quit". ASH also says that there is little evidence that 'never-smokers' are using e-cigarettes, a popular claim by anti-ecig proponents. Finally:
5. Even the government agrees that e-cigs help smokers quit smoking
This National Center for Biotechnology Information study released in June is fully supportive of e-cigarettes as a tobacco harm reduction (THR) device. In fact, the study says e-cigs "may be the greatest advance in reducing tobacco-attributable illness and death in decades".
So if you've got a vehement hater of e-cigarettes in your life, just send him or her a link to this blog post. Science wins, hands down.
Photo via Rebel Brown
