FDA Study About Electronic Cigarette Dangers
Most of us have heard each side oft the debate about e-cigs. On one side, we have the advocates that feel they’re harmless to use and also a highly effective device for quitting smoking. On the other side of this argument would be the opponents who suggest the e-cig is unsafe to the consumer and they are unsuccessful as a smoking cessation device. But as we all know, if there are two sides to a story, the reality is somewhere in the middle.
The e-cigarette debate became viral around August of 09 when the Food and Drug Administration printed a report claiming they had analyzed e cigarettes, together with their associated product e-liquid (nicotine product used in electric cigarettes), and identified them to be hazardous since they included materials deemed to be harmful to humans. The e cig camp fired back by hiring the well known technical analysis firm Exponent Engineering to examine the FDA report and the procedures they utilized to attain their findings. Exponent Engineering identified the findings reached by the FDA analysis appeared to be invalid because the assessment procedures they applied were far from those required to come up with these kinds of scientific determinations.
Presently, over a year later, what exactly have we learned about the safety regarding smokeless cigarette use? Generally speaking, practically nothing has changed. Each side of the controversy still declares victory yet in the long run, e-cig smokers remain in the dark about whether the e-cig is harmless to use and beneficial as a stop smoking instrument. Why don’t we have a closer look at precisely what we do understand.
In the interest of brevity, I won’t get into detail about how the electric cigarette operates or how it is used. It is simply a nicotine delivery system not unlike the doctor prescribed Nicotrol inhaler. It operates by warming and vaporizing a mixture of propylene glycol and nicotine (e liquid) as the smoker breathes in from the apparatus. The FDA’s primary point of contention, established mistaken by Exponent Engineering, is that the nicotine containing solution they examined included noxious impurities. The argument over this point itself is not my issue. The most important thing to note here is that the FDA could have, if intentional or not, come across an extremely important point. So let’s examine this a little bit further.
In America, most anything we eat or drink is required to conform to criteria regulated by government organizations which assure our safety and health. We frequently come across products that were recalled by the producer because of the slightest noncompliance with the proper production steps. So let us check out e-liquid (nicotine mixture used in electric cigarettes) for a moment. Right now, you’ll find basically no guidelines or polices in place regulating its production, who may manufacture it, how it is stored or even its shelf life. Generally speaking, you or I can go on the web, shop for e liquid components and start mixing it inside our garages with zero regulation whatsoever. For personal use, this will possibly appear acceptable. Although I don’t know of any similar product designed for human inhalation that you may make for yourself let alone for mass consumption and advertise it for sale on the net. But still, this is precisely what a great many eliquid marketers are actually doing.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am in no way declaring that e liquid may be unsafe. I am stating there is a real potential that as a consequence of insufficient regulation, contaminated eliquid might in theory fall into the hands of an e cig smoker. Now you may wonder about the e liquid which is manufactured by the electronic cigarette suppliers themselves? Here once more, we basically have the same issue. Manufactured predominantly in China, there is absolutely no regulations of any sort regarding how this e liquid is made. Ultimately, it appears people shopping for eliquid should consider the old adage caveat emptor or “Let the buyer beware”.
Want to find out more about the new electronic cigarette? Just visit Aaron Stevenson’s site for reviews and comparisons of the new electronic cigarette, supplies and pcc kits.