With the increasing buzz surrounding the electronic cigarette, there are increasing investigations into its value and whether it is too good to be true. There is not much empirical evidence available and so there are many tests being carried out on the product as I type. The retailers and manufacturers of the electronic cigarette have been quick to promote it and advertise its many positives but as we all should know, they really have no incentive to make any negatives known and they even may not know that negatives exist.

Some of the features of the electronic cigarette are that it has no tobacco and thus no tobacco smoke (therefore no second-hand smoke) but emits a vapor instead which leaves no smell on one’s breath or clothes, it has no tar, no carcinogens and is cost-effective. Another important highlight is the nicotine regulation feature. The user has the ability to regulate the level of nicotine that he/she consumes and can even acquire a cartridge that contains no nicotine. Now after considering all of the above, don’t you think that if one smokes an electronic cigarette and opts for a zero nicotine cartridge that it would be totally safe? Well let us see.

In actuality, there is no foolproof evidence that there is any health problem associated with the electronic cigarette with zero nicotine. The only established problem with electronic cigarettes stems from dangers presented by the nicotine additive. Propylene glycol, the substance that creates the vapor in the electronic cigarette, is used in food coloring and as smoke for on-stage plays and other performances thus it is perfectly safe.

The Food and Drug Administration of the U.S.A. did issue a report namely the ‘Evaluation of e-cigarettes’ which expressed many doubts about the ‘supposed’ safety of the electronic cigarette. Njoy, one of the primary manufacturing companies of the electronic cigarette, came out in defense of their product seeking to dispel the ‘false accusations made by the FDA in its report. There was even a technical review and analysis of the electronic cigarette done by Exponent® to show the flaws in the report.

So the arguments and battles continue to be waged, but in the meantime the electronic cigar or cigarette is perfectly legal and available for public consumption and there has been no sound proof that it causes any health problem when it is not used with nicotine.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 1:27 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.