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To unhealthy e-cigarettes raging a dispute
E-cigarettes are considered by many to be a healthier alternative to tobacco. But the electronic vaporizers are not healthy. There are experts agree. There is disagreement over how dangerous e-cigarettes really are.
Minimize health problems caused by cigarettes
With e-cigarettes, the ghosts are different. Both laymen and experts argue about whether the dangers of "steaming" outweigh or whether the electronic vaporizers rather than hundreds of thousands of people from the "smoke" can be dissuaded. Basically, it's about minimizing the huge health problems of cigarettes. That the opinions on how this can happen, could hardly be more different, reports the "world" in a recent review.
Save hundreds of thousands of lives
Sociomedicine researchers at New York's Columbia University recently wrote in the journal "Science" of a "global fight for e-cigarettes". In the journal "BMC Medicine", Peter Hajek, a preventive physician at London's Queen Mary University, said that switching from tobacco to e-cigarettes could save hundreds of thousands of lives. Charlotta Pisinger of the Danish Glostrup Hospital, however, argued in the same magazine that pragmatists like Hajek would undermine the successes of the decades-long fight against tobacco. In their opinion, e-cigarettes could arouse the desire for real cigarettes and make smoking acceptable again.
Sales increased many times over
Consuming an e-cigarette, a liquid is evaporated. The liquids consist of over 90 percent of a carrier substance, usually propylene glycol or glycerol. The majority of liquids also contain nicotine. The taste comes from flavors. According to the producers, sales of such products have increased many times in recent years. Thomas Hartung of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore expects a significant increase in distribution. "Probably more people would do that if the experience was comparable to smoking," says the toxicologist. At the moment, the body absorbs significantly less nicotine when it is being steamed than when smoking. "But that's a matter of time, that's just a technological problem."
Less harmful than tobacco cigarettes
Researchers unanimously believe that e-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, despite possible unknown risks. Physicians around the pharmacologist David Nutt of Imperial College London recently estimated in the journal "European Addiction Research" the health risks of e-cigarettes compared to normal cigarettes to about four percent. Thus, nicotine replacement therapies with chewing gum, patches or sprays averaged two percent. "Applications of other nicotine forms such as e-cigarettes or nicotine replacement therapies should be encouraged to reduce cigarette consumption as their risks are much lower," the researchers said.
Smoking claims a billion lives
In the 21st century, about one billion people are predicted to die as a result of smoking. According to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), smoking shortens life by an average of ten years. Smoking is one of the most important risk factors for chronic, non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, for example atherosclerosis (arteriosclerosis), chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD (smoker's lung), many cancers, especially lung cancer and type 2 diabetes. In addition, the risk of thrombosis increases. Switching to steaming could potentially save many an early death. "We're talking about saving about 100 million lives," Hartung said, citing studies suggesting one in nine smokers continues to steam. "We should use this opportunity. With a restrictive stance you would stop a train leaving for years. "
E-cigarettes make the smoking stop more likely
An overview study by the Cochrane Collaboration found that e-cigarettes could probably facilitate smoking cessation. According to the study, which is based on two randomized studies, nine percent of steamers of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes stopped using their tobacco for at least one year. In addition, 36 percent of consumers were able to halve their cigarette consumption. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews states that the result must be confirmed by further investigation. "Both studies tested low-nicotine e-cigarettes, and newer products with higher and faster nicotine delivery are likely to be more effective." The lead author of the study was Peter Hajek.
Smokers move to abstinence
Martina Pötschke-Langer from the DKFZ sees this quite differently. "Peter Hajek is an upright devotee who is passionate about making a substantial contribution to tobacco cessation," said the expert. "But his arguments are not substantive. The world is more complex. "She calls for smokers to abstain from abstinence and not to make their e-cigarettes palatable. "We know that half the smokers manage to quit, most without aids. From a medical point of view, it is a serious mistake to induce these hopeful, willing to quit smoker to change. "The expert pointed to the variety of flavors that can occur in e-cigarettes. "The e-cigarette contains a chemical mixture of ultrafine particles that enter the body through the respiratory tract. One can not see at the moment what they do. Many flavors are not tested at all, others just as food, but not during the inhalation process. "
Antifreeze for smoking
There are still no safety standards, but you do not know much about the effects of liquids. Pötschke-Langer estimates that there are more than 200 studies, but Hartung also believes that this is not enough given the thousands of possible ingredients. "You do not know enough," says the toxicologist. "Manufacturers are on the safe side because many flavors come from food. But they are not inhaled. You can certainly experience surprises. "Researchers at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin also experienced a surprise when they examined 28 products. "We found nebulizers that we did not expect, such as ethylene glycol," explained biochemist Frank Henkler. The substance is also known as antifreeze. "There was no serious toxicological problem with the amounts found, but we do not know how it will work for years in chronic use."
Many consumers mix their own liquid
In addition, they found allergenic fragrances or the substance coumarin, which may not occur in tobacco products due to liver-damaging properties. Henkler explained that carbonyl compounds such as formaldehyde or acetaldehyde could also be formed, especially if more than two-thirds of the liquid from the depot has evaporated. "It would be helpful to have a level gauge or technical safety features that would prevent overheating," the biochemist said. "You could minimize many pollutants in the emissions. But we are just at the beginning of a technical development. "The situation is aggravated by the fact that many consumers now mix their own liquid. You can find many videos on the internet. "It's a chemist's freak," says Tobias Schripp from the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research in Braunschweig. "One wonders: which market-typical substances would I actually have to measure and how should I rate them?"
Test ingredients as quickly as possible
Most importantly, in ingredient safety studies, there has hitherto been no uniform method of testing e-cigarettes. "At the moment everyone cooks their own soup", the chemist explained and emphasized: "The processes are there, you just have to agree on one of them." The ingredients should be tested as quickly as possible in order to provide steamers with a minimum of safety, warned Hartung: "We need the most comprehensive possible evaluation of such substances in order to identify the risky substances. Some substances smell of problems, others seem unlikely. "Biochemist Henkler advised to a positive list:" It would be beneficial to use only flavors that are also approved for tobacco products. "(Ad)