Why Some Health Experts Believe E-Cigarettes May Actually Be A Good Thing

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from diseases related to smoking, just in the United States. American tobacco companies have been sued over and over again, but they keep making profits, because 1 in 5 people in the USA, and even greater proportions of the populations of many countries in Europe and Asia, are hooked on cigarettes.

So you would think that when a device came along that delivers the nicotine smokers crave without the carcinogenic tar and chemicals, it would be given three cheers, hip-hip-hooray. But even the biggest advocates of electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarettes, give them just one "hip."

What Are E-Cigarettes? And Who Uses Them?

E-cigarettes, for those who have not yet enountered them, are an electronic device with the look and feel of a cigarette that uses electric current to vaporize a tiny hit of nicotine and flavoring agents, without need of tobacco. The smoke-like vapor, often referred to as "vape," evaporates very quickly, but not before enough of the chemical reaches the lungs of the user to make a difference in how he or she feels.

E-cigarettes are quickly growing in popularity. In 2010, just 7% of American smokers said that they had tried e-cigarettes, according to an article published in February 2013 in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. The next year, 21% of American smokers, three times as many as the previous year, said they had tried e-cigarettes, and the market for the tobacco-free devices continues to grow.

Although the law may change, e-cigarettes usually are not regulated as are regular cigarettes. Teenagers can easily access them, and cigarettes can be used in places where regular cigarettes are prohibited. If certain powerful forces have their way, however, all that will change.

Who Is Leading the Opposition to E-Cigarettes?

E-cigarettes have some powerful opponents. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association all want to make e-cigarettes as unpopular and stigmatized as regular cigarettes, and they want bans on e-cigarette advertising and use in public places.

New York City, which was in the forefront of banning regular cigarettes, is considering measures to ban electronic cigarettes. Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City’s health commissioner, claims that e-cigarettes have again made smoking socially acceptable, especially among teenagers, who bought twice as many of the devices in 2013 as in 2012. "Vaping," Farley says, leads to smoking regular cigarettes with all their accompanying health problems.

Read More: Exposing Ten Little-Known Facts About E-Cigarettes

Does "Vaping" Really Lead to Smoking Regular Cigarettes?

But are electronic cigarettes really a "gateway drug" to smoking real tobacco products as some suggest? Even the New York City Health Commission admits "We don't know a lot about e-cigarettes." Here's what actual scientific research has found out:

• Even though the number of teen users of e-cigarettes has doubled, in North Carolina, where many families depend on the tobacco industry for their income, only about 1% of teens use them.
• Teenagers don't care whether e-cigarettes are plain or flavored.
• Teenagers who already smoke are 10 times more likely to be willing to try e-cigarettes, although about 25% of tobacco smokers wouldn't bother.
• Teenagers who don't smoke by and large don't want to try e-cigarettes, either.

Do E-Cigarettes Help People Quit Regular Cigarettes?

Millions of people who want to quit smoking have tried to quit by using nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges, and nicotine gum. Only a small fraction of would-be former smokers, however, actually manage to kick the habit with the help of patches, lozenges, and gum.

Other Nicotine Products No Better Than Quitting Cold Turkey

When researchers took a hard look at the efficacy of these common--and expensive--nicotine products, however, they found that six months after people used them, they were no more likely to have managed to quit smoking for good than people who quit cold turkey, simply deciding one day they were not going to smoke again.

In the short term, use of patches, lozenges, and gum will help many would-be quitters rocket into success. The patches prevent the worst symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, but the addiction of smoking is not just the nicotine in the tobacco. It's also having something in your hand, something in your mouth, and the feel of smoke. Lozenges, patches, and gum don't help with those "addictions," and when people find they are gaining weight, they often have problems finding something to do that gives them the same feeling as holding and tasting and feeling the smoke from a cigarette.

But Do E-Cigarettes Help Anyone Quit Smoking?

The truth is, it's really hard to quit smoking for very long, but e-cigarettes help more people quit than other methods. Doctorss at the National Institute for Health Innovation in New Zealand, who published their findings in the prestigious medical journal Lancet, conducted a randomized, controlled, clinical trial to see which of the popular methods for assisting smoking cessation really worked. At the end of six months, the researchers noted:

• 4.1% of users of placebo e-cigarettes (which provided smoke without nicotine) were able to quit and stay tobacco-free.
• 5.8% of users of nicotine patches were able to quit and stay tobacco-free.
• 7.3% of users of real e-cigarettes, with the nicotine, the feel of holding a cigarette, the look of holding a cigarette, and the smoke, were able to stay tobacco-free.

The New Zealand study showed that it isn't just the feel of holding a cigarette and inhaling smoke, or just getting enough nicotine, that helps smokers quit. It's the combination of the hit of nicotine and smoking-like experience that enables at least a few smokers to give up their habit. Because the study only recruited 657 smokers (expecting many more to have success in giving up smoking), the differences between patches and e-cigarettes were not statistically significant, but they do point out a trend.

Read More: E-Cigarettes And Smoking Cessation

Is There Any Hope for Smokers?

There just may be hope for better health for smokers in e-cigarettes, but it's important to realize that if you are hooked on smoking regular cigarettes, about the best you may accomplish is to get hooked on smoking e-cigarettes. You probably won't be able to kick your need to smoke with e-cigarettes, but you probably can kick your addiction to tobacco, save your family and your friends second-hand exposure to the worst chemicals in tobacco, and lower your risks of heart disease and lung cancer. With future studies, we will know.