E-cigarettes have been having the worst month ever. We reported last month that there were high rates of children being poisoned by them. Recently, the FDA made bold moves to regulate them and it will likely be granted this right. Now, studies have shown that e-cigarettes do not help people quit smoking, as some of the manufacturers claim.
Scientists at the University of California San Francisco analyzed 84 studies on e-cigarettes. Dr. Stanton Glanz, director of UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, says that the devices are actually having the opposite effect. “Many people are using e-cigarettes because they are hoping to quit smoking. Smokers who use e-cigarettes are actually less likely to quit smoking than smokers who aren’t using e-cigarettes,” he said.
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All of these developments will likely bolster the FDA’s argument for regulation of e-cigarettes. FDA Commissioner Mary Hamburg wrote in a letter to the New York Times:
“The proposed rule is a critical first step to bring an end to the completely unregulated e-cigarette marketplace. When it is finalized, e-cigarette companies will be required to report the levels of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals or chemical compounds delivered by their products. But we cannot enact a rule on reporting or restricting e-cigarette emissions until this foundational rule-making is completed, which is one of our highest priorities.”
Some cities have taken preemptive strikes and banned e-cigarettes where conventional cigarettes are not allowed. Although many e-cigarette companies like to say in their ads that the devices emit a “harmless” vapor, the studies have not proven that claim to be true.
There is still very little known about the health risks of e-cigarettes. At this point, all that seems to be known for sure is that they are exposing people to toxic chemicals.