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 Researchers in Scotland interviewed 64 smokers and found little
consensus about the potential benefits and harms of e-cigarettes,
which may reflect division in the medical community on the
appropriateness of promoting e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to
the real thing, the authors note in the journal Tobacco Control.
“Because e-cigarettes are relatively new products we are only
beginning to learn about the health risks,” senior study author
Amanda Amos, a researcher at the Center for Population Health
Sciences at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, said by
email.
E-cigarettes are designed to mimic the real thing, with a glowing
tip that emits a cloud of vapor. There’s a battery and heating
element inside as well as a cartridge that holds nicotine and other
liquids or flavorings.
Because part of what makes cigarettes harmful is the tobacco smoke,
it’s possible that e-cigarettes might be safer because they don’t
actually burn tobacco. Even so, the nicotine inside e-cigarettes is
still addictive.
Amos and colleagues conducted 12 focus groups and 11 individual
interviews with current smokers and people who had quit smoking
within the past year.
Most participants viewed smoking as a form of addiction and believed
willpower played a strong role in quitting. Almost all of them had
tried e-cigarettes at least once.
They generally viewed e-cigarettes as distinct from other nicotine
replacement products like patches or gum that are designed to help
people quit. Because general practitioners give nicotine
alternatives to smokers trying to quit, the study participants
tended to think of these as medical products.
With e-cigarettes, however, people were less clear about what their
intended purpose or correct use might be, though they were seen as
less directly tied to smoking cessation than patches or gum.
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Some people saw e-cigarettes as a more satisfying replacement to
smoking, while others viewed them as less desirable or even as a
threat to smoking cessation.
“This paper shows that the public’s view of e-cigarettes is far from
being clear, with a great deal of ambiguity around the product and
its intended use,” Dr. Ricardo Polosa, a professor of internal
medicine at the University of Catania in Italy.
“Really, it’s not complicated at all,” Polosa, who wasn’t involved
in the study, said by email. “E-cigs are a much safer alternative to
smoking and are intended for smokers who are unable to quit using
other methods.”
While the study is too small to draw many conclusions about public
perception of e-cigarettes, it highlights widespread confusion among
consumers that has been observed in many countries, said Dr.
Konstantinos Farsalinos, a researcher at Onassis Cardiac Surgery
Center in Athens.
“Unfortunately, the end result is that smokers are discouraged from
using e-cigarettes as an alternative to smoking,” Farsalinos, who
wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “For those smokers who
cannot switch with, or do not want to use the pharmaceutical
medications, e-cigarettes can really be life-saving.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1eMb7bO Tobacco Control, online June 8, 2015.
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