There’s a new product being touted as a tool to help people quit smoking. Electronic cigarettes (often just called “e-cigs”) are smokeless devices that contain no tobacco, and feature a battery-operated cartridge that warms a liquid that may contain nicotine, water, flavouring and propylene glycol (an alcohol that is heated to create the vapour inhaled). Ingredients in the cartridges vary, and not all e-cigs contain nicotine. The device simulates tobacco smoking by producing an aerosol that resembles smoke.
The use of e-cigs is definitely on the rise. In 2012, a Health Canada survey found that 8% of Canadians who were 15 years of age or older had tried e-cigs.
What does the current research tell us?
Can e-cigs help you quit smoking? The jury is still out, in large part because they haven’t been around long enough to have been studied extensively (e-cigs were first produced in Beijing, China, in 2003). Here’s what we know at this point:
- The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health – a government organization that provides information about the effectiveness of drugs and health technologies – conducted a review of studies on e-cigs and concluded: “The clinical evidence regarding the utility and safety of electronic cigarettes is limited; however, evidence suggests that electronic cigarettes may be an effective and safe means for smoking cessation.”
- A 2010 study conducted in New Zealand found the same result. Researchers studied 40 people who smoked 10 or more cigarettes per day; the study participants who used an e-cig had a reduced desire to smoke. Importantly, however, the researchers concluded: “Further evaluation of e-cigarettes is needed to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of these devices.”
Indeed, because the e-cig technology is relatively new, many organizations – including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – are calling for a ban on e-cig sales until further research can be conducted. In an advisory statement issued in 2009, Health Canada warned Canadians not to purchase or use electronic smoking products because they have not been fully evaluated for safety or quality.
Pros and cons of e-cigs
The Canadian Medical Association has weighed in with a position statement on e-cigs, and offered these pros and cons:
| Pro | · They are safer than tobacco cigarettes, because they don’t contain tar and other toxic ingredients that cause tobacco-related disease.· They are useful as a smoking cessation aid (however, in Canada and some other countries they cannot be marketed this way, as that claim has not yet been fully evaluated). |
| Con | · E-cigs that contain nicotine (they don’t all have nicotine as an ingredient) are as addictive as regular cigarettes.· E-cigs may contain other toxic ingredients, such as a chemical compound called nitrosamine, which is known to cause liver cancer.· Smoking e-cigarettes could lead to tobacco use by people (especially teenagers) who might otherwise have remained smoke-free. |
