Are Electronic Cigarettes Safe

Cigarettes are coming in a new avatar and now e-cigarettes are the present day reality. More than 30% of the world's total population is involved in regular smoking and as per smoking facts and statistics, smoking is the leading cause of death in the world. Smoking conventional cigarettes, as we all know, is unhealthy and there are various dangers of smoking. To help chain smokers get rid of the disastrous habit of smoking, electronic cigarettes are being touted as a risk free alternative. But the question is, are electronic cigarettes safe? Are the claims of manufacturers that e-cigarettes are an effective smoking cessation tool correct? If yes, then to what extent? These and many more similar questions plague the minds of smokers who're trying to stop smoking and are resorting to e-cigarettes for putting a stop to their deadly habit.

A Brief History

Before I proceed to answer the question are electronic cigarettes safer than real cigarettes, knowing about the history of e-cigarettes will be helpful in getting closer to this answer. The concept of e-smoking originated in 2003 when a company named SBT Investment Holdings Limited took over Best Partners Worldwide Limited, a former player in manufacturing e-cigarettes. However, e-cigarettes started coming into the main stream market only from February 2007. Since then, these cigarettes have attracted millions of people all across the globe. The same group has been manufacturing smokeless cigarette or electronic cigarette under the brand name Ruyan and the company is located in Futian District, Shenzhen, China. There are many issues related to the concept of e-cigarettes that have raised debates all across the globe, which brings us to the question at hand. Are electronic cigarettes safe? Let us take a look.

Are Electronic Cigarettes Harmful?

For a considerable time, especially in the starting months, the electronic cigarette gained worldwide popularity. However, in September 2008, the World Health Organization, released information to the public, with sufficient research and back up, that it didn't consider electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. Since then, debates have echoed in the US if electronic cigarettes are safe or they're just another money making gimmick.

Many people argue that e-cigarettes are manufactured in China and there are no regulations imposed by US Food and Drug Administration Department (FDA) on the electronic cigarettes, so it is not possible to regard e-cigarettes safe. Electronic cigarettes produce the same sensation and feeling like conventional cigarettes but without producing any smoke which is a big advantage, as cigarettes smoke is equally harmful for active and passive smokers. To understand more if these cigarettes are really safe or not, it is necessary to understand how they work. Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine levels (there is an ambiguity about exact nicotine levels in e-cigarettes) that are vaporized by batteries provided in these e-cigarettes. So a smoker is getting a nicotine hit but without the presence of toxic smoke and other dangerous chemicals in cigarettes including tar. But then there are no conclusive studies that electronic cigarettes are safe. Moreover, studies conducted by some organizations on people who are regular smoker state that electronic cigarettes can be addictive, especially for teenagers and adolescents.

Although the effects of electronic cigarette smoking are not as perilous as those of conventional cigarettes, the risk of getting addicted to even electronic cigarettes is no less as nicotine vapors are anyway infiltrating in the body. So your lungs may get less damaged and live more, but eventually, there are electronic cigarette health risks.

By now you must be in a better position to answer the question is electronic cigarette safe? Nicotine addiction and nicotine overdose symptoms are some threats of electronic cigarettes that the youth are vulnerable to. If you ask me are electronic cigarettes dangerous, then I would say definitely not, and if your question is, are electronic cigarettes healthy, then the obvious answer is that it is just less harmful than conventional cigarettes, but does not eliminate the threat of smoking addiction.

Smokers should remember that the ideal way to quit smoking is to take professional help, use nicotine replacements that are approved by FDA (chewing gums, patches, lozenges or going for nicotine replacement therapy) and also work on emotional and behavioral changes. Only then can one get rid of the smoking habit.