Electronic cigarettes are devices worth trying in the fight against tobacco smoking. Smoking tobacco cigarette is the foremost preventable cause of death in the US and is accountable for about 500,000 deaths every year.
Habit Hard To Give Up
There are more deaths caused by smoking than the combined deaths from shooting, car accidents, alcohol, drugs and HIV. Despite the grave dangers from smoking, many people still choose to smoke. Nicotine is addictive and it is made more addictive by the added chemicals in cigarettes.
The social and the behavioral aspects of smoking are likewise too strong that they overcome one’s awareness of risks. Of all consumer products, cigarette brands have the highest brand loyalty of all. According to John Digianni, a cigarette package designer, a cigarette package is part of a smoker’s wardrobe. Walking to a bar and putting down a cigarette pack, a smoker can already make a statement about himself/herself.
After a year of quitting smoking, risks of heart attack could already drop dramatically. Risk of suffering from a stroke by a former smoker could already be similar to the stroke risk of a non-smoker after quitting for 2-5 years. Various cancers also decrease by half after quitting smoking for 5 years while lung cancer risks decrease after no longer smoking for 10 years.
Quitting smoking could immediately reduce the health risks, but quitting is so hard that the habit still prevails. Dr. Noah Minskoff said that the current approved NRTs are hardly effective in getting people off smoking. They all fail in making smokers stop smoking long term. Electronic cigarettes prove to be a lot better and more effective in getting people off the habit.
Ecigarettes In Smoke Cessation
He explains that a lot of ecig products in today’s market poorly perform so they are considered more as novel items. Cigarette smokers eagerly try ecigarettes, but they are more likely unsuccessful in finding one that they could stick to. This is the main problem in getting a smoker to use it.
In June, Dr. Constantine Vardavas of Harvard School of Public Health published in Tobacco Control journal the result of his analysis of 26,566 European smokers. Results show that ecig users were likely heavy smokers who have attempted to quit in the last 12 months. Vardavas, along with two colleagues, found that only 1% of those who tried the devices are non-smokers.
Minskoff mentioned that the nicotine delivery in ecigs are in traditional cigarettes differ. Tobacco cigarette smoking delivers nicotine directly to the lungs and thus quickly delivers the nicotine rewards that a smoker desires. Ecigs deliver nicotine in pretty the same way as patches, gums, lozenges and other NRTs deliver the substances. Nicotine is delivered via the pharyngeal and oral membranes; so the quick acting effect is not present.
American Cancer Society said that if smokers use aids along with therapy, the possibility of remaining abstinent is greater.
Dr. Minskoff noted that among these aids are electronic cigarettes. The shape and the vapor output mimic cigarettes and tobacco smoke that give smokers a good head start out of smoking. The nicotine delivery technology is however behind in terms of matching the subsequent reward of cigarettes.
Considering that the fight against smoking is a battle too difficult to win, almost anything that can help achieve victory is worthy to be tried. Electronic cigarettes do have some issues and limitations. Yet, compared to other cessation tools and aids developed by the medical and pharmaceutical sector, the devices appear to be the best option available. They should be embraced and given the opportunity to prove what they can do for the public health and for society.
