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  • Are electronic cigarettes dangerous?

  • At this point, the public health expert in me is screaming "of course

  • you idiot, do you know nothing?"

  • Certainly there are very real fears that these sleek

  • electronic tubes are hooking a new generation of kids on nicotine,

  • and that this drug should not be considered safe and socially acceptable

  • in any form. But as with most things, reality is a little more complex.

  • Electronic cigarettes are primarily designed to get nicotine

  • into your body via your lungs, without many of the downside of conventional

  • cigarettes.

  • The beauty of the system is that you retain the physical experience of

  • smoking,

  • or vaping as it's called in this case, but with out the actual smoke.

  • E-cigarettes use a liquid such as glycerin into which ingredients like

  • nicotine and even flavorings are dissolved.

  • When you take a puff, this liquid is vaporized on a hot wire, and forms a cloud

  • of fine particles that,

  • when inhaled, penetrate deep into your lungs.

  • The good news for smokers is that electronic cigarette

  • don't produce many of the harmful compounds that burning tobacco does.

  • And you get less harmful sidestream smoke than regular cigarettes produce.

  • So at first blush, e-cigarettes look like a great way to get your nicotine hit.

  • They might even possibly help some people kick the smoking habit,

  • although the jury is still out on that one.

  • But vaping on a e-cigarette still means pumping your bloodstream

  • full of a toxic substance. Nicotine is addictive.

  • It's toxic at high doses. And it has a whole range affects at lower doses that

  • may not be good for you.

  • But surprisingly, there's not much known about whether the occasional cape

  • presents a significant risk.

  • However, when you puff on an e-cig, it's not

  • just nicotine you're inhaling. Recent research has shown that,

  • in addition to what they are designed to do, some electronic cigarettes deliver

  • a range of hazardous metals and other chemicals direct to your lungs with each

  • inhale. Admittedly, these only seem to be present at very low levels; probably too

  • low to be dangerous in most cases.

  • But with out regulations on e-cig performance and use,

  • this may not always be the case. What's worse,

  • because of these potential contaminants, even nicotine

  • free electronic cigarettes may be more harmful than people think it they're not

  • regulated.

  • That said, there's no reason why the technology can't be developed to avoid

  • unwanted contamination. The trouble is, while

  • agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration can potentially regulate

  • e-digs on the basis on their

  • nicotine content, it's not quite so clear

  • how much jurisdiction they have over other substances that may be in you e-puff,

  • whether they're intended to be there, or not.

  • If you have any thoughts on electronic cigarettes and their regulation,

  • please join the conversation in the comments. And remember to check out the

  • additional resources in the blurb below.

Are electronic cigarettes dangerous?

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