Are e-cigs safe?
When I was in New Orleans last weekend I was introduced to e-cigarettes. One of the girls (and I do mean girl – she was 21) was smoking one and she offered me a drag. I used to smoke socially in my early twenties, so I was intrigued. It looked like a cigarette, but felt like plastic, was blueberry flavored, and vapor came out instead of smoke. Apparently the kids call it “vaping” not “smoking.” Not having had nicotine in 15 years, I felt an immediate head rush after my one puff.
Basically, it is a cartridge filled with liquid nicotine. A battery heats up the liquid, making a vapor, and that’s what you inhale. The tip has an LED, so it glows blue instead of the traditional red.
Later, my friends and I were trying to wrap our minds around this new-to-us product. Why were there commercials for them on TV all the time now? Sexy marketing campaigns clearly want our youth to know that e-smoking vaping is cool. Was it safe? Did it cause cancer like regular cigarettes? So I did a little research.
On the plus side, if you are a current smoker, e-cigs are better for you than regular cigarettes because they don’t contain cancer causing substances like tobacco and most of the chemicals (ammonia, arsenic, tar, etc.) found in a typical butt, plus you’re not inhaling burning paper. Also, you can vape inside offices and restaurants, since the laws are only against second-hand smoke. So if you are trying to quit smoking, this might be an in-between option, like a nicotine patch, if you’re not ready to quit cold turkey.
Now for the reality check. E-cigs are just a delivery service for getting hooked on nicotine. Since tobacco is regulated (not nicotine) manufacturers can vary the dosage you receive, making it even more addictive, since you never know when you are going to get that really good high. Nicotine constricts the blood flow to your heart and increases blood pressure, and you can actually fatally overdose on it.
Since they are not regulated by the FDA (yet) companies with such fun names as Logic, NJoy and Vapor King, are allowed to make television ads that market directly to kids and teens. E-cigarettes are a $2 billion a year industry and Big Tobacco is getting a piece of that action, offering their own brands now. With their entrance in the market, Bonnie Herzog, an analyst with Wells Fargo & Co., estimates that the market could exceed $10 billion by 2017. (Source: Businessweek: E-Cigarettes Catch on with School Kids.)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, e-cigarette usage doubled between 2011-2012 for middle and high school students, meaning that 1.78 million kids between ages 11-18 have already tried vaping.
Oh great, just when it was finally becoming socially unacceptable to smoke, now these things are being dangled in front of our kids.
What are your thoughts about this?
Lisa 
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For current smokers it’s good not great as it still contain nicotine. For non smokers, no. It will get you hooked on Nicotine which is a drug and I’m anti-drug.
I agree with you.