Report Wrestles with Potential Benefits and Harms of Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday, January 24th, 2018 -- 8:01 AM
(AP) -Electronic cigarettes could be a boon to public health or a major liability, depending on whether they help Americans quit smoking or encourage more young people to try traditional cigarettes, a new report concludes.The report issued Tuesday wrestles with the potential benefits and harms of the vapor-emitting devices which have been sold in the U.S. for more than a decade. But those effects may not be known for decades, in part, because of how slowly illnesses caused by smoking emerge. E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007. Most devices heat a liquid nicotine solution into vapor and have been promoted to smokers as a less dangerous alternative since they don't have all the chemicals, tar or smoke of regular cigarettes.
E-cigarettes and similar vaping devices have grown into a $4 billion-dollar U.S. industry with thousands of varieties of flavors and customizable products available in specialty shops and online. There are few long-term studies on their health impacts and no consensus on whether they are effective in helping smokers quit, according to the report requested by the Food and Drug Administration.
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