Acceptance of E-Cigarettes By The Society

It’s been almost a decade since the invention of electronic cigarettes from China started and unevitably, it’s been the talk of the town amongst smokers and anti-smoker individuals and organizations as well. The spread of the cigarette innovation quickly grew and the news got unstoppable. Some advocate and support e-cigarettes, and others remain skeptics. The journey of this non-tobacco battery operated traditional cigarette look a like has not been easy.

Due to a lot of misinformation that spread from corner to corner about the contents and effects of e-cigarettes, health organizations and concerned individuals started to interfere with the booming e-cigarette industry. In 2008, World Health Organization (WHO) first reacted when e-cigarettes were promoted as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) ordering manufacturers to remove this misinformation from their sites and packaging. Also in 2008, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated and banned the import of e-cigarettes in United States as they considered the product as drug delivery device. Good thing that last year, 2011, the U.S Court of Appeals agreed that e-cigarettes should be regulated as tobacco products instead of drug delivery devices since the nicotine in the vapor produced comes from tobacco. This is indeed a great news to the e-cigarette industry as it would be easier to stay on the market as tobacco products compared to drug device products. Also, e-cigarette companies proved enough that their products are sold and offered to public for smoking “pleasure” and not for cessation or therapeutic purposes.

Now, in a slow but positive pacing as we may say, a lot of famous politicians, scientists and celebrities, organizations, cities and countries started to accept electronic cigarettes in the aim to help the smokers cut off their smoking habits and to help the environment as well.The acceptance of e-cigarettes by the public boosted year 2011.

Last quarter of 2011, American Association of the Public Health Physicians acknowledged and supported e-cigarettes because they stated that these type of cigarettes are only nicotine devices which do not contain even a single milligram of tobacco. It was found out from the studies conducted, smokers who use e-cigarettes can reduce the chances of getting tobacco related health problems for as much as 99%.

The Nudge Unit in UK also released a statement recommending and promoting the use of smokeless nicotine cigarettes or e-cigs as help in those who would like to stop or cut down their smoking habits. The Nudge Unit believes that e-cigarettes can help to reduce the numbers of people who dies in the UK due to smoking, with a count of almost 80,000 annually. The task force would like to see further comprehensive study based on scientific and factual reports to solidify the claims regarding th benefits of using the alternative smokeless cigarettes and greater quality control policy implementation by the e-cigarette manufacturers to ensure the safety with the product usage.

Last November 15, 2011, Alameda City Council revised its new smoking regulations and the term “electronic cigarettes” was deleted from its smoking definition. Recently, another state, gave its side on e-cigs. In Wisconsin, Senator Glenn Grothman laid a new bill that excludes electronic cigarettes from the indoor smoking ban statewide.

Just before the year 2011 ended, a great news flashed from the media when Television New Zealand reported that “Smokers should have more access to electronic cigarettes as a way of trying to quit smoking” as stated by New Zealand Ministry of Health. The health officials voted to recommend e-cigarettes as healthier substitute to tobacco cigarettes because the vapor emitted from e-cigs comes only from propylene glycol (PG) and/or vegetable glycerin (VG) with moderated nicotine as desired. Their study conducted showed that the vapor from e-cigs contains tobacco specific nitrosamines in very low concentration, way lower compared to the smoke produced by the traditional cigarettes.

The battle on banning of e-cigarettes is very tough but with our voices and the help of the concerned people, most probably, vapers will rule on the fight. Hopefully, by the start of 2012, the trend of the e-cigarette acceptance continues to lean on the positive side, favoring the e-cigarette industry to reach and move on towards to becoming smoke free environment worldwide.

Image: xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net