are electronic cigarettes dangerous? at this point, the public healthexpert in me is screaming "of course you idiot, do you know nothing?" certainly there are very real fears thatthese sleek electronic tubes are hooking a newgeneration of kids on nicotine, and that this drug should not beconsidered safe and socially acceptable in any form. but as with most things,reality is a little more complex. electronic cigarettes are primarilydesigned to get nicotine
into your body via your lungs, withoutmany of the downside of conventional cigarettes. the beauty of the system is that youretain the physical experience of smoking, or vaping as it's called in this case, butwith out the actual smoke. e-cigarettes use a liquid such asglycerin into which ingredients like nicotine and even flavorings aredissolved. when you take a puff, this liquid isvaporized on a hot wire, and forms a cloud of fine particles that,
when inhaled, penetrate deep into yourlungs. the good news for smokers is thatelectronic cigarette don't produce many of the harmfulcompounds that burning tobacco does. and you get less harmful sidestreamsmoke than regular cigarettes produce. so at first blush, e-cigarettes look likea great way to get your nicotine hit. they might even possibly help somepeople kick the smoking habit, although the jury is still out on that one. but vaping on a e-cigarette still meanspumping your bloodstream full of a toxic substance. nicotine isaddictive.
it's toxic at high doses. and it has awhole range affects at lower doses that may not be good for you. but surprisingly, there's not much knownabout whether the occasional cape presents a significant risk. however, when you puff on an e-cig,it's not just nicotine you're inhaling. recentresearch has shown that, in addition to what they are designed to do,some electronic cigarettes deliver a range of hazardous metals and otherchemicals direct to your lungs with each inhale. admittedly, these only seem to bepresent at very low levels; probably too
low to be dangerous in most cases. but with out regulations on e-cigperformance and use, this may not always be the case. what'sworse, because of these potential contaminants,even nicotine free electronic cigarettes may be moreharmful than people think it they're not regulated. that said, there's no reason why thetechnology can't be developed to avoid unwanted contamination. the trouble is,while agencies like the us food and drugadministration can potentially regulate
e-digs on the basis on their nicotine content, it's not quite so clear how much jurisdiction they have overother substances that may be in you e-puff, whether they're intended to be there, or not. if you have any thoughts on electroniccigarettes and their regulation, please join the conversation in thecomments. and remember to check out the additional resources in the blurb below.