Do Electronic Cigarettes Target Only Current Smokers?

As is known, the e-cigarette is an electronic device that has become part of our lives particularly over the past few years and imitates conventional smoking. Initially sold as a smoking-cessation aid, it now seeks a place in the market as a “less harmful alternative to cigarettes.”

Although its sale is prohibited in our country, we can easily see many people around us using these products. Use is much greater in Europe and America. Particularly with the rise of healthy lifestyle trends in the 2000s, many people tried to quit smoking, led by Europe and America. In these places, where demand for smoking-cessation products was therefore high, interest and hope in a new tobacco product were naturally strong.

But was the e-cigarette really a product that could fulfill these hopes, end tobacco addiction or reduce the harm people experience from cigarettes? Many studies began investigating this as soon as e-cigarettes went on sale. Although full answers will require longer periods, findings from studies ongoing for some time show that we should be cautious about e-cigarettes.

Findings from a recently published study support this view. Based in Tennessee/America and including 6167 participants, it addresses whether e-cigarettes really help people escape smoking or create addiction to a new tobacco product . In the study, 1178 participants (%22.1) were current smokers who had aimed to quit during the previous 12 months.

The Study’s 2 Important Findings:

1. People trying to quit smoking choose e-cigarettes 7 times more often than nonsmokers,
2. Among people trying to quit, those intending to use e-cigarettes as a stepping stone take 3.5 times longer to stop smoking.

Some international health news outlets interpreted these findings as meaning that “electronic cigarettes do not target nonsmokers, but only aim to offer current smokers a less harmful alternative.” However, studies also suggest the opposite. For example, a study among United States students found that e-cigarette use rose between 2013 and 2014 alone from %4.5 to %13.4 (in 2013, 660.000 high school students used e-cigarettes; in 2014, the number reached 2 million). The earlier the brain encounters tobacco products and externally supplied nicotine found in many e-cigarettes, the stronger the habit is known to become.

In recent months, the United States Food and Drug Administration FDA also announced that it could evaluate applications concerning less harmful tobacco products and therefore e-cigarettes. After this announcement attracted worldwide attention, 1 week later it announced that it would seek restrictions and provide education on harmless use. However, these apparently backward steps did not block “e-cigarettes, a new tobacco product”; instead, they opened a controlled door.

In conclusion, we cannot change what we do not measure, so we await more concrete findings. However, no tobacco product should be used even if it is less harmful (which has not yet been proven). Tobacco products, now among the leading preventable causes of cancer and related deaths, should be abandoned for our health. We too sincerely wish for a product that ends the smoking habit. Yet cigarettes have continually been modified and marketed up to the present with claims that new methods are less harmful. For example, when light cigarettes first appeared, they attracted interest, but their results did not meet expectations: deeper inhalation shifted lung cancer to different locations. I hope we see studies and evidence allowing measurement and more appropriate strategies without experiencing more examples like these.