Chinese e-cigs gain ground amid safety concerns (AP)

[eppur_se_muova]

By AUDRA ANG – Feb 27, 2009

BEIJING (AP) — With it's slim white body and glowing amber tip, it can easily pass as a regular cigarette. It even emits what look like curlicues of white smoke.

The Ruyan V8, which produces a nicotine-infused mist absorbed directly into the lungs, is just one of a rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes attracting attention in China, the U.S. and elsewhere — and the scrutiny of world health officials.

Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.

Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette. There's no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers say.

Health authorities are questioning those claims.
***
more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jwETll8rB7gQPC1Xh516-0DSrdzwD96K5HLO0

Long article; need to read more than five paras before commenting. ;)

[Berry Cool]

1. Please tell me the AP didn't confuse "its" with "it's."

Please.

[Greyskye]

2. Wish I could.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

3. Yes yes a long article, but it didn't list what other chemicals

might be present, the devil is aways in the details.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Nicotine, propylene glycol and water appears to be it. nt

[salvorhardin]

6. Here you go

Depending on forumlation, the ingredients are by volume:
87%-90% propylene glycol/glycerol
0%-8% alcohol
0.1%-6% nicotine
0%-5% other chemicals (likely artificial scents/flavors)
0%-4.5% tobacco essence
0%-2.9% water
0%-2.5% citric acid
0%-2% essence
0%-2% organic acid (e.g. acetic acid)
0%-2% geranyl butyrate (an artificial scent)
0%-1% anti-oxidation agent
0%-1% butyl valerate (an artificial scent)
0%-1% isopentyl hexonate (I have no idea what this is)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette#Nicotine_solution

Compared to the, I think 200 or so, chemicals in the smoke of commercially manufactured cigarettes, the solution that is atomized and inhaled in electronic cigarettes looks springtime mountain fresh. It's essentially various forms of alcohol, nicotine, flavorings and scents.

Still, there are no studies that show inhaling nicotine to be safe. Is it safer than cigarettes? Probably. You're unlikely to increase your risk of lung and other cancers with electronic cigarettes as much as with regular cigarettes. On the other hand, you're still introducing a good dose of nicotine into your bloodstream very quickly. Your smooth muscles (like the heart) will contract, your blood pressure will skyrocket and your central nervous system will be depressed. Do that enough times in the day and you will develop circulatory problems and heart disease.

Another example of an alternative to cigarettes that is slowly gaining ground in the U.S. is Swedish snus, a type of snuff used like dipping tobacco. It is produced in a different way than dipping tobacco that either greatly reduces or eliminates the risk of oral cancers. Nicotine doses range from 5mg - 14 mg so the total nicotine dose can be anywhere from half to almost one and a half times that of cigarettes. Yet the nicotine is absorbed into the blood stream more slowly through the gums so nicotine levels don't spike as suddenly as with cigarettes. However, many snus users have snus in their mouths almost constantly during their waking hours so more nicotine might be consumed during the day than with cigarettes.

Overall, my feeling is that both electronic cigarettes and snus are much safer than regular cigarettes and should be allowed to be sold to anyone who is of legal age to purchase tobacco products. At the same time we should also be studying the long term effects of using these alternatives to smoking cigarettes.

As you probably expect, I fall into the harm reduction, rather than the abstinence, camp. As with various street drugs, a certain number of people are going to be using no matter how much education we put out there or how unacceptable said use becomes in polite society. For instance, smoking rates are at all time lows yet hookah bars are gaining in popularity. People are attracted to danger and they like getting high (non-regular users of nicotine do indeed get high). So we need to minimize the harm done in as many ways as possible (which is one reason why I'm in favor of public smoking bans).

There may indeed be no safe level of nicotine use, but there are certainly safer levels and forms of nicotine use. It seems to me that we should all get off our moral high horses and pursue pragmatic drug control policies based on education and reduction of harm. And that applies to any drug, whether it's caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, cannabis or heroin.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. I'd prefer abstinence, I'll happily accept risk reduction, especially second-hand.

Thanks for that very informative (and informed) post. Pretty much as one would expect, it's the actual tobacco components that raise the most concern. No telling what's in that "tobacco essence". It's astonishing how many harmful compounds are formed simply from the pyrolysis of the cellulose in the leaves and paper wrapper, much less the heterocylics from nicotine etc. Avoiding combustion should make e-cigs much safer (relatively).

Isopentyl hexanoate (sp) is another scent or flavor component: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/ProductDetail.do?N4=W207500|ALDRICH&N5=SEARCH_CONCAT_PNO|BRAND_KEY&F=SPEC

[napoleon_in_rags]

4. I totally support any move to get rid of second hand smoke.

The first time I ever craved nicotine was as a kid, on night my parents didn't smoke in the car. I didn't even know the feeling until years later when I smoked myself. Second hand smoke can hook people before they ever choose to smoke themselves. So if these get rid of that, why not? Its hard to get worse than the status quo with cigarettes.