OBSERVER-REPORTER.COM Editorial: As a story in today’s Observer-Reporter points out, electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, have won over admirers who say they are a safe nicotine delivery system that will not generate the health problems that come from tobacco cigarettes. They claim e-cigarettes can help wean smokers off tobacco. But skeptics cite some studies that say the vapors generated by electronic cigarettes could contain carcinogens. They also say that e-cigarettes could be a “gateway” to their tobacco-laden counterparts for younger users.
Writing on the CNN website earlier this month, American Lung Association president and CEO Harold P. Wimmer wrote that “For the makers of electronic cigarettes, today we are living in the Wild West – a lawless frontier where they can say or do whatever they want, no matter what the consequences. They are free to make unsubstantiated therapeutic claims and include myriad chemicals and additives …”
When there is so much doubt and uncertainty, there is one clear way that e-cigarettes should be approached – with caution… (more)
