Recent studies show that e-cigarettes are not a viable option for quitting smoking. In addition, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products contain a variety of toxic substances and tar in comparable amounts to traditional cigarettes, the experts warned. Many smokers try to break the habit with the help of e-cigarettes. Contrary to the often made claim that the e-cigarette is an effective way to get rid of the fags, a meta-analysis now shows that this is definitely not a sensible option.
“Neither can a positive effect on nicotine abstinence be determined, nor are the released ingredients anything but unproblematic,” explained Christopher Lambers from the Linz Elisabethinen Order Hospital and head of the working group for environmental, occupational medicine and tobacco restriction. The Austrian Society for Pneumology (ÖGP) therefore warns against “switching” to e-cigarettes in the hope of being able to quit smoking in this way.
Why are e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products actually not an alternative?
While e-cigarettes and ETPs (heated tobacco products) do not burn tobacco, they do heat and vaporize tobacco or “liquid” at temperatures around 350 degrees. Most of these contain nicotine and this can of course make the “vaper” just as addicted as the “smoker”.
This is also not very suitable for giving up smoking, since the addiction will continue to be served. “Instead of the body being weaned and detoxified from nicotine, it continues to receive nicotine. While nicotine replacement therapy through nicotine patches and nicotine gum is intended as a temporary solution, a nicotine-containing e-cigarette or ETP is designed and intended by the manufacturer for long-term use over years and decades, which is just as harmful as traditional cigarettes given the many negative effects nicotine has on the cardiovascular system,” Lambers warned. In addition, heated tobacco products are associated with higher dependence, which puts smokers at risk of switching to “heated tobacco products” rather than smoking cessation.
While e-cigarettes may be potentially less harmful than traditional cigarettes, long-term data are lacking. On top of that, the liquid, even if it is nicotine-free, contains a number of dangerous carrier substances and flavorings. While the use or addition of ingredients in conventional cigarettes is strictly regulated, this is not the case with e-cigarettes and ETPs. Effects and side effects resulting from the inhalation of aromatic substances on the respiratory tract are largely unknown. Lambers: “Therefore, in summary, all heated tobacco products are both addictive and fundamentally carcinogenic to humans. This also applies to e-cigarettes. Therefore, the discussion should not be about new products, but the most important goal should continue to be to reduce smoking in general or to support everyone to quit completely.”
Focus on the young generation: e-cigarettes as a tempting “gateway drug”
Prim. Christopher Lambers therefore appeals: “We must do everything possible to ensure that the younger generation does not start smoking in the first place. The goal would be a so-called ‘smoke-free generation’! Because it has been shown time and again that children and young people are very susceptible to nicotine addiction, which affects their brain development. – Even for those who rarely smoke. Also, young people who become addicted to nicotine are at greater risk of becoming lifelong tobacco users.”
Tobacco – an environmental hazard
Lambers addresses a very important, often overlooked aspect of tobacco consumption – namely the ecological footprint. Because very few people are aware of the fact how much tobacco cultivation, production and waste pose a health risk to our planet and even contribute to climate change.
“More and more people are smoking worldwide, more than 3 trillion cigarettes are produced worldwide every year. What you hardly think about: Tobacco cultivation, manufacture and sale of cigarettes as well as the waste, the cigarette butts, cause massive damage to the earth’s ecosystems,” says Lambers.
Starting with the cultivation of tobacco, which requires enormous amounts of resources, especially water, high CO2 emissions are caused by transport and processing. Smoking thus contributes significantly to climate change. Last but not least, cigarette butts, which contain heavy metals and many other toxins, create enormous amounts of waste and pose a huge burden on the environment due to their toxicity when carelessly discarded. So smoking leaves a massive negative ecological footprint as well .
Lambers also debated: “Especially the environmentally conscious young people of the “Fridays for Future Generation” should be made aware of the enormous global impact smoking has on our environment. And if concern for one’s own (lung) health or that of fellow human beings, keyword passive smoking, is not sufficient motivation, perhaps for the sake of environmental protection the blue haze could be dispensed with”.
Source: Nachrichten
