News
Officials concerned about e-cigarette dangers
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Scottsbluff Star-Herald
Smoking kills. Americans have been taught this lesson for decades, yet 42 million Americans continue to smoke.
Those wishing to quit are using a new alternative, electronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes. Smokers who use e-cigarettes say they have cut down on the amount of nicotine they use or quit altogether.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine, flavorings (e.g., fruit, mint, and chocolate) and other chemicals via an inhaled aerosol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
With no U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, officials are uneasy about children’s access to e-cigarettes, which has led to an increase of hospital visits due to nicotine poisoning, with nausea, headaches and eye irritation being major symptoms.
“Hospitals are seeing a huge increase of individuals with nicotine poisoning,” Tabi Prochazka, coordinator of the Panhandle Public Health District said.
In a study conducted by the CDC, researchers found 51.1 percent of calls to poison centers due to e-cigarettes involved young children under age 5, and 42 percent involved people age 20 and older.
Prochazka attributes this, in part, to refill vials being flavored and small children mistaking them for something good.
“Parents are leaving them lying around and children are drinking them,” Prochazka said.
Websites selling refills offer many flavors including cherry, triple mint, caramel macchiato, butterscotch, vanilla, chocolate raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, orange, coconut, apple, root beer and coffee.
Prochazka said companies use enticing flavors to market to children.
“Like the Marlboro Man, they are making it a cool thing to do,” she said.
Additionally, one in five middle school students who reported using e-cigarettes say they have never tried conventional cigarettes, raising concerns there may be young people for whom e-cigarettes could be an entry point to use of conventional tobacco products.
Prochazka said there’s no evidence yet that they’re a gateway drug, but it is troubling.
On April 9, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved LB 863, making it illegal to sell, give or furnish in any way, any “vapor products” (e-cigarettes and similar type products) or “alternative nicotine products” to persons under the age of 18 years. It is also illegal for anyone under 18 to use these products.
“Nebraska made a great step in making e-cigarettes illegal to children under 18,” Prochazka said. “Seeing Panhandle worksite wellness businesses increasingly add e-cigarettes to their tobacco policies is also a positive step.”
Nebraska does not have a ban on e-cigarette use in public places. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, any cigarette-like device or tobacco product that is not “lit” does not meet the definition of smoking, so use is allowed indoors.
Businesses have the authority, however, to prohibit the use of these products within their business.
Because e-cigarettes are not federally regulated, it is difficult to determine what is in them. In several studies, researchers found the toxic chemicals a person is exposed to varies depending on the size of the cartridge/vial and battery size.
The study, “Electronic cigarettes: miracle or menace?” found amounts of nicotine may be more or less than what is on the label.
“There are no FDA regulations on how they are being made. That’s what’s scary,” Prochazka said.
E-cigarettes appear safer because there is no smoke associated with using them but the vapor in e-cigarettes is not water.
An article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute Advance Access, published in March, said, “Nicotine was found in some samples labeled nicotine-free, and a range of nicotine was detected in cartridges labeled as having the same amount.”
It also found tobacco-specific nitrosamines, known human carcinogens, in half the samples. Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans, anabasine, myosmine, and ßnicotyrine, were found in most samples.
The CDC report shows e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine represent an emerging public health concern.
Early research shows e-cigarettes have similar lung effects as smoking and airways become inflamed after using e-cigarettes containing nicotine, but there are no long-term studies yet comparing e-cigarettes to regular cigarettes.
“They’re so new people really don’t know what’s in them,” Prochazka said.
