I even once owned a disposable e-cigar. It was a good few years back now. Although I consider myself a non-smoker, I do smoke the odd cigar, but about one a week and only when the weather is nice (so about 4 days a year then) and only when someone has brought me some back from their holidays probably does not constitute a habit, or would be considered the world's most pathetic addiction. I would never dream of smoking indoors, and somebody thought it would make a nice stocking filler for me one year.
I used it a few times, and it was alright, in the same way that a Pot Noodle is mildly enjoyable in its own right, but bears no resemblance to a steaming hot bowl of freshly cooked spicy Szechuan chicken in udon noodles (no 69. on the menu at Nudo, my favourite restaurant in Newcastle. Its always giggle-worthy ordering it). E-cigarettes are the Smash mashed potato of the smoking world, a Cup-A-Soup to a home-made broth.
I can see how it would be good to have something vaguely resembling a cigarette if you're trying to give up smoking, and I can certainly see how a nicotine delivery method that avoids all the tar, chemicals and other gunk that smoking dumps in your lungs is more healthy.
My reservations are thus:
- If they're unregulated, you have no idea what's in them. It might say on the pack that it contains x mg of nicotine and chemicals y and z but there is no guarantee of this. Some have been found to contain toxic chemicals like ethylene glycol, for example. Its undoubtedly likely that they still contain less dangerous chemicals that cigarettes, but it would be very nice to have that guaranteed.
- There's no long term safety data. We literally don't know what the long term effects of these things are. For all we know, the seemingly safe-at-first ingredients could actually prove to be carcinogenic, say, when inhaled in this way in the long term. Admittedly its unlikely the products would be as bad or worse than smoking, but without the studies we just don't know. Theoretically they may seem like they're going to be harmless, but without the data there to back it up we just cannot make that assumption- its that sort of reasoning that lead to the thalidomide disaster, for instance. Unknown does not mean safe.
- There's evidence that products are often do not contain what it says on the label (if they even have a label at all). A study in the BMJ's Tobacco Control found that products contained variable and potentially dangerous amounts of nicotine- most often the product contained less than was stated. Now, if I'm paying for a product that says it contains 72mg/ml of nicotine, I expect that product to contain 72mg/ml of nicotine, just as I would expect a 500mg paracetamol tablet to contain 500mg paracetamol. If it contains less than this, I'm essentially being ripped off. The other available nicotine replacement products- patches, gums, inhalators etc- all have a license, and I don't really see why these electronic cigarettes should be any different.
- In smoking cessation, using a product which looks like a cigarette might be helpful in the short term, but it doesn't help to address the habits of smoking rituals, and in my experience of helping people quit, that's half the battle.
- The risk of serious accidental nicotine poisoning in both adults and children.
- There is a risk that the ease of use of the products and ability to use them indoors might actually increase nicotine intake in some people.
- Even if nicotine itself were entirely safe (which it isn't), its still an addictive substance. Any addiction can lead to harmful effects in a person. For evidence of this, try speaking to me on a day when I have not had any caffeine. If I added up all the time and money I have spent in my life engaging in drug-seeking behaviour to feed my addiction (mainly desperately trying to find the nearest kettle or coffee shop), I suspect it would be very upsetting.
Today there has been, in my opinion, some good news. The MHRA have decided to start regulating nicotine containing products as medicines. This decision essentially eliminates concerns number 1, 3 and 5 and starts us on the road to also ruling out concerns 2,4 and 6. The BMA have responded enthusiastically to the news, stating:
“We can now build on this and press for good research which looks at the efficacy and health implications of e-cigarettes. It’s really important that we find out if the hand to mouth use of e-cigarettes either breaks or reinforces smoking behaviours. We need to know if e-cigarettes actually help smokers quit."
I'm also enthusiastic about this step. Whilst it may lead to decreased availability and choice of these products, it will hopefully lead to a smaller number of better quality products being legitimized and incorporated more formally into smoking cessation or harm reduction schemes- if they are proven to work in robust clinical trials. This is yet another case where, instead of waiting until we have good, robust data that a product works and is safe, it has been widely sold and adopted by users in lieu of risk or efficacy information. There will no doubt be an outcry from users and manufacturers, and wails that the MHRA have banned e-cigarette sales, that its a Big Pharma conspiracy to give everyone cancer so they can sell more drugs, that big evil corporations are trying to trample the little guys down, when all they are trying to do is save some lives. But none of this regulation means that.
All a manufacturer of e-cigarettes would need to do to continue selling their product is to prove its safety, efficacy and quality. It will take money and time, but if they have been already producing their wares safely and in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines, they're already some of the way there. Gaining a license will of course cost time and money, but if these manufacturers are genuinely interested in saving lives- and not just unscrupulously making profit- they would see the value in the licensing process, and the opportunities available for a licensed product in the long run.
So here's to what could be start of a new dawn of smoking cessation or harm reduction. I really hope so, but will reserve judgement until the evidence starts piling in.
Hxxx
