subject: Electronic Cigarette – The Big Issue of Tobacco: Are E Cigs Safer? [print this page] Welcome back to this series of articles about the electronic cigarette. We have already covered lots of issues surrounding the e cig, such as legality, cost, popularity and some of the other aspects that have made the device such a controversial talking point. This is actually part 10 of a series in which we have roughly gone through e cigarette themes in alphabetical order. If you want to catch up, please feel free to check out the other chapters.
In this chapter we will take a look at perhaps one of the biggest issues of all, the tobacco issue. Whichever way you look at it, the facts are that an electronic cigarette product contains no tobacco at all and during the few years since the e-cigarette has burst onto the market; the absence of tobacco has probably been its biggest selling point. It is well known that most of a traditional cigarettes danger is from the tobacco itself, with many poisons and known carcinogens present in the tobacco.
In the early years of its relatively brief history, (the device has been around for five or six years but only started to gain serious momentum in 2008) there were very few restrictions and distributors had a field day, marketing their new product as a "quit smoking" method due to it being free from tobacco.
However, it didn't take too long before health authorities (who perhaps initially thought it was just a gimmick that would soon fade away) had to take the e cig seriously and many objections about its safety and marketing techniques were raised.
These battles are still being waged deep into 2010, with electronic cigarette companies still in operation and still perfectly legal in many places, albeit with drastically altered marketing strategies. Advertising ploys such as "safer smoking" and "healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes" are no longer permitted.
Currently most e cigarettes are being marketed as an alternative or even an extension to the traditional smoking market. Health authorities are pressuring governments to ensure the product has to go through the same stringent checks and procedures as any other.
However, despite its rocky road travelled, the electronic cigarette industry continues to grow and expand and along with it, perhaps logically, its user base. The million (or perhaps billion) dollar question remains mysteriously unanswered for now though. Are electronic cigarettes safer than tobacco cigarettes? Fortunately it's not my job to unravel that one!
Electronic Cigarette The Big Issue of Tobacco: Are E Cigs Safer?
