Health Basics: E-cigarettes; are you trading one bad habit for another?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by: S. D. Wells
Tags: e-cigarettes, nicotine, ingredients

(NaturalNews) There are currently no regulations whatsoever of the ingredients in e-cigs, and no age restrictions for purchasing them either. This "hot" new product is marketed to children, teens and adults, and is sold in shopping malls at kiosks and on hundreds of websites.

Nicotine doses in e-cigs have an enormous range, from a mild 5 milligrams, on up to 60mg. Botched jobs by amateur manufacturers can end up delivering over 300mg, which is a possible lethal dose, especially for a child or teenager who has either low or no tolerance for it.

Also, the nicotine levels on the cartridges are often wrong, and research reveals that many of the e-cigs that claim they are nicotine-free are not (http://www.fastcompany.com/1545957/how-much-nicotine-are-you-getting-with-that-electronic-cigarette).

In case you don't already know, the increasingly popular electronic cigarettes or "e-cigs" are battery-operated nicotine delivery devices made from a stainless steel tube, which often resembles a cigarette. When you puff on an e-cig, the computerized sensor feels the drop in pressure and activates both an internal heating element as well as the signature "red glow" LED at the tip. The heating element vaporizes a liquid solution in the cartridge, usually comprised of nicotine, flavor enhancers, and some form of the highly toxic ethylene glycol, which is found in anti-freeze.

Many e-cigs also contain cancer-causing compounds like nitrosamines (http://www.primehealthchannel.com/electronic-cigarette-dangers-and-side-effects.html).

The inventor and major exporters of e-cigs originated in China less than a decade ago, and since e-cigs do not contain tobacco, there's a legal loophole which excludes them from FDA authority. Plus, the FDA states that they have not adequately researched e-cigs, so there is no "evaluation" available.

You're probably asking yourself why, but how can the U.S. Government fight to ban e-cigs when they allow 4,000 chemicals in standard cigarettes? That would be like banning beer but not liquor.

The FDA has a different, hidden agenda. Many smokers are under the false notion that e-cigs will help them quit smoking altogether, maybe because the FDA calls it a choice for cessation; however, the inventors of e-cigs never meant for them to be a cessation method at all, but merely an alternative.

The biggest down side of e-cigs is that nicotine is one of the most toxic and addictive drugs in the world, and many e-cigusers end up doubling or even tripling their nicotine intake, compounding another enormous and costly problem - healthcare (http://legalmatch.typepad.com/personalinjury/2009/11/the-new-death-sticks-ecigarettes.html).

Because of the amateur-laden, unregulated industry of e-cigs, smoking them is like playing Russian roulette with your health and life

The manufacturing of e-cigs requires no licensing or training at all, only a business license for selling non-toxic goods (although having a chemistry degree, wearing a haz-mat suit, and goggles and gloves is highly recommended).

This means you can go online and get yourself a $45 business license with your credit card, buy some tobacco-free pure nicotine on line from some random vendor, drive to the store and get some vegetable glycerin for the fog effect, use some water to dilute the nicotine, add 10 to 20% food grade heat-resistant flavoring like mint or caramel (toxic), and mix your own batch.

It all sounds real cool, like a do-it-yourself science experiment, and people all over the world are pretending they're MacGyver, mixing it up in their basements and then exporting it to the USA. Instead of lessening the toxins or eliminating a bad habit, could e-cigs actually be the new gateway drug to crystal meth or crack cocaine?

Diluting pure nicotine is not for amateurs, and spilling it on your skin or inhaling it can kill you. Still, manufacturing directions and home-made batches are available all over the internet by simply googling "e-liquid, e-juice, or nic-juice." To make problems worse, many of the "atomizers"for sale have defects.

Still, the argument by e-cig users is that it's better for them than commercial cigarettes, mainly because they're not inhaling "tobacco smoke" or "products of combustion." So you cut out the pesticides, but what about the toxic additives, emulsifiers, synthetic flavors, the fluoride in tap water, unregulated doses of nicotine, and diethylene glycol.

When burned and inhaled, these toxic compounds fuel chronic depression, mood swings, lowered sex drive, lack of motivation, and general nervousness and anxiety. Still think e-cigs are a lesser evil than commercial cigs? Think again (http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=13).

If you really want to quit the nicotine addiction, check out an easy-to-learn program called 14AndOut, which addresses the chemical addiction, behavior patterns, and the nutritional deficiencies that smokers need to understand and address in order to quit for good.

The 60 minutestreaming videois available on Natural News TV and comes highly recommended by Mike Adams. Remember, knowledge is power! (http://premium.naturalnews.tv/14AndOut__WS.htm)

Sources for this article include:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1545957/how-much-nicotine-are-you-getting-with-that-electronic-cigarette

http://www.cancer.org/MyACS/Eastern/AreaHighlights/cancernynj-news-ny-ecig-health-vote

http://legalmatch.typepad.com/personalinjury/2009/11/the-new-death-sticks-ecigarettes.html

http://howdoecigswork.org/is-nicotine-poisoning-possible-with-e-cigarettes/

http://ash.org/banecigs.html

http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=13

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/07/e-cigarettes-are-not-safe-and-heres-why.html

http://www.primehealthchannel.com/electronic-cigarette-dangers-and-side-effects.html