Electronic Cigarettes Are Worse Than Smoking The Real Thing

Touted as a safer alternative to traditional smoking cigarettes, electronic buy cigarettes are supposed to give smokers their nicotine fix without the cancer-causing side effects of tobacco. But some have serious concerns that the battery-operated vaping devices may actually pose more dangers to users.

Florida banned smoking cigarettes in most public places more than eight years ago, but some 40 years after Gwynne Chesher started lighting up. “In 1965, everybody smoked, it was an acceptable thing to do back then."

At her worst, Chesher was puffing a pack a day and eventually, she tried to stop. "I tried the gum; It gave me a stomachache. Tried the patch; it made my heart beat fast and scared me."

So when her son, recently suggested yet something else, Gwynne signed up.

"You just inhale like a cigarette," and began what some call 'vaping.' “It looks like smoke, but its water vapor."

electronic cigarette are battery operated. They have the look and feel of a traditional cigarette, without the smell, the smoke cigarettes and the harmful side effects, say its supporters. Chesher said, “I was really impressed.”

Then her doctor weighed in. “He was like 'No way! You can't use those!'”

Dr. Mike Feinstein, a spokesman for the American Lung Association said, “People are inhaling some type of chemical vaporized compound into their lungs without really knowing what's in it."

Last year, The American Lung Association issued its own warning about electronic cigarette. “This is a buyer stay away, a buyer health hazard, potentially."

Doctor Robert Greene treats lung cancer patients at the Palm Beach Cancer Institute and said the product is potentially a health hazard. “There really is no information about whether they're safe or not, and that's part of the problem."

He says with no real data on electronic cigarette, the three-year-old tobacco alternative may actually be more harmful that traditional cigarettes. "The doses of nicotine that you get could conceivably be higher than what you would get in a typical cigarette."

Ray Story said "To make that claim is obviously ludicrous." Story is an e-cigarette distributor and CEO of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association. “At the end of the day when you look at an e-cigarette, is it addictive? Nicotine is addictive."

Authorities don't necessarily know what's inside of electronic cigarette, but the FDA tested a small sample just a few years ago and found a number of toxic chemicals including diethylene gylcol - the same ingredient used in antifreeze.

Story says, “I understand they found all kinds of stuff. At one point in time you may have found whatever you want to find. If it can not be substantiated by the other side, you have to question their motive."

The findings forced The Food and Drug Administration to issue a nationwide health warning.

Gwynne Chesher says she's decided to wash her hands of anything to do with electronic cigarettes. “I have no problem throwing them in the trash."

According to The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, electronic cigarette contain just five ingredients, all approved by the FDA. Recently, the FDA announced it will begin to regulate electronic cigarette as a tobacco product.

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Electronic Cigarettes Banned In Schools

Concord Community Schools last week officially banned the devices when it had a second reading of a revised tobacco use policy.

Items now prohibited on school grounds include electronic, vapor or substitute forms of cigarettes, clove cigarettes or other smoking cigarettes devices for burning tobacco or other substances.

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, simulate smoking cigarettes by producing a vaporized solution that contains nicotine and can have the appearance of traditional tobacco cigarettes.

The district for months had been considering the ban, which is also tied to a health initiative, said Concord Superintendent Terri Mileski.

Mileski was not aware of any problems in the district regarding electronic discount cigarette online but said leaders did not want it to become an issue.

Allowing use of the devices could have sent a bad message to students, she said.

“We’re supposed to be promoting and doing what’s best for kids,” Mileski said. “We want to be truly smoke cigarettes and drug free.”

The Western School Board on Tuesday took its first steps to ban electronic buy cigarettes on school grounds when it had a first reading of a revised policy that would restrict the devices. E-cigarettes would be effectively prohibited at Western after a second reading in August.

The policy change for Western and Concord was proposed by Northeast Ohio Learning Associates — a group that works with school districts in Michigan and other states to research and present potential school policies.

The group drafted and proposed language to ban electronic cheap cigarettes at schools because the devices are regulated under the federal Tobacco Control Act.

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