Electronic cigarettes — e-cigs — are good because they allow smokers to cut back on many of the harmful effects of smoking the real thing and reduce the harm of second-hand smoke.
But e-cigs are bad because they are delivering harmful nicotine to teenagers in rapidly rising numbers, leaving addicts in their wake.
The FDA and our lawmakers must focus on this product to capitalize on the good and negate the bad.
As a story in Sunday’s H-T suggested, the good news announced recently that a lower percentage of teenagers are smoking cigarettes than at any other time that statistic has been measured is largely offset by the news that the number of teens trying e-cigs doubled from 2011 to 2012 to the neighborhood of 2 million.
Indiana University alum Dr. Robert Proctor, now a professor at Stanford University, was one of 129 global researchers and doctors who recently signed a letter asking the World Health Organization to control and regulate e-cigarettes. He told H-T reporter Hannah Alani why he signed: “You can basically put anything you want into e-cigs, including all kinds of youth-attracting kiddie flavorings (such as) bubble-gum and pizza. Dog food is more carefully regulated.”
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