Any doubts about e-cigarettes should be put to rest! Because now a new and stronger evidence has emerged.
E-cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are a safer and less toxic alternative to regular cigarettes. That's according to a new study funded by Cancer Research UK.
Confirming the results of previous scientific work on the safety of e-cigarettes, experts have detected significantly lower levels of toxins and carcinogens in saliva and urine samples from long-term e-cigarette users or nicotine replacement therapy users than from serial smokers of conventional cigarettes.
"Our results also suggest that e-cigarettes are not only safer, but that the amount of nicotine they deliver is not significantly different from regular cigarettes, which could help people deal with their cravings in a safer way and eventually stop smoking altogether," said lead author Lion Shahab of University College London.
Although both contain the psychoactive ingredient nicotine, e-cigarettes simply heat their contents rather than burning tobacco. It's not tobacco, the smoke you inhale is just water vapor, hence the popular term vaping. In contrast, traditional cigarettes contain many carcinogens that, when heated, are not only sent directly to the lungs, but also produce second-hand smoke.
The study is in the Journal of Internal Medicine.
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Tobacco: The world's biggest preventable killer
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the world's biggest preventable killer, claiming about six million lives a year.
More than 5 million of these deaths are the result of direct smoking, and more than 600,000 non-smokers are exposed to the tragic consequences of second-hand smoke. Unfortunately, in 2004, at least 28% of child deaths were related to secondhand smoke.
Numerous studies have linked smoking to an increased risk of developing serious health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis, pneumonia and autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease.
Professor Kevin Fenton, of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "The best thing smokers can do for themselves and those around them is to quit now, completely and forever.