In the last couple of days, there were media reports stating that popular Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor has endorsed electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as an alternative to smoking.
In a tweet, the actor wrote, "Smoking is seriously not good! There are electric cigs available now. A lot of my friends are using them. I know of people who smoke e-ciggies to give up smoking or cut down on the number of cigarettes per day."
While her anti-smoking advocacy is indeed welcome and noble - we in fact need more popular icons to tackle this public health menace - what Sonam has probably missed out is that e-ciggies are equally harmful, if not more.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), had in 2009, clearly articulated the dangerous effects of e-cigarettes. Laboratory analysis of e-cigarettes showed that they contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an
ingredient used in antifreeze.
Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated
devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor
and other chemicals. The electronic cigarette turns nicotine, which is
highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapour that is inhaled by
the user.
Specific analyses of two leading brands by FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation, Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis (DPA) revealed the approximate presence of 1 per cent diethylene glycol in one cartridge.
Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to
humans—anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine—were detected in a majority
of the samples tested. Certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens were detected in half of the samples tested. For more, FDA's analysis, click here
Quite literally, use of e-cigarettes would be akin to jumping from frying pan to fire! E-cigarettes are not an alternative to smoking, period!
Image courtesy: FDA
No comments:
Post a Comment