E-smoke’em if you got’em
Nicholas John for the R Street Institute: Historically, American tobacco control policy has been based on the premise that all tobacco products are hazardous and that none can offer personal or public health benefits. However, peer-reviewed research by the United Kingdom’s Royal College of Physicians has demonstrated that e-cigarettes are significantly safer than cigarettes, which continue to be both the most widely used and the most harmful tobacco products on the market.
That work by the Royal College of Physicians is particularly notable in light of the fact that it was that group, decades ago, who presented the first comprehensive study on the negative health impact of cigarette use.
More recently, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb echoed similar sentiments in a recent Washington Post interview. Gottlieb noted that most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, a known addictive substance, but the real threat to humans is the carcinogens produced when tobacco is combusted. Electronic nicotine delivery systems, or “ENDS,” provide a safer alternative for adults who still want access to nicotine but avoid that mass of carcinogens.
