Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigs, continue to attract the attention. Those paying attention include smokers who are looking for a “safer” way of continuing to smoke, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who is concerned about the lack of safety data on these products, and, of course, ambitious entrepreneurs world-wide looking to make a buck or yuan. Let’s take another look at what we actually know about these products.

Makers of the e-cigs will tell you that these products are safe and some claim they are effective in helping smokers quit. A little bit of this may be true, but a whole bunch of this is pure spin. There is a paucity of safety data on these products. Recent tests by the FDA on two of the brands (Njoy and Smoking Everywhere) gave mixed results. Here is what the FDA analysis found:

• They found diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, which is toxic to humans.
• Certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are human carcinogens, were detected in half of the samples tested.
• Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans—anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine—were detected in a majority of the samples tested.
• The electronic cigarette cartridges that were labeled as containing no nicotine (Smoking Everywhere brand) had low levels of nicotine present in all cartridges tested, except one.

How you interpret this data depends on your perspective. If you are a manufacturer of e-cigs you are probably quite pleased. Why? Because despite the presence of known carcinogens and several potentially harmful contents, the results show much lower levels of these dangerous chemicals than traditional cigarettes. In fact, e-cig makers are claiming that this analysis proves that e-cigs are safer than traditional cigarettes. Score one for the e-cig makers.

If you are the FDA, very little of this analysis is good news. Since there is no “safe” level of carcinogens, and due to the presence of impurities suspected as being harmful to humans, the FDA expressed grave concern over the safety of these products. Let it be noted that some scientists associated with e-cig manufacturers claim that the FDA is biased against the product. That may or may not be the case, but when you add the tobacco industry’s history of low nicotine and low tar claims that proved to be entirely false, the FDA has clear reason to be concerned. Score one for the FDA.

For the current smoker looking for a safer way of getting their nicotine and continuing “to smoke” all this is probably incredibly confusing. Some smokers claim the e-cig has helped them quit smoking when nothing else did. While I am truly delighted that they were able to quit, there exists no scientific data that as a whole, these products help smokers quit smoking. We need studies to demonstrate whether or not these products help are effective cessation tools. There are 7 proven and effective medications that help smokers quit, and until there is data showing e-cigs do help smokers quit, very few in the tobacco dependence treatment community are ready to endorse them.

E-cigs may prove to be a good thing……or not. Only time will tell. In their rush to get their product to market they forgot a crucial step--- to demonstrate that these products are safe for human consumption. Now they have an uphill battle to convince FDA regulators and consumers that this is the case.