By Giles Bruce, LJ World
Stephen Sealey believes electronic cigarettes saved his life.
Jack Tran, owner of Lawrence electronic cigarette store Juice-E-Vapes, said he used the devices to kick his own smoking habit.
He had trouble quitting the real kind, even after breathing problems caused him to once pass out behind the wheel of a car and, later, be diagnosed with emphysema.
He’s 37.
In March of last year, he turned to e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that dispense nicotine through a vaporized liquid, to try to kick his over-two-decade-long smoking habit. It worked, he said, and in the process he’s been able to save money and cut down on his nicotine intake.
“I went from being told I had six months left to live and on oxygen support to 80 percent lung function and no expiration date,” said Sealey, who lived in Lawrence before moving recently to southeast Kansas. “My doctors are ecstatic that I switched and happy that I stayed switched. Every day now is a victory.”
Despite the prevalence of stories like Sealey’s, many public health and medical professionals have yet to endorse e-cigarettes as safer alternative to the traditional variety. Neither has the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has announced its intention to regulate e-cigarettes but has yet to write any rules.
With little government oversight, e-cigarette makers are free to manufacture their products how and with whatever chemicals they choose.
“Because it’s not regulated right now, it’s essentially the Wild Wild West,” said Charlie Bryan, community health planner for the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, adding: “These tobacco producers are creating products that contain chemicals that are not well-understood, with flavors that appeal to children.”
Public health officials often cite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent findings that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students doubled between 2011 and 2012. And they say e-cigarette makers are targeting children by making nicotine vapor in a wide variety of flavors, including bubble gum, Fruit Loops and Good & Plenty.
Last year, the Kansas Legislature stepped in and banned the purchase and possession of e-cigarettes by minors. And while e-cigarettes aren’t subject to the state’s indoor smoking ban, organizations across the state have been writing the devices into their smoke-free policies, including, locally, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and the Lawrence, Baldwin City and Eudora school districts.
Another concern for health advocates is the fact that Big Tobacco is increasingly backing e-cigarettes. In Kansas, tobacco company lobbyists have been encouraging state lawmakers to champion e-cigarettes as a less-harmful alternative, like allowing state employees who use the devices to pay a smaller health insurance premium than traditional smokers, according to state Rep. John Wilson, D-Lawrence.
Read the full article by Giles Bruce from LJ World.
