The typical smokeless (electronic) cigarette is made of stainless steel, has a chamber for storing liquid nicotine in various concentrations, is powered by a rechargeable battery and resembles a real cigarette. Users puff on it as they would a real cigarette, but they do not light it, and it produces no smoke. Rather, it produces a fine, heated mist, which is absorbed into the lungs.
Developed in China in 2004, the smokeless cigarettes are sold there and in numerous other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Finland, Israel, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Manufacturers and retailers claim that multiple studies by different laboratories around the globe have been conducted identifying that the vapor that is ingested when using an electronic cigarette, depending on the manufacturer, contains approximately 20 ingredients including nicotine, all regarded as generally safe for human consumption when ingested prudently and in accordance with proper labeling. By contrast tobacco smoke contains 4,000 ingredients including arsenic and carbon monoxide, and dozens of cancer-causing ingredients.
Even more marketers of the smokeless cigarettes typically describe it as a means to help smokers break their addictions to tobacco.
But oppositionists say that WHO knows of no evidentiary basis for the marketers’ claim that the electronic cigarette helps people quit smoking. Indeed, as far as WHO is aware, no rigorous, peer-reviewed studies have been conducted showing that the electronic cigarette is a safe and effective nicotine replacement therapy.
“The electronic cigarette is not a proven nicotine replacement therapy,” said Dr Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General of WHO’s Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster. “WHO has no scientific evidence to confirm the product’s safety and efficacy. Its marketers should immediately remove from their web sites and other informational materials any suggestion that WHO considers it to be a safe and effective smoking cessation aid.”
WHO does not discount the possibility that the electronic cigarette could be useful as a smoking cessation aid. The only way to know is to test smokeless cigarettes.
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