4140 Content Essay

INTRODUCTION

The use and debate of cigarettes has experienced a lot of change over the past decades, leading to new safer ways to inhale nicotine vapors. Five independent studies from Europe and the US were published in the 1950's revealing possible carcinogenic effects of cigarettes. One study discovered that of 700 lung cancer patients, 269 smoked five traditional cigarettes a day, and 174 smoked fifteen a day (Doll et al. 745). As the decades followed, health concerns for conventional cigarettes became widespread. In an attempt to make cigarettes healthier, a Chinese pharmacist patented an electronic cigarette, to aid in quitting smoking or other smoking substitutes (Lik 1).

Electronic cigarettes work by electronically atomizing a nicotine filled liquid resulting in a flow of nicotine filled vapor to the user (Lik 2). Studies from the United Kingdom and United States found results of the increase in first time users of e-cigarettes from 2% in 2010 to more than 30% in 2012 (Brown et al. 1532). There are many different users of the product across all ages and genders. The importance in discovering the truth about e-cigarettes comes from a global health standpoint. In an industry this large with risks this imminent, consumers have to be aware of the real health effects of all tobacco products.

ANALYSIS

There are five claims surrounding the debate on electronic cigarettes.

Claim 1

First, recent research on the effects of e-cigarettes indicate a positive effect for some to quit conventional cigarette smoking (Siegel 474). Siegel, with the Department of Community Health Sciences from the Boston University School of Public Health, Surveyed 5,000 first-time buyers of e-cigarettes (Siegel 473). Only 216 customers responded, and from those responses, 81.1% were regular nicotine smokers for at least six years and 64.7% had tried yet failed, to quit smoking three or more times. (Siegel 473).

The data determined that 31.0% of the respondents had refrained from...