The electronic cigarette debate became viral about June of 2009 after the FDA publicized a report on smokefree cigarettes and their associated nicotine containing solution e juice determining them as harmful as they contained toxins considered dangerous to humans. The e cig camp fired back by hiring a renowned analysis firm to examine the FDA report and the methods utilized to reach their findings. This firm found the findings obtained by the Food and Drug Administration research was invalid because the screening methods they utilized were far from those necessary to produce these types of conclusive determinations.

So at present, over a year later, what exactly have we learned concerning the safety of electric cigarettes? Well, quite simply, nothing has changed. Both sides on the controversy still maintain their statements are accurate. In the end, the electric cigarette buyer remains in the dark regarding the health and safety of the electric cigarette. Let’s take a closer look at what precisely we do know.

In the interest of brevity, I won’t get into specifics regarding how the electric cigarette works or how it’s used. It’s in essence a nicotine delivery system not unlike the doctor prescribed Nicotrol inhaler. It works by warming and vaporizing a mix of glycerin and nicotine when the user takes a puff from the device. The Food and Drug Administration’s key point of contention (since established mistaken through the 2nd scientific study) is the nicotine formulated solution they examined included impurities hazardous to humans. The argument regarding this aspect is not the issue at hand. The most essential point to note would be the fact that the FDA may have, if deliberate or not, made a most important discovery.

In the United States, most anything we eat or drink has to comply with procedures controlled by a number of government agencies which ensure our health and safety. We often see products which were recalled due to the slightest incompliance with appropriate requirements. So now why don’t we think about e-juice (the nicotine product used in smokeless cigarettes) for a moment. At present, there are no rules or polices in place governing its production, who may manufacture it, how it’s stored or even its shelf life. Basically, you or I may go on the internet, buy e-juice products and start blending it inside our garages with zero regulation whatsoever. Of course for individual use this may seem acceptable. Having said that, I do not know of a comparable product manufactured for human inhalation which you may make for yourself let alone for mass consumption by providing it for sale on the internet. Nevertheless this is precisely what countless e juice suppliers are in reality doing.

Do not misunderstand me. I am no way stating that e juice is dangerous. I’m saying we have a genuine hazard that due to insufficient regulation, a tainted ejuice may theoretically fall into the hands of an electric cigarette user. So now you are likely to consider the e-liquid that is manufactured by the e-cig suppliers themselves? Here again, we fundamentally have the identical scenario. Formulated for the most part in Japan, there isn’t any legal requirements of any kind concerning how this e-liquid is made. In the end, it appears people searching for e-juice need to consider the old adage caveat emptor or “Let the buyer beware”.

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