electronic-cigarettes

Since the time of James 1st smokers have been complaining about the effects of the dreaded weed: tobacco. In James 1st's own words, smoking is:

"a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."

Asumming that smoking is not going to stop - and let's admit it, as long as there are people there will be vice - then smoking will surely change. After all, we have gone from carving marks on stones to writing on paper to entering information on computers - yet in hundreds of years the basic process of smoking has barely changed.

We are still burning a weed that contains tar and hundreds of harmful chemicals to get at the one thing that gives us our buzz - Nicotine. Of course, nicotine is in itself harmful, but by smoking tobacco in this way wo only compound this harm (see the movie below for why you might want to avoid tar.)

Now we can avoid this - by smoking the electronic cigarette. This cigarette is smoking for modern times: by vaporizing liquid nicotine it cuts out all the tar and chemicals which makes smoking so dangerous.

It's a long time since I wrote this short squidoo lens. Since we started this site controvery has grown over the subject of e-cigarettes. Last autumn fears were raised over the safety of the electronic cigarette, and I must admit we were too. We considered selling or closing down the business or the site. Fortunately, we got in contact with Paul Bergen from the Tobacco Harm Reduction organisation who sent us the latest research on the electronic cigarette.

The research, by Health New Zealand, gave a very positive assessment. (You can read about it here: http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/extra%20info/e-cigarette-safety.html) Since then we have examined the threats to the electronic cigarette and found that much of the opposition in the US came from bodies funded by Big Pharm, who have interest in a three billion dollar nicotine cessation market. As, according to research published (http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-study-demonstrates-how-conflicts-of.html) the effectiveness of NRT is just 1.6% when measured over the period of a year, the e-cigarette, an effective and satisfying alternative for many smokers, obviously poses a threat.

The threat from Big Pharm, however, is dwarfed by the threat by the new Tobacco Bills being pushed through in America. This tobacco bill is openly supported by Philip Morris, the largest cigarette company in America. One possible reason for their support is that the bill is likely to mean a ban on the alternative (and safer) nicotine products introduced in recent years - meaning that their lethal products can ensure guaranteed sales for years on end as nicotine addicts will have nowhere else to turn.

Check out our Electronic Cigarette Satire movie.