#4338
Zachary Talbott
Participant

In the southeastern United States, we are seeing the use of e-cigarrettes as a sort of “harm reduction” for smoking. Many patients utilize them (through low dose nicotine or nicotine-free e-cigarettes) in addition to patches or other nicotine replacement therapies as smoking cessation tools. Others “switch” from cigarettes to e-cigarettes for longer term “maintenance…” The problem is that the research is still not in regarding long-term effects from any of the chemicals that cause the “vaping” of the e-cigarettes. We know there are some carcinogens, no doubt, but the big question that needs to be answered is this: Is the harm from e-cigarettes greater or lesser than the harm from traditional cigarettes?