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48
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
MAY/JUNE 2012
by using e-cigs, but the FDA insists
that a “government-approved failure”
like nicotine replacement therapy is
better than an “unapproved success”
such as an e-cigarette. He stated
that “public health advocates are
more interested in controlling public
behavior than seeing smokers choose
a less harmful alternative.”
In
an
interview
with
theelectroniccigarettesreviews.com, Dr.
Joel Nitzkin, head of the American
Association of Public Health
Physicians’ Tobacco Control Task
Force, said that the risks involved in
consuming electronic cigarettes are
almost negligible compared to the
risks involved in smoking regular
cigarettes, as the devices do not
require combustion, do not produce
ash or smoke, nor contain tobacco or
carcinogens known to cause cancer.
He did add a caveat: that many e-cig
manufacturers could be lowering the
quality standard of their products in
order to generate profits.
Such could be the case in a recently
reported instance where a Colorado
man was hospitalized after an
electronic cigarette, manufactured
by Pure Enterprises/Puresmoker,
exploded in his face. Initially, e-cig
makers unrelated to the incident went
on the record saying that the e-cig in
question may have been a modified
product, using stacked batteries unlike
conventional e-cigs, which have built-
in digital monitoring and protections.
A lawsuit against Pure Enterprises is
pending.
Meanwhile, e-cigarette company
NJOY recently received a $20
million investment from the private
equity firm Catterton Partners,
to be used to “accelerate NJOY’s
brand awareness, growth and other
business development opportunities,”
according to a press release. A
spokesperson for Catterton called
NJOY a “market leader with
outstanding products that have
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
THR Back-Up
Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) has mounting
research on its side, such as:
• The UK’s Royal College of Physicians reported that the consumption of
non-combustible tobacco is on the order of 10 to 1,000 times less hazardous
than smoking. It also concluded that smokers smoke predominantly for
nicotine, that nicotine itself is not especially hazardous, and that if nicotine
could be provided in a form that is acceptable and effective as a cigarette
substitute, millions of lives could be saved.
• Based on his nearly 20 years of research, Dr. Brad Rodu, endowed chair in
Tobacco Harm Reduction at the University of Louisville’s James Graham
Brown Cancer Center and advisor to the American Council of Science and
Health (ACSH), reports that smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit
could significantly reduce their risk of disease and death by switching to
e-cigarettes or modern, spit-free smokeless tobacco products. He finds that
the risk of oral cancer among users of smokeless tobacco products is “certainly
lower” than the risk of smoking-related diseases among cigarette users. Rodu
notes that the annual mortality rate among users of dry snuff is 12 deaths
per 100,000 and much lower among users of snus, moist snuff and smokeless
chewing products. He cites a 2009 report from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration that shows the death rate among automobile users is
11 per 100,000. Therefore, users of smokeless tobacco products have about
the same risk of dying from oral cancer as automobile users do from driving,
he concluded.
• In a large international survey, 72 percent of e-cigarette users reported that
the devices helped them deal with cravings and withdrawal symptoms, 92
percent reported reductions in their smoking when using e-cigarettes and
only 10 percent reported that they experienced the urge to smoke tobacco
cigarettes when using the e-cigarette, according to an online commentary
co-authored by Dr. Michael Siegel of Boston University’s School of Public
Health. Moreover, of the more than 2000 former smokers in the survey,
96 percent reported that e-cigarettes helped them to stop smoking and 79
percent reported fearing that they would start smoking again if they stopped
using it.
• Research presented in April at the British Psychological Society’s Annual
Conference in London found that electronic cigarettes may help the memory,
as well as ease cravings as smokers quit the habit. In other research, it has been
suggested that nicotine could be effective in treating neurological disorders
such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
• Thanks to snus, Swedish men have the lowest smoking rate and the lowest
rate of smoking-related disease and death in Europe.The result of this widely
accepted THR policy in Sweden over the last four decades is known as “the
Swedish experience.”
• Another study by the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research
on Norwegian men found that the most common method used to quit
smoking was snus, used by 32 percent of former smokers, followed by 14
percent who used nicotine gum. Former smokers who correctly believed snus
is “far less risky” than cigarettes were 11 times more likely to have used snus
to quit than those who incorrectly believed snus has the same or higher risks
than cigarettes, and those who believed snus was “somewhat less risky” than
cigarettes were 3.5 times more likely to have used snus to quit.