BEIJING, Feb. 27, 2009
Chinese "E-Cigs" Get Attention, Scrutiny
Atomizer Creates A Smoke-Free Nicotine Mist; Not A Safer Alternative, Health Officials Say
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Miao Nan, executive director of Ruyan Group Ltd., puffs an electronic smoke while he shows other designs at his office in Beijing, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. Ruyan was the first company to develop electronic cigarettes and says its atomizer technology allows users to get an immediate nicotine fix without being harmed by the hazardous chemicals produced when tobacco is burned. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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The Ruyan V8, which produces a nicotine-infused mist absorbed directly into the lungs, is just one of a rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes attracting attention in China, the U.S. and elsewhere - and the scrutiny of world health officials.
Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.
Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette. There's no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers say.
Health authorities are questioning those claims.
The World Health Organization issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.
It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.
"There is not sufficient evidence that (they) are safe products for human consumption," Timothy O'Leary, a communications officer at the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said this week.
"We don't know [if they are safe], but we don't think so," Dr. Jonathan Whiteson of New York University's Cardiac and Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Program told CBS' The Early Show Friday.
"My biggest concern is these things are marketed to younger people, to adolescents. And my biggest concern is that adolescents are going to start smoking these cigarettes thinking they're not getting any dangerous products. But the first hit of nicotine can make you addicted, and that is so concerning. We already have more adolescents than adults smoking, and the last thing we want to do is encourage them to smoke more," Whiteson said.
The laundry list of WHO's concerns includes the lack of conclusive studies and information about e-cigarette contents and their long-term health effects, he said.Read more from CBS' The Early Show
Unlike other nicotine-replacement therapies such as patches for slow delivery through the skin, gum or candy for absorption in the mouth, or inhalers and nasal sprays, e-cigarettes have not gone through rigorous testing, O'Leary said.
Nicotine is highly addictive and causes the release of the "feel good" chemical dopamine when it goes to the brain. It also increases heart rate and blood pressure and restricts blood to the heart muscle.
Ruyan - which means "like smoking" - introduced the world's first electronic cigarette in 2004. It has patented its ultrasonic atomizing technology, in which nicotine is dissolved in a cartridge containing propylene glycol, the liquid that is vaporized in smoke machines in nightclubs or theaters and is commonly used as a solvent in food.
When a person takes a drag on the battery-powered cigarette, the solution is pumped through the atomizer and comes out as an ultrafine spray that resembles smoke.
Hong Kong-based Ruyan contends the technology has been illegally copied by Chinese and foreign companies and is embroiled in several lawsuits. It's also battling questions about the safety of its products.
Most sales take place over the Internet, where hundreds of retailers tout their products. Their easy availability, O'Leary warns, "has elevated this to a pressing issue given its unknown safety and efficacy."
Smoking is tightly woven into the fabric of daily life in Ruyan's home turf of China, the world's largest tobacco market where about 2 trillion cigarettes are sold every year.
On its Web site, Gamucci, a London-based manufacturer, features a woman provocatively displaying one of its e-cigs. "They look like, feel like and taste like traditional tobacco, yet they aren't," the blurb reads. "They are a truly healthier and satisfying alternative. Join the revolution today!"
Smoking Everywhere, a Florida-based company, proclaims it "a much better way to smoke!" while a clip on YouTube features an employee of the NJoy brand promoting its e-cigarettes at CES, the international consumer technology trade show.
Online sales make it even more difficult to regulate the industry, which still falls in a gray area in many countries.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has "detained and refused" several brands of electronic cigarettes because they were considered unapproved new drugs and could not be legally marketed in the country, said press officer Christopher Kelly.
He did not give more details, but said the determination of whether an e-cig is a drug is made on a case-by-case basis after the agency considers its intended use, labeling and advertising.
In Australia, the sale of electronic cigarettes containing nicotine is banned. In Britain, the products appear to be unregulated and are sold in pubs.
Smoking is tightly woven into the fabric of daily life in Ruyan's home turf of China, the world's largest tobacco market where about 2 trillion cigarettes are sold every year.
Tobacco sales, the biggest source of government revenue, brought in $61 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 18 percent from 2007, the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper said.
In a country where the cheapest brands of cigarettes cost about 20 cents a pack, the e-cig is far pricier. Ruyan's V8 costs $240 and includes batteries and 20 cartridges of nicotine solution, roughly the same number of puffs as 20 packs of tobacco cigarettes. The line has expanded to include cigars and pipes crafted from agate and rosewood.
Ruyan is suing a Beijing newspaper for questioning its safety and for claiming in 2006 that its products have more nicotine than regular cigarettes.
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 28 CommentsI honestly hope in the future it can be regulated to actually ensure that it is always a healthy alternative to quit smoking tobacco. If taxed it can still generate the same income to to government but will cost ALOT less medically from the #1 cause of deaths in America.
MY biggest concern is that Whiteson is a medical professional telling falsehoods on national television. "These things" are marketed to adult cigarette smokers and I've yet to see otherwise. Non-smoking children spending the quoted "$60-$240" on a cigarette? I'm surprised he could say it with a straight face. Maybe his concern should be his patients with breathing problems who aren't able to stop smoking and the fact that this product may save their lives.
Seriously, these things have little to no smell. My husband can tell when I'm using the "coffee" flavor from a particular manufacturer (he says it smells like sweet coffee), but he doesn't smell anything when I use other flavors.
someone will smoke for us. off course there will be a charge.
i think we as a consumer are as guilty as the marketers.
Posted by roselighyw
suclessful? Perhaps before advertising for this website, you should run the ad through spell check.
I did kick the nic habit, and I immensely enjoy using my electronic cigarette with 0 nicotine liquid. There's more to smoking than the physiological addiction to nicotine.
Posted by peacefulperson
As would kicking the Caffiene habit, the Sugar habit, the Alcohol habit. Some people simply do not want to give up what they enjoy. If you enjoy a cup of coffee or a bar of chocolate, you have that right. If I choose to enjoy a cigarette that is safer by far for me and has no risk at all for the people around me then I should have that right as well. This cigarette gives smokers the option to do that.
I guess if it means the "smoker" is just poisoning him/herself and not killing those around them with second-hand smoke, it's better than cigarettes.
Ideally, kicking the nic habit would be better...
Also, there is no second hand smoke and the vapor is so light that if someone was smoking an electronic cigarette around you and being discreet, you would have absolutely no idea. People smoke these on airplanes and they are going unnoticed. Why? Because the vapor is essentially odorless and does not linger like tobacco smoke.
If the argument for a healthier public is truly tobacco harm reduction, then the e-cig is a step in the right direction. The only thing that is left from a tobacco cigarette is the nicotine. If you are a nicotine prohibitionist, then it is understandable that you would not like this product. However, nicotine by itself is really no more harmful than caffeine. So be aware that once you start a fight on nicotine by itself, we will not only lose all of the FDA approved nicotine devices, but a war will be waged on caffeine next. OH MY! No smokes and no coffee? What kind of society is that?!?
Finally, let's talk about China. Seriously? What about the American company who withheld the fact that they tested positive for salmonella 12 times in two years and still shipped out their tainted peanut butter anyways? I find that as bad as the Chinese who put melamine in the milk. At least they fessed up to it, found guilty and given a death sentence. It isn't China that does bad things, it is bad people. If you really want to stop doing business with China, then head to your backyard, cut yourselves some branches, and build yourself a hut, cause about 90 % of what is in your home from electronic gadgets to the nuts and bolts that hold your house together originate in countries like China.
If you are interested in further educating yourself on the e-cig, please visit www.e-cig.org. There are links to studies that have been done. You might not be a smoker, but you might know one and if you love them, anything that offers Tobacco Harm Reduction is the way to go.
Anyone lighting up around me, even one of these things will be asked - once - politely to stop. After that, their cigarette, electronic or not, will be up their nose, lit end first.
Who do you think you are? The cigarette Nazi? Your rights do not supersede my rights. Get the facts before you spout off on something you know nothing about.
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