With the aim of discrediting the electronic cigarette industry, big tobacco hs made claims about propylene glycol that are not supported by scientific research. Although a 1942 study in mice at the University of Chicago’s Billings Hospital seemed to indicate inhalation of PG might lead to pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses, follow up studies did not support that conclusion. Long term effects were the focus of the expanded study on monkeys and other animals. No ill effects were observed from propylene glycol.

The FDA and tobacco companies were quick to cry “danger’ and point to an ingredient that has been judged safe to use for many years. There is primary truth that is totally ignored in the warnings. We know smoking almost anything is safer than smoking tobacco.

In e-cigarettes propylene glycol is used to dilute the nicotine and provide a solution that can be vaporized and deliver nicotine to the e-smoker. PG is a commonly used food additive and is the substance used in fog machines. It also appears on the label of ingredients of many of the food products we routinely buy.

It is interesting that the many cautions about propylene glycol found online are not found on scientific or medical sites or referenced as articles in scientific journals. The dire warnings are on conspiracy blogs, natural healing sites and on the sites of anti-smoking groups. Several entries claim that propylene glycol is antifreeze. No. Not true. That would be ethylene glycol.

A tremendous amount of information can be found on the internet but it’s important to know who you are listening to. PG is used in baby wipes and even the FDA is unlikely to approve a dangerous product for use on infants. The best electronic cigarettes deliver only a very small amount of PG to the e-smoker. Some e-liquids use glycerol rather than PG as a base but propylene glycol is the most used ingredient in e-liquid solutions.

Consumers are more conscious of food additives and harmful ingredients in the foods they eat than every before. Looking at the ingredients on products you buy is a smart thing to do. We know to look carefully at labels when buying products low in sugar. Ingredients such as sucrose and fructose and various types of “syrup” may be listed and each of those ingredients is sugar.

The saccharin scare thirty years ago is a valuable example of the folly of acting on incomplete information and drawing incorrect conclusions. The FDA banned saccharine which was a very popular sweetener used as an additive in many packaged foods and. The FDA stated saccharin had caused cancer in mice and panic ensued. Companies lost a lot of money in changing the ingredients in their products and the public tossed out boxes of Sweet and Low which was a popular saccharin product.

What the FDA didn’t tell the public was that the research did not apply to people. The mice had been given huge doses of saccharin daily. Adjusting the amount to that needed for a person to develop cancer would require the person to consume at least 400 cans of diet cola every day for months. Today, saccharin is once again fully available for sale to the public.

Propylene glycol is a necessary ingredient for delivery of e-cig vapor. There is no evidence ths PG causes any danger to electronic smokers despite the efforts of tobacco companies worried about the competition.

Mary Kay Rivers is an expert in the field of e-cigarettes. Her publications about less harmful cigarettes for COPD patients or a review of the best e-cig have become very famous.

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An excellent smoking alternative is the new gadget for smokers today. First launched in 2003, the electronic cigarette provides an alternative solution for those addicted to tobacco. It’s a product welcomed by many smokers unable to quit the habit yet worried about health concerns.

You can smoke the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes for about $2 when using e-cigs. That’s quite a bit better than the five to ten dollar cost of a pack of tobacco cigarettes. The electronic cigarette is a nicotine delivery system providing smokers with the”fix” they want without the necessity of inhaling toxic chemicals of tobacco products. You can choose the best e-cigarette gadget available and still spend less than you will for tobacco products.

Technological advances made the development of electronic cigarettes possible. The e-cigarette gadget is composed of an atomizer and a battery component. Screwed together the two portions look like a ball point pen or a cigarette depending on the brand you choose. Other models provide alternative smoking experiences for pipes, cigars and there is even a hookah electronic model available.

The mouthpiece is the atomizer and may be round or oval shaped on one end. Inside is a cup filled with absorbent material that holds an e-liquid solution that provides flavor and nicotine in a base of propylene glycol or glycerin. You can choose the taste of regular tobacco or menthol tobacco or can pick from a variety of other flavors. For models with replaceable cartridges you can change flavors any time you want.

When the flavor fades or a burned taste is present you refill the atomizer with a few drops of e-juice dripped from a small bottle. The contents of one bottle of e-liquid are approximately the same as five cartons of tobacco cigarettes..

A battery is the second component of the e-cigarette gadget. This is the bottom section of an electronic cigarette. Early products routinely added a red or orange LED light at the tip of the battery section to give the impression of a burning cigarette. Now manufacturers provide a variety of color options and you can choose your favorite color for the LED “fire”.

Starter kits often include two rechargeable battery components – one long and one short. Some manual models have a small button to depress to active the e-cigarette but the automatic version is far more popular with consumers.

The puff (draw) on the atomizer activates a minuscule heating element that vaporizes liquid in the mouthpiece. The vapor is inhaled and nicotine ingested with the vapor. In the best e-cigarettes the process is instantaneous allowing the user to inhale and smoke as if he were using tobacco.

The cartridge version is the best electronic cigarette. With a short, disposable mouthpiece this design requires no maintenance, no cleaning and no e-liquids. Replacing an old cartridge with a new one is like opening a pack of cigarettes. The replaceable cartridge e-cigs are without a doubt the easiest to use.

Mary Kay Rivers has become an acclaimed expert on all aspects of e-cigs. Her articles such as a review of the Green Smoke e-cig and about the smoking ban and the electronic cigarette have become very famous.

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The first statements about safety concerns of electronic cigarettes were issued by the FDA in a way that suggested a government agency bowing to pressure exerted by big tobacco. For the FDA to mention banning a product before testing had been conducted is not the way that government agency usually conducts its business.

We have known for over 40 years that smoking tobacco is a serious health danger. It was then that warnings were added to cigarette packs yet the U.S. now has one of the weakest warnings used globally. After forty years of proof of the dangers in tobacco, the FDA moved in 2009 to regulate the tobacco industry. You may be surprised to learn big tobacco conglomerates welcomed this new regulating effort. Of course they did. The regulations are likely to be based around their current practices and a result would be to make it far more difficult for a competitor to enter the marketplace.

With hints indicating a wish to ban electronic cigarettes, the FDA issued statements about safety concerns. Last year, the FDA claimed it had concerns that young people would be lured into nicotine addiction by the e-liquid used in e-cigs. The FDA then issued a ban on importation of electronic cigarettes aimed at China which is the main source of imports of the products.

The ban ended up in federal court on January 15, 2010 where a federal judge ruled the FDA could not ban the importation of electronic cigarettes. The judge strongly criticized the federal agency for aggressive tactics that seemed aimed at designating a particular recreational product as a drug or device in an attempt to make the product unavailable to the public.

The new tobacco division created last year within the FDA was formed to perform the new FDA duties of regulating the contents and marketing claims of tobacco products. The court stated the same legislation that created oversight of tobacco products would also apply to the alternative electronic cigarettes.

Responding to the court decision, the FDA seemed to change it’s reasoning about an import ban claiming concern over potential “health issues”. The previous concerns of underage smokers seemed to be forgotten. If the FDA appeals the court decision the agency will have full support of big tobacco.

Allowing the FDA to set standards and restrictions on e-cigs that are not a requirement for tobacco would create an unfair market. There would be a significant increase in the cost of e-cigarettes which would benefit tobacco producers who can’t compete with the low cost of electronic alternatives.

The ban and resultant court action pointed to a need to examine the relationship existing between the FDA, big tobacco and big pharma. With billions of dollars added to the bottom lines of state and federal governments through taxes on tobacco, it is important that the FDA fulfill its mission of protecting public health. It is interesting to conjecture what the FDA position would have been had tobacco companies introduced and marketed electronic cigarettes in the first place.

The unusual steps taken by the FDA have created their own controversy about the focus of this government agency. The FDA has never proposed banning tobacco products to protect the health of the public. Traditionally, the FDA issues statements and warnings and takes action only after conducting full scientific testing. In the case of the FDA vs electronic cigarette manufacturers, the FDA has ignored testing to develop standards and instead has focused on finding reasons to ban a product that is arguably safer than the product it may eventually replace.

Mary Kay Rivers has become an acclaimed expert in the field of e-cigs. Her articles “Since When do Electronic Cigarettes Exist?” or about the best electronic cigarette have become well-known.

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The debate swirling around the subject of safety of electronic cigarettes has not abated since the products were first introduced. In fact, the flow of misinformation has increased in the past two years fueled by big tobacco companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and even the FDA.

In response to the heated debate, electronic cigarette suppliers recently formed a trade association to provide factual information about e-cigs to the buying public. Tobacco companies want to eliminate competition from electronic cigarettes and have followed an agenda of issuing warnings about e-cig dangers that have no basis in fact. The FDA conducted a very limited test of a few hand chosen e-cigarettes and then pronounced the products were not safe because trace amounts of a dangerous chemical were found in some of the products tested.

No further testing was conducted by the FDA nor did the government agency test tobacco products to ascertain if the same chemical was a component of standard cigarettes. The test was not replicated and offered no comparison to burning tobacco.

E-cigarettes contain only twenty ingredients. When the buying public asks “are electronic cigarettes safe” it seems best to point out that tobacco cigarettes contain 599 ingredients that produce over 4000 chemical compounds and additives when burned. Although claims are made by tobacco companies that cigarette additives have been approved by the FDA that is not quite the true picture. Those food additives were tested for ingestion as a food product. They have not been tests for chemical compounds that are created when the additives are burned. The high heat of burning can change the chemical elements of some products.

Tars and additives in tobacco are known to be harmful to smokers but nicotine suffers guilt by association. The smoke from tobacco can cause various forms of cancer of the mouth, throat and lungs. Heart disease can result from smoking tobacco and use of tobacco has been associated with a lowered immune system that may lead to an increase in colds, bronchitis and pneumonia in some users.

When separated from tobacco, nicotine does not promote cancer in healthy tissues and shows no mutagenic properties. Nicotine is the reason we become addicted to tobacco and is the fix we crave when we want a cigarette.

Gums, patches and lozenges designated as nicotine replacement products have been freely available in stores for years. Originally, the nicotine patch was only available by prescription but was later approved as an over the counter product. The stop smoking products have not revealed any significant health risks in the years since they were first released.

The best e-cigs deliver a measured dose of nicotine to the e-smoker. Nicotine is provided in a safe form that soothes the smoker’s craving without the risks of smoking tobacco. The Royal College of Physicians stated they do not suspect adverse health effects will result from the long term use of nicotine.

Mary Kay Rivers has become an expert on all aspects of electronic cigarettes. Her articles “How do E-Cigs Work?” or about the best e-cigarette are very popular.

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