Common Health Concerns With Electronic Cigarettes

From the day e-cigarettes were first introduced to the U.S. market in 2007 there have been lots of health concerns raised over these devices. Many of these initial concerns were clearly inspired simply by the fact e-cigarettes look like traditional cigarettes and seek to mimic their functionality (albeit in a safe manner). These concerns were further exacerbated by the fact e-cigarettes can be purchased easily and without any age restrictions. Seeing young people under the age of 18 able to purchase and use devices which resemble electronic cigarettes was enough to create a sustained public outcry over e-cigarettes. Of course, the high volume of these health concerns doesn't in any way mean these concerns are actually valid.

 The Ambiguity of E-Cigarette Health Concerns

 It should be obvious from a quick look at the history of hysteria over e-cigarettes that most of the public's health concerns over these devices aren't based in any sort of scientific study or rigorously achieved statistics. Instead the concerns over these cigarettes are of the "guilt by association" variety. If they look like cigarettes and if they act like cigarettes than they must be just as unhealthy as cigarettes.

 Except, this isn't true. E-cigarettes might look like cigarettes but they don't really act like cigarettes. They don't produce smoke, they produce vapors. They don't work by combusting dry matter, they work by vaporizing liquids. They may look like cigarettes and their manufacturers may have worked hard to make sure their vapors bore an aesthetic resemblance to cigarette smoke, but those appearances are deceiving.

 Any ambiguous health concerns which revolve around superficial associations need to be immediately disregarded.

 Getting Specific Over E-Cigarette Health Concerns

 If you actually look at the specifics of what e-cigarettes are and what they provide you will find a few items to feel concerned over. People who have studied these devices feel concerned about the fact no one knows what happens over the long term when you inhale nicotine vapors. Some experts worry about leaking liquid nicotine cartridges. Others are concerned about the potentially dangerous chemicals included in these cartridges. Plenty of people worry that it's easier to smoke too many e-cigarettes because they aren't measured in the same manner as traditional cigarettes. Still others feel concerned over the nicotine content of these cartridges and whether they are accurately labelled.

 These are all valid health concerns revolving around e-cigarettes and they all have one thing in common- they're very specific! These valid concerns revolve around factual elements of e-cigarettes which we're all aware of and which have been made public (either by companies themselves or by credible investigative organizations like the FDA).

 But What About the Children?

 It should be clear by now the only way to consider a health concern over e-cigarettes credible is if it is very specific related to actual data or obvious elements specific to these devices.

 Unfortunately the majority of cries over the potential health dangers of e-cigarettes revolves around ambiguous worries about them causing essentially the same health problems as cigarettes despite working from an entirely different set of mechanisms. If you look at these examples of public outcry long enough you see a common thread between them, and that's the concern over the fact children are able to purchase electronic cigarettes.
 Because they don't use tobacco there are no laws surrounding e-cigarettes and they aren't regulated. There are no age restrictions for buying them and they can be purchased easily online by anyone who wants to get a set or some cartridges.

 While concerns over children using e-cigarettes is certainly well founded, that doesn't mean we should accept ambiguous and poorly defined fears and let them cloud our opinions over these devices.