Many people have been waiting for this publication, but it has finally happened. A senior public policy maker has publicly embraced the electronic cigarette use as a public health strategy to eliminate tobacco cigarette smoking. Nate Miley, the Alameda County Board Member, emphasised that he could not help but support an innovation that is helping smokers quit.
The statement of public policy maker adds to the several and a growing amount of evidence that electronic cigarettes are much safer than traditional cigarettes. Hopefully, this will put an end to the assertions of electronic cigarettes opponents who continually claim that e-cigarettes are not any safer than tobacco cigarettes.
According to the latest research published in BMC Medicine, at least two out of three smokers eventually die from tobacco related causes. The research found that women and men had equal mortality rates, and the current smokers were younger and less likely to live in urban areas where smoking is restricted. The smokers had lower incomes and lower education levels compared to those who didn't smoke. By the end of the study, researchers found that smokers were three times more likely to die than those who never smoked.
Despite all the evidence, similar to those above, and studies showing rapid clinical improvement in smokers who switch to electronic cigarettes, the FDA is still not sure that vaping is not more hazardous than smoking. In a sad regulation proposal, the FDA official is quoted saying, "Many smokers believe that electronic cigarettes are safe tobacco products." Clearly, the FDA doesn't believe that there is enough evidence at the moment to conclude that smoking is more hazardous than vaping.
Fortunately, a public policy maker is willing to stand up against the deaths and destructions caused by tobacco cigarettes. The state health department might not be willing, the CDC might not be willing and FDA might not be willing, but the public is willing to change their habits of smoking the real thing.