UH researchers report new findings on EGO CE4 electronic cigarette use-Priceangels.com

University of Hawaii Cancer Center Prevention and Control Program researchers found that smokers who use electronic or e-cigarettes as a tool to stop smoking tend to be younger and more motivated to quit smoking as compared to other smokers.

Dr. Pallav Pokhrel and Dr. Thaddeus Herzog found that approximately 13 percent of smokers had tried CE4 e-cigarettes as a means of quitting smoking. They also found that smokers who had tried e-cigarettes for smoking cessation help were younger and had been smoking for fewer years compared to other smokers.

The Hawaii-based survey analyzed responses from self-identified smokers who had consumed at least three cigarettes per day and at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.The survey asked participants if they had ever used e-cigarettes to quit smoking and captured additional demographic information.

The study also assessed participants’ nicotine dependence, number of quit attempts in the past, and motivation to quit smoking.If e-cigarettes are found to be relatively safer and effective as cessation aids, the appeal that they have for younger adults should be used to enhance smoking cessation among younger smokers,” Dr. Pokhrel said. “Conversely, if e-cigarettes are ineffective as cessation aids and are potentially a risk, strategies need to be developed to help younger smokers find effective cessation aids.”dr4sbfvcD

The study also found that Native Hawaiians were significantly less likely to use e-cigarettes than whites.Smokers who had used nicotine replacement gum, patches, bupropion, or varenicline were two to four times more likely to have used e-cigarettes as cessation aids.Further analysis revealed that motivation to quit smoking was higher among those who tried e-cigarettes than those who tried other cessation aids such as nicotine replacement gum or patches.

“Despite the lack of firm evidence regarding safety or effectiveness, e-cigarettes appear to have become cessation aids of choice for some smokers who appear to show a relatively higher motivation to quit smoking,” Dr. Herzog said. “Thus, this study confirms the importance of promptly developing appropriate e-cigarette regulations that address smokers’ use of e-cigarettes as cessation products.”

Let's pause and think before we inhale the hype of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). As is the case with conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, an addictive drug. Beyond their addictive quality, the health consequences of e-cigarettes are largely unknown.

These facts suggest that EGO CE4 may well serve as training wheels for other drug use and addiction and most states do not restrict the purchase of these products by children. Are we okay with our 8- year-olds being able to buy e-cigarettes?

From Big Tobacco's sales and marketing perspective, these unregulated products will be a gold mine. As the tobacco industry knows only too well, the best way to get a lifetime user is to start them early. This explains current e-cigarette marketing tactics that revive the old glamorous promotional cues which for decades have attracted young people to the deadly habit of cigarette smoking.

From device to packaging, e-cigarettes are designed to look exactly like a traditional cigarette but without the harsh flavor or burning sensation when inhaled. This would seem to produce a greater likelihood of second use, third use, and so forth, setting the user on a faster path to addiction and guaranteeing sales for years. Flavoring the "e-juice" with cherry, peach and menthol creates direct appeal to children and adolescents. Clever advertising by the tobacco industry makes e-cigarettes the perfect bridge to other addictive substances including conventional cigarettes. Once again the tobacco industry is marketing the disease of addiction.