lets have a civil factual debate aboug E-Cigs

[pnwmom]

65. There seems to be a common misconception that vapor is always safer than smoke.

We know smoke is harmful because it contains particulates, if nothing else, that can get into lungs and damage them.

With vapor, the safety completely depends on the content of the vapor. If it is pure water vapor, there should be no risk. But the vapor in e-cigs is not pure water vapor. It contains varying, and unregulated amounts, of toxic substances such as formaldehyde. And recently researchers at the University of California at Riverside found some e-cigs actually contained nano particles of metals. This would be a very bad thing, a potentially cancer-causing thing, to breathe into the lungs.

In September 40 state attorney generals petitioned the FDA to limit the sale of e-cigs to adults. It would seem, based on the lack of current safety knowledge, that would be the least we should do.

The reason we don't have more safety studies, by the way, is because one of the early manufacturers won a lawsuit against the FDA, forcing the FDA to classify e-cigs as a tobacco product -- which allowed them to be exempt from the necessity of supplying safety and efficacy studies as a smoking cessation device. They want to have it both ways.