Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes. Despite their popularity, little is known about their health effects. Some suggest that e-cigarettes likely confer lower risk compared to combustible tobacco cigarettes, because they do not expose users to toxicants produced through combustion. Proponents of e-cigarette use also tout the potential benefits of e-cigarettes as devices that could help combustible tobacco cigarette smokers to quit and thereby reduce tobacco-related health risks. Others are concerned about the exposure to potentially toxic substances contained in e-cigarette emissions, especially in individuals who have never used tobacco products such as youth and young adults. Given their relatively recent introduction, there has been little time for a scientific body of evidence to develop on the health effects of e-cigarettes. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes reviews and critically assesses the state of the emerging evidence about e-cigarettes and health. This report makes recommendations for the improvement of this research and highlights gaps that are a priority for future research.
This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.
Tobacco use among youth and young adults in any form, including e-cigarettes, is not safe. In recent years, e-cigarette use by youth and young adults has increased at an alarming rate. E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used tobacco product among youth in the United States. This timely report highlights the rapidly changing patterns of e-cigarette use among youth and young adults, assesses what we know about the health effects of using these products, and describes strategies that tobacco companies use to recruit our nation's youth and young adults to try and continue using e-cigarettes. The report also outlines interventions that can be adopted to minimize the harm these products cause to our nation's youth.E-cigarettes are tobacco products that deliver nicotine. Nicotine is a highly addictive substance, and many of today's youth who are using e-cigarettes could become tomorrow's cigarette smokers. Nicotine exposure can also harm brain development in ways that may affect the health and mental health of our kids.E-cigarette use among youth and young adults is associated with the use of other tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes. Because most tobacco use is established during adolescence, actions to prevent our nation's young people from the potential of a lifetime of nicotine addiction are critical.E-cigarette companies appear to be using many of the advertising tactics the tobacco industry used to persuade a new generation of young people to use their products. Companies are promoting their products through television and radio advertisements that use celebrities, sexual content, and claims of independence to glamorize these addictive products and make them appealing to young people.
A volume in the Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry series, Analytical Assessment of E-Cigarettes: From Contents to Chemical and Particle Exposure Profiles addresses the many issues surrounding electronic cigarettes in an unprecedented level of scientific detail. The plethora of product devices, formulations, and flavors, combined with the lack of industry standards and labeling requirements, quality control, and limited product oversight, has given rise to public concern about initiation of use and potential for adverse exposure and negative long-term health outcomes. This volume discusses how analytical methods can address these issues and support the manufacturing, labeling, distribution, testing, regulation, and monitoring for consistency of products with known chemical content and demonstrated performance characteristics. The book begins with the background on aerosol drug delivery services and e-cigarettes, constituents of nicotine-containing liquid dosing formulations, typical use scenarios and associated aerosol emissions, and chemical exposures and pharmacological and toxicological effect profiles, and then continues with descriptions of the analytical methods used to characterize the chemicals in formulations and emissions from e-cigarettes, including their stability, physical particle-size distribution and thermal degradation under commonly employed conditions of use. Analytical methods enabling detection of biomarkers of exposure and harm in complex biological matrices are discussed, with an emphasis on constituents or emissions of current medicinal interest or with potential to produce harm. Opportunities and challenges for analytical chemistry in supporting the continued development and use of safe and consistent dosage formulations as alternatives to tobacco products are also explored, with a concluding section describing an analytical approach to a risk-benefit assessment of e-cigarette use on human health. The Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry series is published in partnership with RTI International and edited by Brian F. Thomas. Please be sure to check out our other featured volumes: Thomas, Brian F. and ElSohly, Mahmoud. The Analytical Chemistry of Cannabis: Quality Assessment, Assurance, and Regulation of Medicinal Marijuana and Cannabinoid Preparations, 9780128046463, December 2015. Hackney, Anthony C. Exercise, Sport, and Bioanalytical Chemistry: Principles and Practice, 9780128092064, March 2016.Tanna, Sangeeta and Lawson, Graham. Analytical Chemistry for Assessing Medication Adherence, 9780128054635, April 2016.Rao, Vikram; Knight, Rob; and Stoner, Brian. Sustainable Shale Oil and Gas: Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Geochemistry Methods, 9780128103890, September 2016. - Discusses the chemistry and physics involved in aerosol production, inhalation, deposition, chemical exposure, and effect assessment - Contains current information and state-of-the-science methods on e-cigarette emissions, exposures, and harm assessment - Offers an authoritative, objective perspective from five of the most well-recognized scientists in their areas of expertise who have no personal stake in the e-cigarette industry or the opposition - Includes a foreword written by Dr. Neal Benowitz
Authored by two longtime researchers in tobacco science, The Chemical Components of Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke, Second Edition chronicles the progress made from late 2008 through 2011 by scientists in the field of tobacco science. The book examines the isolation and characterization of each component. It explores developments in pertinent analytical
Combining the insights of leading legal scholars and public health experts, this unique book analyses the various legal problems that are emerging at different levels of governance (international, European and national) in the context of the regulation of e-cigarettes. The expert authors assess in depth the possible application of the precautionary and harm reduction principles in this area, examine the legal constraints imposed on states by international and European rules, as well as the regulatory approaches currently in place in selected national jurisdictions.
"The continued success in global tobacco control is detailed in this year’s WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2013. The fourth in the series, this year’s report presents the status of the MPOWER measures, with country-specific data updated and aggregated through 2012. In addition, the report provides a special focus on legislation to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) in WHO Member States and an in-depth analyses of TAPS bans were performed, allowing for a more detailed understanding of progress and future challenges in this area."--Website summary.
Data suggest that exposure to secondhand smoke can result in heart disease in nonsmoking adults. Recently, progress has been made in reducing involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke through legislation banning smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and other public places. The effect of legislation to ban smoking and its effects on the cardiovascular health of nonsmoking adults, however, remains a question. Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects reviews available scientific literature to assess the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and acute coronary events. The authors, experts in secondhand smoke exposure and toxicology, clinical cardiology, epidemiology, and statistics, find that there is about a 25 to 30 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease from exposure to secondhand smoke. Their findings agree with the 2006 Surgeon General's Report conclusion that there are increased risks of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality among men and women exposed to secondhand smoke. However, the authors note that the evidence for determining the magnitude of the relationship between chronic secondhand smoke exposure and coronary heart disease is not very strong. Public health professionals will rely upon Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects for its survey of critical epidemiological studies on the effects of smoking bans and evidence of links between secondhand smoke exposure and cardiovascular events, as well as its findings and recommendations.
This Surgeon General's report returns to the topic of the health effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. The last comprehensive review of this evidence by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was in the 1986 Surgeon General's report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, published 20 years ago this year. This new report updates the evidence of the harmful effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. This large body of research findings is captured in an accompanying dynamic database that profiles key epidemiologic findings, and allows the evidence on health effects of exposure to tobacco smoke to be synthesized and updated (following the format of the 2004 report, The Health Consequences of Smoking). The database enables users to explore the data and studies supporting the conclusions in the report. The database is available on the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco.
