the e-cigarette contained a poisonous antifreeze chemical, diethylene glycol

Advice from the Food & Drug Administration in America warns people to be wary of using electronic cigarettes. The FDA however did not issue a ban on the sale of these smoking cessation aids. Electronic cigarettes have become big business especially after smoking bans in public places have made it almost impossible for hardened smokers to light up in places like airports, shopping malls, restaurants and bars. The idea is that these electronic cigarettes deliver a small amount of nicotine in a puff of hot water vapour which is meant to mimic the effects of smoking.

The FDA in America decided to test the few versions of these electronic cigarettes and found that some of them contained illegal substances. Michael Levy who is the director of the FDA Office of Compliance for Drug Evaluation and Research explained that the FDA had not banned them because there were legal issues involved but that some of the products said they had reviewed were in fact illegal.

The FDA said that they had tested 19 cartridges from two electronic cigarette manufacturers (Smoking Everywhere and Njoy) and found that all but one of them which were marked as containing no nicotine actually did contain the chemical. The FDA said that they were also concerned about the labeling showing the varying amounts of the nicotine because they were misleading. In fact in one case the cigarette cartridge contained a poisonous antifreeze chemical, diethylene glycol. Concerns were also raised about the fact that these electronic cigarettes were being used by children as a toy which could in fact end up encouraging them to smoke real cigarettes and could also make them develop an addiction to nicotine.

At Ukmedix News we have seen that these electronic cigarettes can actually be useful smoking cessation aids especially for very addicted smokers who can't face the idea of going completely without smoking straightaway. However we believe that electronic cigarettes should be seen as a temporary solution to smoking cravings and not a permanent one.

What is clear is that the industry of electronic cigarettes needs to be regulated in the same way as other smoking cessation medications such as Champix are. It is hoped that both the FDA and the EMEA in the European Union will take steps to check the safety and effectiveness of all brands of electronic cigarettes soon.