Are e Cigarettes safe – for Us AND For The Environment?

E cigarettes are Marketed as Safe – Are They?

This is a Guest Post by Daniel Lewis

In the past few years, we’ve seen e cigarettes go mainstream. Millions of people across the globe now use them. But are e cigarettes safe for our health (and for the people around them), and are they better for the environment?

Let’s look first of all at what they are, then we’ll see if e cigarettes are safe, and finally, we’ll look at the environmental impacts of these devices.

How Do e Cigarettes Work?

E cigarettes are easy to use, and don’t contain tobacco. You don’t burn them. So when you use an e cigarette, you’re not smoking in the literal sense; you’re “vaping”. (People who use e cigarettes are often called “vapers”).

A battery in the unit provides the power to atomize (or vaporize) the liquid inside, which is made up of propylene glycol, glycerol, water, flavorings and nicotine.

Are e Cigarettes Safe For Our Health?

E cigarettes are far less harmful to human health than tobacco-based cigarettes.

Smoking tobacco cigarettes kills nearly 6 million people annually. Millions more have health issues from smoking.

Smoking involves burning the cigarette, which causes the toxic effects of more than 4000 chemicals and carcinogens present in tobacco smoke.

But you don’t burn e cigarettes, therefore you don’t get those toxins.

When you exhale, the smoke is not exactly smoke, but vapor. So it’s better for the people around you too.

However, e cigarettes are not perfect.

1. They contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical. (See “Quit Smoking” below).
2. Many e cigarette brands offer different “flavors” – and some of them are not approved for food use.
3. Some flavors include a buttery-tasting chemical called diacetyl, which is often added to foods like popcorn – when it’s inhaled, it can be dangerous, causing a disease called “popcorn lung”.
4. Some e cigarettes come in candy and fruity flavors that appeal to kids and teens – and it’s not good to get them addicted to nicotine so early.
5. Occasionally, e cigarette batteries have injured people (134 reports of e-cigarette batteries overheating, catching fire, or exploding between 2009 and January 2016, according to the FDA). But I’m guessing they cause fewer accidents than people dropping cigarette butts without extinguishing them.
6. They don’t look like normal cigarettes. They are bulkier and require regular refilling and recharging.

Summary: Although e cigarettes do have issues, they’re much less harmful than regular cigarettes.

Are e Cigarettes Safe for the Environment?

Cigarette filters or butts are the world’s most commonly scattered type of trash. We see beaches covered in filters all over the world. Sadly, before they can be collected and trashed someplace else, the water often washes them straight into the ocean.

Cigarette filters weighing a massive 1.69 billion pounds (845,000 tons) end up scattered in oceans, rivers, on the streets, in the woods, etc. It’s nearly impossible to contain this plague – people who toss their cigarettes obviously don’t care about the natural ecosystem.

Litter is not the only thing we should worry about. Did you know that 1.5 million trees have to be cut daily to make paper for cigarettes? As well as tobacco, a conventional cigarette also contains filters, paper, and packaging.

So it’s clear that conventional cigarettes are a blight on the environment, as well as our health.

By comparison, e cigarettes have evolved and improved over the years and are now re-fillable rather than disposable. Battery disposal will become an increasing problem though, as usage increases even more.

Summary: While not totally good for the environment, e cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes.

Can e Cigarettes Help You Quit Smoking?

There are 2 main reasons why it’s so difficult to stop smoking. First, smokers become addicted to nicotine. Stopping smoking causes unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

In addition, there is the ritualistic behavior of smoking – hand-to-mouth movement, visible ‘smoke’ exhaled, and the sensory stimulation associated with it. If you’ve ever tried nicotine patches or other ways to stop smoking, you’ll know that they don’t offer a solution to this.

E cigarettes are unique in that you still get your nicotine “fix” when you inhale, and you have the normal smoking movements and habits too.

And that’s one of the main reasons why they’re proving so popular.

Will they help you to stop smoking? Sadly, studies show it’s unlikely.

Switching to electronic smoking devices such as those from e liquids uk doesn’t guarantee that you will eventually quit. Quitting smoking or vaping is really hard to do – it takes a lot of willpower.

Just like any other drug, when your body starts liking nicotine, it will crave it over and over again.

But at least swapping to e cigarettes means that smokers will do themselves – and the people close to them – less harm. And the environment will benefit too.

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What do you think about e cigarettes? Are you a smoker, and would you swap?Let me know in the comments below.

Warm regards,

P.S.  Want to live a simpler, more green and ecofriendly life? (It’s been shown to increase happiness!). You can download your FREE green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here. Get it now!

Related:

• 5 healthy habits that WILL change your life!
• Get rid of all the toxic products in your life (you’ll be shocked at where they hide!). It’s easy – see how here!