Have you ever heard of an E Cigarette? I mean I know I am hardly cutting edge of cool but these are news to me.
I was walking through the Burlington Mall the other day when I noticed a kiosk that was selling E Cigarettes. Having never seen these before I went home and looked them up. It turns out they are an electronic smoking device or an electronic cigarette which is also known as E-Cigarette. This E Cigarette is non flammable and through technology claims it can provide the smoker a real smoking experience without the fire, flame, tobacco, tar, carbon monoxide, or ash that you would see in real cigarettes.
So at first I thought, wow, a real looking cigarette without all the bad stuff. Then I kept reading.
The smoker will still get nicotine. They are very upfront about that. Apparently the device turns nicotine into a vapor so you can inhale it. One must remember, however, that nicotine is highly addictive.
What I don’t like about this product is they make the nicotine packet come in different flavors including bubblegum, chocolate, apple and cherry. While they claim that they are not marketing this to children, this rubs me the wrong way. Can you just see an adult ordering bubble gum flavored nicotine?
The CEO of one of these companies claims that they are instructing vendors to follow all state laws when they sell them, yet when I went online and attempted to purchase these devices, I was never asked for my age.
Just recently, the FDA weighed in and as you may have surmised they are not too warm on this idea either. The FDA analyzed the ingredients in a small sample of cartridges from two brands of electronic cigarettes marketed by U.S. companies: NJOY, of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Florida-based Smoking Everywhere.
In one sample, analyses detected diethylene glycol, an antifreeze component. In several other samples, analysts found carcinogens. What bothered the FDA was the lack of quality control in these packets and they feel that there could be a safety issue due to this lack of control.
Bottom line if one of your children comes home with this E Cigarette, please do not be fooled into thinking that are not getting nicotine with them, they most assuredly are.
