FDA Deems E-Cigs As Bad As The Real Thing

Put down that e-cigar, Mark! The FDA has ruled that electronic cigarettes, cigars, and similar devices contain known carcinogens and slammed them for being marketed to younger age groups.

We've looked at what's inside e-cigars and Mark Wilson has even tried them out, but what's the point of using a $200 gadget that's as unhealthy (or worse!) as the real thing?

The FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation, Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis (DPA) came our with the following conclusions as a result of its analysis of e-smoking devices available on the market:

• Diethylene glycol was detected in one cartridge at approximately 1%. Diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, is toxic to humans.
• Certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens were detected in half of the samples tested.
• Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans-anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine-were detected in a majority of the samples tested.
• The electronic cigarette cartridges that were labeled as containing no nicotine had low levels of nicotine present in all cartridges tested, except one.
• Three different electronic cigarette cartridges with the same label were tested and each cartridge emitted a markedly different amount of nicotine with each puff. The nicotine levels per puff ranged from 26.8 to 43.2 mcg nicotine/100 mL puff.
• One high-nicotine cartridge delivered twice as much nicotine to users when the vapor from that electronic cigarette brand was inhaled than was delivered by a sample of the nicotine inhalation product (used as a control) approved by FDA for use as a smoking cessation aid.

Let's review: the device that's supposed to help you get healthier and save money by quitting smoking is more likely to worsen your addiction, be more harmful to your health, and be an even bigger waste of money.

Source : http://gizmodo.com/5320734/fda-deems-e+cigs-as-bad-as-the-real-thing