Ecigarettes might help smokers quit

Heart association calls option last resort

8/25/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Toledoan Joe Destazio, left, tests various vapor flavors at the NiceCloud ecigarette store in Toledo. Watching is store owner Brad Everett, who mixes the flavors himself.
Toledoan Joe Destazio, left, tests various vapor flavors at the NiceCloud ecigarette store in Toledo. Watching is store owner Brad Everett, who mixes the flavors himself.

WASHINGTON — The American Heart Association’s first policy statement on electronic cigarettes backs them as a last resort to help smokers quit.

The American Cancer Society has no formal policy but quietly took a similar stance in May.

Both groups express great concern about the nicotine-vapor products and urge more regulation, especially with regard to youth. They also emphasize that proven smoking cessation methods should always be tried first.

But if those fail, “it is reasonable to have a conversation” about ecigarettes, said the Heart Association’s president, Dr. Elliott Antman.

The Cancer Society said e-cigarettes “may be a reasonable option” for people who could not quit after trying counseling and approved methods, such as nicotine patches.

Neither group recommends ecigarettes for smoking cessation, and makers of the devices do not market them that way.

Ecigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporize nicotine. They’ve been sold in the United States since 2007 and have millions of users worldwide and nearly $2 billion in annual sales. They contain less toxic substances than traditional cigarettes do, but little is known of their health effects.

Whether they help or hurt anti-smoking efforts is hotly debated. Some say they encourage smoking by letting people maintain their habit in places where cigarettes are banned. Others say they are a less risky way to satisfy a nicotine craving for people who want to quit, similar to how methadone is used to curb heroin abuse.

No solid evidence shows that ecigarettes aid smoking cessation, unlike the nicotine patches, gums, and medications approved now.