One set of facts is never in dispute during the debate over smoking alternatives.
Every year nearly a half million (1 in 5) die from smoking related diseases. Meanwhile, 16 million people are taking the painful road to death with diseases related to smoking.
Smoking kills. Everyone agrees.
But are electronic cigarettes better than the tobacco?
Duke University smoking cessation expert Jed E. Rose says electronic cigarettes appear to successfully help people quit smoking, although long-term evaluation of e-cigarettes will take years.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Rose says that important organizations in Britain and Geneva, have already approved e-cigs as a quit-smoking medicine.
Rose points out that all nicotine replacement therapies have shown to be effective.
On the other side of the issue University of California professor Pamela Ling points out that the only randomized clinical trial of e-cigarettes compared their effectiveness to patches.It showed little difference between quit rates of e-cig versus patches.
Most major health organizations, including the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization, do not recommend e-cigs based on a lack of evidence.
In addition, Ling says that existing evidence shows people who smoke e-cigs still use tobacco products.
