IN MY VIEW: American Lung Association Guilty of Public Health Malpractice

Yesterday, researchers from the University of California, San Diego published a landmarkpaper in theBMJ (British Medical Journal) which reported that for the first time in 15 years, the smoking cessation rate among adults in the U.S. has increased. The researchers tie this unprecedented increase in the smoking cessation rate to the availability of electronic cigarettes. The paper reports that the advent of electronic cigarettes was associated with a significant increase in the population smoking cessation rate. It also finds that smokers who use e-cigarettes are more likely to quit smoking than those who do not.Combined with abundant existing research, the findings of this study make it clear that among adult smokers, electronic cigarettes have had a huge public health benefit. They have increased the number of quit attempts as well as the proportion of successful quit attempts. The reason for this is clear: many smokers have trouble quitting not simply because of nicotine addiction, but because of addiction to the physical, behavioral, and social aspects of smoking. None of these are addressed by existing FDA-approved cessation methods, but they are specifically addressed by e-cigarettes, which replace almost all aspects of the smoking experience other than the tar, smoke, and high levels of 60+ carcinogens and 10,000+ toxins.It is also clear that smokers who are able to quit using e-cigarettes have greatly improved their health. Even dual users have improved their heal...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs