The study, which was published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that people who swapped traditional cigarettes for vapes or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for six months or more had significantly lower levels of toxic and cancer-causing substances in their body compared to people who continued to smoke conventional stogies.
“This study should serve as a wake-up call to tobacco control activists who have spent the past eight years spewing hostile and outright incorrect rhetoric towards vapor products,” said Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, who speculated that many people continue to smoke traditional cigarettes because “they’ve been misled to believe that vaping may be as hazardous as smoking.”
For the study, researchers took samples from the saliva and urine of long-term cigarette smokers and compared them to NRT patients and former smokers who had switched to vapes. They found that ex-smokers who used the alternative methods had significantly lower levels of toxic chemicals and carcinogens in their body compared to people who continued smoking tobacco cigarettes.
However, the study also found that those who used e-cigarettes or NRT while continuing to smoke did not show the same marked differences, highlighting the need to make a complete shift to reduce exposure to toxins.
“We’ve shown that the levels of toxic chemicals in the body from e-cigarettes are considerably lower than suggested in previous studies using simulated experiments,” said Dr Lion Shahab, senior lecturer in the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London (UCL) and lead author of the study. “Our results also suggest that while e-cigarettes are not only safer, the amount of nicotine they provide is not noticeably different to conventional cigarettes. This can help people to stop smoking altogether by dealing with their cravings in a safer way.”
The study’s findings lend evidence to the notion that use of vapes and NRT – while continuing to provide nicotine – can reduce exposure to toxic chemicals which can lead to cancer.
Smokers who want to quit the nicotine fix completely can find help at the following resources:
- How to Quit Smoking – American Lung Association
- Quit Day: 5 Steps – SmokeFree.gov
- How to Quit Smoking: A Guide to Kicking the Habit for Good – HelpGuide.org
Source: CBS News