Electronic Cigarettes for Smoking Cessation — Have We Reached a Tipping Point?

Abstract

After more than a decade on the market as consumer products in the United States, electronic nicotine-delivery systems — or e-cigarettes — remain highly controversial in medical and public health communities.1 These battery-operated devices allow users to inhale ("vape") a nicotine aerosol, which sustains the nicotine dependence that keeps people smoking but avoids exposing the smoker to the many toxic chemicals that are generated when a cigarette burns tobacco.2,3 The products of tobacco combustion account for the bulk of tobacco-related diseases that make cigarette smoking the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Nicotine exposure alone has far fewer risks, making . . .

Topics & Concepts