Electric cigarette: Connected to a USB charging cable, the e-cigarette's batteries can be recharged by getting hooked up to a computer. It releases a mist of nicotine to the inhaler to give them a smoking effect without the toxic chemicals.
Courtesy WikipediaI’ve never been a smoker, never wanted to be a smoker and have a real hard time understanding smoking.

But I do have a bit of an understanding on how difficult it is for people to quit smoking. I’ve seen a number of friends and relatives struggle to kick the habit.

While there can be widespread viewpoints on the pros and cons of smoking, I think it’s pretty safe to say that everyone knows that smoking can have severe health consequences to the smoker – with lung cancer and heart disease being the main culprits.

Now along comes a new device – the e-cigarette – that hopes to cut down the health risks of smoking. It’s an electronic devices that same size as a cigarette with a battery-powered dispenser inside that atomizes, or mists, amounts of nicotine to be inhaled by the “smoker.” In effect, the e-smoker gets the fix of nicotine a cigarette delivers while keeping out the tar and toxic gases that can lead to the highest forms of health risks.

Here’s the personal story of the e-cigarette inventor from China. And below is a marketing video of one of the online retailers that sell the product.

Here in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration is still studying the product. For the time being, it’s relegated the sale of e-cigarettes to the same condition as the sale of regular cigarettes, that they’re only available to those who are of legal age.

But several smoking cessation organizations are not giving the e-cigarette their seal of approval and are noting that the device is not a proven way to stop smoking. It merely is delivering nicotine to the user in a new way.

I can see that there area lot of positive health benefits to smokers to use the e-cigarette and keep a lot of harmful materials from getting into their body. But if the addiction to nicotine continues, will the e-cigarette user still be temped to go back to regular cigarettes.

What do you think of this new development in the smoking world? Share your thoughts here with other Buzz readers.

Tags : cigarettes, e-cigarette, health, smoking, lung cancer, nicotine

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You're charging me how much?: Even big shots like Bogart are taking note of the large increase in cigarette taxes that are going into effect today.
Courtesy Yousuf Karsh / Library and Archives CanadaWhat do you get when taxes on a pack of cigarettes jump 250 percent? Lots of calls to smoking cessation programs.

Today, the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes jumps from 39 cents a pack to $1.01 The national average price for a pack of cigarettes prior to the tax hike was $5.

In the past, a 10 percent hike in cigarette tax translated into a four-percent increase in people quitting smoking. Health experts expect those numbers to climb even higher with today’s hefty tax hike. One number being tossed around is a nine-percent decline in smoking with the new tax.

Prior to the tax hike, public consumption of cigarettes had been dropping about three percent per year. That drop, experts point out, includes people who outright quit and those who cut back on their smoking.

Smoking cessation hotlines have seen a huge spike in business in recent days. An Omaha office has seen its call traffic go up 50 percent this week. An office in Michigan has seen its annual budget already dry up after having fielded three times as many calls this year as it had in all of 2008.

There’s an interesting political twist to this cigarette tax increase, whose new revenue will be used to fund a national children’s health insurance program. Congress approved the tax increase last year, but President George W. Bush vetoed the bill. President Barack Obama, who has struggled to stop smoking himself, signed a new version of the bill shortly after taking office this year.

What do you think of these causes and effects on a cigarette tax? Is a “sin tax” like this a good way to drive public health policy reform? Or this an abuse of government power interfering with people’s private lives? Share your viewpoint here with other Science Buzz readers.

Tags : cigarettes, smoking, health, smoking cessation, sin tax, cigarette tax, public health

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A climb in quitting: Minnesota's recent smoking ban has led to increases in several measures of ways that people try to stop smoking.
Courtesy Saudi...I had some fun on the eve of the start of the state smoking ban in October with a post about how Ireland’s accordions are cleaner now that the smoking is not allowed in public places.

That post generated a lot of debate on if a state should be involved in regulating people’s health habits. Now comes this headline in today’s Star-Tribune: Since the smoking ban started, efforts by people to quit smoking in Minnesota have jumped significantly.

How do we know this? There’s a lot more action on the stop-smoking efforts.

Blue Cross-Blue Shield reports a 43 percent jump in traffic on its telephone hotline used for people wanting immediate support in their effort to quit. And during the month of the start of the smoking ban, there was a tripling in the sales of nicotine patches and other quitting aids by members of the same health plan.

Blue Cross is not alone -- insurer Medica has seen a 40 percent climb in its members wanting to use smoking cessation counseling programs.

What’s going on with all of this? It may be too early to tell yet, but cessation advocates say that the smoking ban especially targets younger people. The ban doesn’t allow for smoking in bars or nightclubs, and younger people often like to smoke when they’re out partying. Now, if young smokers want to be out on the nightlife scene, they have to divide their time with inside reveling and outdoor smoking, experts surmise. Non-smokers get to stay inside where the action is.

And they’re careful to note that quitting smoking is a long, hard process. Successful quitters usually have to try quitting a number of times before they’re unhooked. But the advocates say that it’s a nice, early, unintended consequence so early in the smoking ban’s life.

Here are some tips on how to stop smoking from another recent Science Buzz posting.

Tags : smoking, health, cigarettes, smoking cessation, smoking ban

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Butt out: Can laser treatments be an effective way for people to stop smoking? There are divergent viewpoints among those providing the treatments and traditional medical personnel.Is it is a technological trick to stop smoking or just newer form of medical quackery?

That’s the question being thrown around by low-level laser treatments that proponents say can help you stop smoking.

One of the local TV stations this week did a report about the treatments. The practitioners claim that two or three 30-minute treatments of the laser therapy will take away the tobacco urges of most smokers. Medical professionals think it’s just a bunch of high-tech hooey.

Video footage showed people being treated with a laser pen device. During one treatment, the pen is put on the forehead, in the ears, in the nostrils and on the chin of the smoker. The local company doing the procedure claims that almost everyone stops smoking after two or three treatments. A package of treatments costs about $300. And the proponents say that similar treatments have been available and effective in Canada and Europe for decades.

People doing the procedure contend that the energy from the laser releases endorphins in the body, which trick body into thinking it’s getting the same chemicals it gets from a cigarette.

A doctor from the Mayo Clinic, however, said that there’s no credible medical evidence that shows that the treatments actually work. He contended that the percentage of people stopping smoking after the treatment is about the same as people who would stop smoking after receiving placebo drugs.

Upon further pushing, the treatment company said that around 20 percent of the people it treats don’t stop smoking after the treatments, and that some people take more than a handful of treatments.

So far, the Food and Drug Administration has yet to take any action on the matter. What do you think about this? Is it a revolutionary way to quick smoking or just another medical hoax? Share your thoughts here with other Science Buzz readers.

Tags : cigarettes, laser treatment, stop smoking, Anne Penman Laser Center to Quit Smoking Las Vegas has been very succesful for smoking cessation.

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Can laser treatments be an effective way for people to stop smoking? There are divergent viewpoints among those providing the treatments and traditional medical personnel.

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