Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of e-cigarette use without regulation with devices diversifying into vape pens, ‘mods’, tank systems, and many more. The US FDA is in the process of considering approval of several pre-marketed applications for e-cigarettes sale as consumer products.
Most of the e-cigarette brands are marketed with the promise of helping smokers quit tobacco smoking and have been considered to be ideal for public health protection. However, a new UC San Francisco systematic review has established that the e-cigarettes do not help smokers quit smoking. Researchers from the university tested the claims and published their findings in the American Journal of Public Health. The UCSF team led by Richard Wang surveyed the scientific community’s understanding of the e-cigarettes in the mass-marketed consumer products form and found contrary outcomes.
The authors of the study indicated that e-cigarette consumer product use has no connection with quitting smoking. Therefore there is no health benefit for them to continue being marketed to adults that smoke irrespective of their relative harm compared to conventional cigarettes. Most importantly it is only a burden because of people that smoke will add the e-cigarettes to their normal smoking and thus they become dual smokers. This puts them at increased risk of lung disease, heart diseases, and cancer compared to smoking conventional cigarettes alone.
Wang indicated that they explored the question of public health and scientific interest. He said that they are optimistic that the FDA will consider the study and make the right decisions. Other co-authors include former UCSF postdoctoral fellow Sudhamayi Bhadriraju who is a pulmonologist at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood California and Senior either Santon Glantz.
They searched the literature and compiled results from 64 studies to address the question. The studies they picked for formal analysis included observational studies whereby they surveyed participants although not directly and clinical trials where smokers who were trying to quit received free e-cigarettes under supervision.