E-cigarettes burst onto the scene as an alternative to their tobacco- and tar-laden counterparts, with advocates and marketers alike claiming the electronic devices could ease smokers out of the destructive habit. However, a new study suggests otherwise, with findings indicating that smokers of e-cigarettes are no more likely to quit smoking than those who smoke standard cigarettes.
The longitudinal study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine found that just over 13 percent of the 949 surveyed smokers (88 of whom also smoked e-cigarettes at the start of the study) quit smoking within a year of incorporating e-cigarettes into their repertoire. Additionally, smokers who used both standard cigarettes and electronic cigarettes did not experience any reduction in overall smoking frequency.
"When used by a broad sample of smokers under 'real world' conditions, e-cigarette use did not significantly increase the chances of successfully quitting cigarette smoking," said study co-author Dr. Pamela Ling, an associate professor at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at University of California, San Francisco. "Advertising suggesting that e-cigarettes are effective for smoking cessation should be prohibited until such claims are supported by scientific evidence," said Ling. "We found that there was no difference in the rate of quitting between smokers who used an e-cigarette and those who did not."
However, the findings of the study haven't been welcomed by everyone in the medical community. "It's an example of bogus or junk science," said Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health who was not associated with the study. "That's because the study does not examine the rate of successful smoking cessation among e-cigarette users who want to quit smoking or cut down substantially on the amount that they smoke, and who are using e-cigarettes in an attempt to accomplish this. Instead, the study examines the percentage of quitting among all smokers who have ever tried e-cigarettes for any reason."
Nevertheless, medical practitioners are urging further studies and regulation around e-cigarettes. While several cities and states are taking steps to subject e-cigarettes to the same legislative restrictions as standard cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is yet to weigh in on such policies, despite issuing warnings about marketing e-cigarettes as smoking cessation tools.
