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As a final post for 2014, Carl Phillips made a bold and encouraging statement. By his calculations, somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 (likely around 16,000) Americans that were likely to have already died of tobacco-related illness are alive today because of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. That’s quite the statement.

You can read about all this at Phillips’s blog.

These numbers are based on figures Phillips has been following since 2009. If they continue, by then end of 2015 some 400,000 Americans will have saved themselves from eventual death (pre- or post-2015) by tobacco by switching to or quitting with the help of electronic cigarettes. Given that roughly 440,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related illness, that is no small feat.

In case you don’t know, Phillips is an avid supporter and prolific researcher of electronic cigarettes. He’s also the Scientific Director for CASAA (the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives).

He goes on to argue that if the FDA had its way in 2009 and managed to completely ban e-cigs from the market, more than 10,000 Americans would not be alive today. That number should be rubbed in their face every chance one gets. Is there someone you know on the teetering edge of death by tobacco that has quit with the help of e-cigs? If so, the FDA’s failure to ban e-cigs may have saved their life already.

Even individuals that continue to smoke despite using e-cigs are better capable of cutting down on their smoking (many by half or more). This is the great thing about harm reduction being an option for smokers. When total abstinence isn’t possible (which is often), reducing total harm should be the very next goal. By getting rid of the smoke, e-cigs significantly cut the harm (many experts say by 99%) of nicotine use.

So if you’re a smoker and transitioning to e-cigs isn’t already one of your New Years resolutions, maybe you should add it to the list.