Re: Rules around e-cigarettes a smokescreen, Aug. 25

Rules around e-cigarettes a smokescreen, Aug. 25

This article gives legitimacy to the gateway myth that is now the rally cry against e-vapourizers. The gateway myth has gained traction in the lay press and among regulatory authorities and is not based on any fact or any evidence-based extrapolation from other fields of tobacco addiction research.

The article also confuses by lumping smokeless tobacco products with e-cigarette products. E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco at all. Even Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar, the professor and lead author of the American Heart Association’s recommendations, is misinformed when he equates electronic cigarettes with smokeless tobacco products.

A recent study led by Dr. Theodore Wagener, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, found that only one teenager out of 1300 sample college students started nicotine use from e-cigarettes and then went on to smoke regular cigarettes. This myth was also disproven by recent Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) study (ash.org.uk), highlighting that e-cigarette is not a gateway to smoking.

The primary reason smokers use e-cigarette is to cut down or quit cigarettes. Vilifying a safer alternative to cigarettes is counter-productive to good health.

Dr. Gopal Bhatnagar, Cardiac Surgeon, Toronto