Research institute brief invokes warnings about e-cigarettes

A new issue brief from the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions, released just days after the emergence of new federal data showing rising use of electronic cigarettes among adolescents, sounds a number of alarms about the largely unregulated and increasingly popular products.

The two-page issue brief, E-Cigarettes: Safer … or Not?”, cites the potential for e-cigarette vapor to contain toxic substances, and some emerging evidence that the products are attracting a good number of individuals with no prior history of using conventional cigarettes.

“Although e-cigarettes were first marketed as a way for smokers to receive nicotine in a more 'healthy' way or as a method for quitting nicotine altogether, the increasing use by nonsmokers, especially adolescents, has dampened enthusiasm for those supposed positive effects,” the brief states.

The text also suggests the potential for e-cigarettes to serve as a gateway drug, stating by way of example, “New studies show that nicotine can have a 'priming effect' for cocaine use.”