1. E-cigarettes are as bad as cigarettes
This is the worst of all. In America alone, there are 36 million smokers, and the global number has reached the one billion mark. These people do not deserve to be lied to about a product that could save their lives. Burning tobacco produces smoke, which is full of cancer-causing chemicals, not to mention carbon monoxide, which is the main cause of cardiovascular disease.
True, we cannot say that e-cigarettes are completely safe, but it is safe to say that they are nowhere near as dangerous as smoking in terms of health risks.
"There is no scientific dispute that e-cigarette smoking is much safer than smoking," writes Dr Michael Siegel, Professor of Public Health Sciences at Boston University, who has 25 years of experience in the field of smoking-related harms and how to combat them.
2. Water vapour is full of formaldehyde and other scary chemicals
We all inhale and eat different substances every day, but most of them have no particular effect on us. There is no doubt that the water vapour generated by this cigarette contains many scary-looking chemicals, but they are present in very minimal concentrations. Everything we inhale, eat and drink contains chemicals that can be dangerous in higher doses. Fortunately, we do not consume them in such quantities.
The Royal College of Physicians agrees. After a series of tests they carried out on this cigarette, they concluded that the levels of various inhaled toxic substances are well below the dangerous level when this cigarette is used under normal conditions. So, fortunately for us, the really significant long-term harm to our bodies is very small.
3. Smoking e cigarettes leads to popcorn lungs
Some of these liquids may also contain diacetyl or acetylpropionyl. These butter flavouring ingredients were notorious for leading to a condition known as popcorn lung syndrome (bronchiolitis obliterans) in workers at some flavouring companies almost two decades ago.
In fact, no user of these cigarettes has ever been diagnosed with this syndrome. Furthermore, no smokers have ever been diagnosed with such a syndrome - the diacetyl levels in cigarettes are 100 to 750 times higher than the diacetyl levels in these cigarettes.
4. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin
This statement can depend on many things. There is already much debate about whether "addictive" is even the word to describe a substance that does not actually cause long-term harm to most people. More specifically, smoking itself is truly addictive. When we inhale the smoke, it immediately releases nicotine into the vagus and the brain, creating a sensation that our brain wants to relive over and over again. Tobacco smoke also contains other components, such as ammonia, which constantly encourages the smoker to smoke another cigarette. So it is clear that nicotine is not the only ingredient that makes smoking truly addictive.
Other nicotine-containing products, on the other hand, may not deliver the same addictive amount of nicotine to the body. Products that try to replace nicotine, such as gum and patches, can sometimes be as addictive as smoking. It cannot therefore be claimed that e-cigarette smoking is more addictive than any of the products mentioned above.
5. Appliances often explode
After the failure to prove serious health problems, the term "explosive devices" is increasingly being used among the detractors of these cigarettes.
In truth, there have been very few examples of an e-cigarette exploding. Most of them have been the result of user error, such as improper battery management. Most of these accidents could have been avoided if the user had taken a lesson in battery and battery safety beforehand and not kept the battery in his trouser pocket with the key ring.
In the case of cigarettes, we know that they have caused huge amounts of damage on more than one occasion, and in other cases death, such as the discarded cigarette butt that caused a forest fire, or smoking in the home in bed, which has ended tragically in many cases.
6. E cigarette smoking is just a gateway to cigarette smoking
The claim that e-cigarettes will encourage teenagers to smoke cigarettes is over-repeated, not to mention unsupported. The studies that make this claim are in many cases false or not well founded. In most cases, however, they overlook a well-known characteristic called general susceptibility.
Such a predisposition suggests that teens who try e-cigarettes are more likely to try them, switch to smoking, marijuana or alcoholism.
"If we look at society as a whole, it seems that e-cigarettes are much more about helping people to quit cigarettes than about getting them to stop smoking," concludes Clive Bates, one of the most respected advocates for sensible e-cigarette regulation and an expert on tobacco harm reduction strategy. He's right. E-cigarettes are not responsible for all children not smoking, but they certainly don't cause a higher rate of cigarette addiction either.
7. Using different flavours is a marketing ploy to lure children
These flavours are actually only sold by companies that do not advertise their products to the public, and are not even available where under-18s can (legally) get them. A little research shows that most teenagers who use e-cigarettes prefer nicotine-free liquids.
The question can now be asked: Who is the very smart businessman who would build a business out of the illegal sale of unadvertised, non-addictive products, just to focus more on younger customers?
Here's an interesting fact: Adults like sweet, fruity, dessert flavours just as much as kids. Furthermore, ex-tobacco users claim that these flavours are the reason why they can effectively deviate from the familiar flavours of tobacco. I don't know of any e-cigs who don't like the childish flavours. I don't know any adult - e-cig or not - who doesn't like sweets, fruit or cakes.
