In defense of vaping
Scientist: by 2100, the death rate from tobacco consumption will fall by 25 percent
Maria Azarova, Naked Science
According to the information published on the British American Tobacco website, since 2012 the company has invested more than two and a half billion dollars in scientific research and the creation of innovative products.
BAT also states that since 2013 it has invested more than $1.5 billion in the development and production of "products with potentially reduced risk." Such products include tobacco heating devices, electronic cigarettes and hybrid systems. Representatives of the scientific group BAT assure that their electronic smoking systems are 95 percent less toxic compared to traditional cigarettes.
In addition, the corporation has attracted more than 1.5 thousand world engineers, designers, scientists, among whom is the world–famous professor of the University of Pittsburgh (USA) Saul Shiffman, who studies behavioral psychology, self-control and addiction.
Shifman has been advising on harm reduction from smoking for more than 40 years and tells people how to end this bad habit. According to him, smokers do not often think about what harm they do to themselves. They may understand that smoking is evil, but this awareness is "abstract". In one of the old interviews, Shifman said that it is impossible to quit smoking right away: it should take about three difficult months before you make sure that you are free from addiction.
"People who smoke need to understand that it's not so much the risk of premature death as the risk of developing various diseases. For example, emphysema of the lungs not only shortens your life, but makes it terrible for many years."
At the Sixth Annual Global Forum on Nicotine Conference in Warsaw on June 13-15, Naked Science managed to ask Professor Shifman about the myths haunting the vaping market and research proving that traditional cigarettes are more harmful than electronic ones.
According to the scientist, it is necessary to switch to electronic cigarettes at the earliest possible age, because in this case the body is not yet completely poisoned by the products of gorenje – a process that is inseparable from traditional smoking – and there is a chance that the smoker will be able to avoid many health problems.
"By 2100, the mortality rate from tobacco consumption will fall by 25 percent due to the transition to electronic cigarettes," the professor stressed.
Meanwhile, the transition to electronic cigarettes will preserve the health of not only smokers, but also their loved ones and others – passive smokers. So, an ordinary smoldering cigarette, due to the smoke emitted, poisons the air around during the entire smoking process – at least one or two minutes - and the electronic emits an aerosol only when it is turned on. However, the aerosol is not so dangerous – again, due to the absence of the gorenje process itself.
According to Saul Shifman, referring to data from the UK Ministry of Health, electronic cigarettes are as much as 95 percent safer for our body – compared to conventional cigarettes. According to the scientist, the development of the e-cigarette market and the subsequent saving of thousands of lives is hindered by the so-called tobacco lobby, which is trying in every way to undermine the credibility of scientific research and sow in people's minds the false claim that e-cigarettes are no less harmful than traditional ones.
In particular, this is achieved through the publication of low-quality scientific papers, the conclusions of which emphasize that the use of vapes changes some cells of the body. At the same time, the fact that these cells die completely from the effects of traditional cigarettes is leveled.
In conversation with Naked Science Saul Shifman urged not to trust unreliable research, and among the high-quality ones recommended for familiarization, he called the work carried out by tobacco companies themselves, such as British American Tobacco and Philipp Morris International.
Read the full text of the interview with the participants of the Global Forum on Nicotine on the Naked Science website.
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