Guest AuthorI have a confession to make.
I’m a second-hand smoker.
I’ve been a second-hand smoker since I started dating my beautiful bride in high school. We will celebrate our 27th anniversary in June 2014.
E-cigarettes have changed my life and in all likelihood my life expectancy.
The American Lung Association states that there are as many as 70 carcinogens ingested while smoking a cigarette, many released as second-hand smoke.
While the World Health Organization has stated that electronic cigarettes have not been proved to help people reduce or quit smoking, the anecdotal evidence shows that most people who use these devices at least reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke.
The question being studied is whether this reduction (along with e-cigarette consumption) is healthier for the smoker and those who happen to be second-hand smokers. The jury is still out on several fronts.
First, there are no real studies that show that e-cigarettes reduce smoking or help people quit smoking. Second, the medical community has not seen enough information about the vapor expelled to conclude that e-cigarettes are safer for second-hand smokers. Finally, governments are scrambling to figure out how to replace the revenue lost from plummeting cigarettes sales, which are taxed, while the untaxed e-cigarette consumption skyrockets.
The Centers for Disease Control believes that there is enough evidence to state that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking. One can assume that e-cigarettes are also safer for second-hand smokers.
The Food and Drug Administration found in 2009 that e-cigarettes have about the same carcinogen of smoking-cessation devices (although no government agency is willing to give e-cigs that category without more study) like nicotine gum.
The World Health Organization in 2012 announced that diesel exhausts cause lung and bladder cancers.
No government agency has proven that vapor from e-cigarettes is harmful.
Let’s face it folks, smoking is bad. Anything that helps people quit or reduce smoking is good.
My wife and I have been able to enjoy the end of dinners, an entire movie, and driving in the car (she doesn’t smoke in the house) since she stared using e-cigarettes.
I have heard of people who complain about someone using these devices in public places where smoking is not allowed. The unintended consequence of these complaints is that you are actually enticing folks who are trying to quit to smoke more cigarettes. If people can’t use e-cigarettes in public places, they’ll just go outside and smoke a regular cigarette.
My wife uses her e-cig discretely, and doesn’t puff and puff away on it in public places, so we haven’t faced anyone asking her to stop. Using an e-cig is not violating anyone’s rights, and by allowing them to use these devices, you may be helping them live a longer and healthier life.
Jamie Miller is a political consultant. He lives in Sarasota, Fla.
