E-Cigarettes: Better Than Tobacco?
Nathan Binion has been trying to quit smoking for the past 10 years. He says nothing worked for him until he started using electronic cigarettes.
E-cigarettes contain nicotine -- the addictive component in cigarettes -- but don't have tobacco, which has been known to cause health problems like lung cancer.
"You don't even crave them anymore, cause when you start smoking these and you even try a cigarette again, it tastes so disgusting to you," Binion said.
Terra Thompson-Reed is director of Tobacco Prevention Awareness Cessation Coalition, otherwise known as TPACC. She says right now there isn't enough information about electronic cigarettes for consumers to make educated decisions.
The Food and Drug Administration warns consumers that there's no way of knowing how much nicotine or other dangerous chemicals are in e-cigarettes.
"Ten milligrams of nicotine can be considered a lethal dose for a child, 30 milligrams can be considered a lethal dose for an adult, so how much is in it?" said Thompson-Reed.
"It doesn't really say," she said. "It doesn't let the consumer know."
Thompson-Reed says if people want to quit smoking, they don't have to turn to e-cigarettes. She says there are plenty of safer options."
"Talk to your doctor first and get a prescription for Zyban, the inhaler, other safe nicotine products," she said.
Thompson-Reed says there are also non-nicotine products that are safe.
Saturday, December 7, 2013, Watertown, NY
On Wall Street