“In a two-part Sensible Medicine post, Dr. Satel will argue that the use of electronic cigarettes should be welcomed as a disruptive public health innovation. Electronic cigarettes easily top the list of “disruptive technologies in public health.” In 2014, the Oxford English Dictionary christened “vape” the Word of the Year, a tribute to the impressive rise of the electronic cigarette, a battery-powered device that heats a flavored solution containing nicotine and converts it into an inhalable, or “vape-able,” aerosol. Electronic cigarettes have become the most important tool in the battle against cigarette smoking. And yet, today, instead of rejoicing at the promise of electronic cigarettes, health agencies have fueled a massive campaign of doubt regarding its health advantages to smokers. E-cigarettes are also more effective than nicotine-replacement aids. In the second part of this post I will discuss the (debunked) claim that vaping poses a “gateway” to smoking for teens, a brief history of the distrust of tobacco harm reduction, the lop-sided risk communication mischaracterizing teen vaping at the expense of informing adults accurately, how anxiety over teens has shaped the FDA’s heavy-handed regulatory approach, smarter approaches deployed in the UK, and how Big Tobacco wins when adult smokers are scared away from vaping.”
ARTICLE LINK: Vaping: The Great Innovation Public Health Failed to Embrace
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