IN THIS PODCAST: CBS News Correspondent Jim Taylor has details on a new e-cigarette study.
Do e-cigarettes help or harm? It seems the jury is still out.
E-Cigarettes may help adults stop smoking but they could encourage minors to start smoking according to a new report. The ‘Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes’ was released this morning. The new report was Congressionally-mandated to study the short-term and long-term health effects related to the use of e-cigarettes.
Potential harms and benefits of
e-cigarettes
may depend on your age, according to a report mandated by Congress. The devices can lead young people to smoke conventional tobacco, but they also appear to help adults quit smoking, the experts concluded.The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report is the first to review all current research on these popular devices, said committee chair David Eaton.
“E-cigarettes can’t be simply categorized as either beneficial or harmful,” said Eaton. “Evidence suggests that while they’re not necessarily without health risks on their own, they are likely to be far less harmful than a conventional cigarette.”
Still, little is known about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes, added Eaton, a professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
Millions of Americans use e-cigarettes, according to the report. While the battery-operated products vary, all contain a heating element that produces an inhalable aerosol.
To shed light on e-cigarettes’ (or
vaping’s
) impact, Eaton’s team constructed several population models to project future consequences.
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(Jack Sunday & Amy Iler are talk-show hosts at 790 AM KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. “It Takes 2 with Jack & Amy” can be heard weekdays 11am-2pm. Follow Amy on Twitter @AmyKFGO. Follow Jack on Twitter @nodakjack.)
