According to the website E-Cigarettes Choice ,

While cigarettes emit about 4,000 identifiable chemicals as they are smoked and 69 are known to cause cancer, e-cigarettes contain less than 10 to 20 chemicals on average, depending on the brand or strength purchased.  No more tar blackening your lungs and no more carcinogens.

But the FDA says:

The FDA’s Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis analyzed the ingredients in a small sample of cartridges from two leading brands of electronic cigarettes. In one sample, the FDA’s analyses detected diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans, and in several other samples, the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines. These tests indicate that these products contained detectable levels of known carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users could potentially be exposed.

The FDA also reports that these cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive. The use of the electronic cigarettes may be easier as they aren’t actually a burning substance and this can add to the addictive traits.

What exactly is an e-cigarette?

They are battery-operated devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. The electronic cigarette turns nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

False advertising?

The e-cigarette site claims that by using their e-cigarettes, you become a non-smoker:

With more and more people that quit smoking, more and more people hound those of us who do smoke to stop.  After purchasing the e-cigarette, you can finally tell your friends and family who have been badgering you for years that you have instantly become a non-smoker.  No more stinky clothes, hair, vehicles, or homes and you don’t have to worry about your family being exposed to the some 69 carcinogens that are in real cigarette smoke.  No more feeling guilty about exposing yourself and everyone you care about to a harmful habit.

If that’s the truth, what the heck are you doing with that thing? Either you’re smoking or your not. It’s like being a little bit pregnant – you are, or you aren’t.

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Image: Newscom.com

Post from: Blisstree

E-Cigarettes Not Safe Option

Rolling your own cigarettes is something that gives you a bit of control, you may think, and it may save money as the end result can be less expensive while limiting the amount of extra stuff added by the cigarette companies. But the researchers discovered that although the rolled cigarettes may be cheaper, they aren’t any safer.

According to this article, Roll-your-own Cigarettes As Deadly As Ready Mades ,

There were no differences in the concentrations of the toxins between manufactured and RYO [roll your own] cigarette smokers even when age, sex, body mass index, puffing behaviour and nicotine exposure were taken into account.

Another important finding is that women tended to have higher levels of toxins in their body, regardless of if they smoked store-bought cigarettes or they rolled their own.

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image courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Blisstree

Rolling Your Cigs Just as Bad as Buying

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

• In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
• In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.

Read the rest of Wade’s article to find out the effects of quitting smoking 48 hours through 15 years after you do it.

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

What Happens to Your Body When You Quit Smoking

1. Smoking causes 87% of all lung cancer cases (source), and lung cancer kills more women than breast and ovarian cancers combined. (source)
2. Smoking causes wrinkles all over your body.
3. Smoking dramatically increases women’s risk of developing coronary heart disease (source), and heart disease is the leading killer of American women. (source)
4. Smoking turns your teeth yellow.
5. Women who smoke risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than women who don’t smoke. (source)
6. Smokers are almost four times as likely to develop cervical cancer compared with nonsmokers. (source)
7. Women who smoke and use hormonal birth control methods (such as the pill or the patch) are nearly 10 times more likely to have a heart attack than nonsmoking women on birth control. (source)
8. Smoking causes baldness.
9. Smoking causes snoring, which in addition to being totally unsexy, also has major health effects, namely poor sleep quality and reduced oxygen flow to the brain, both of which are potentially very dangerous.
10. Compared with nonsmokers, smokers are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease (source), and half of all women age 85 and older will eventually develop Alzheimer’s (that is, if the lung cancer doesn’t kill them first). (source)

And if those aren’t good enough reasons for you, check out these lists:

• Top 10 Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 10 Overlooked Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 50 Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 20 Reasons To Quit Smoking

Finally convinced? Here are some resources to help you quit for good!

• Independence from Smoking: Free quit resources just for women
• Quit Smoking: Free quit coach, quit plan, educational materials, and more
• Why Quit: Free motivation, education, and support for cold turkey nicotine cessation
• QuitNet: Free online quit-smoking community

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

10 Reasons to Quit Smoking Today