F E AT U R E
Intellectually Theorizing
Smoking Tobacco vs.
Vaping Nicotine
Part I
W o r d s & P h o t o s b y To n y O t t o m a n e l l i I I
U
nfortunately, in the year 2016
people still do not know that
there is a difference between
tobacco and nicotine. Many
believe that these two separate
things are one in the same. However,
tobacco is far and away much more
dangerous than nicotine.
An article titled, “California’s antivaping bill goes up in smoke: Demise of
legislation highlights ris e of e-cigarette
lobbying,” written by Daniel Cressey. He
writes, “Researchers are broadly split
into those who think that the products
undermine attempts to free society
from nicotine addiction entirely, and
thus should be subject to the same
restrictions and taxes as tobacco, and
those who think that e-cigarettes deserve
lighter regulation than normal cigarettes
because they could help smokers to
quit.”
In an article for The Guardian titled,
“Does a tobacco-free world need to
be nicotine free?” Written by Suzi
Gage, states, “It’s not the nicotine in
cigarettes that causes all the health
risks associated with smoking – from
a number of cancers to cardiovascular
disease to respiratory disease. The
process of burning tobacco releases
many thousands of chemicals, around
70 of which are known to cause cancer.
Nicotine is toxic at very high doses
if consumed orally, but deaths from
nicotine are very rare.” Suzi Gage is a
post-doctoral researcher at the University
of Bristol, investigating associations
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between substance use and mental
health.
Gage writes, “This has led to a
profound disagreement between some
researchers in the field. To put it simply,
some use the precautionary principle as
an argument not to support the use of
e-cigarettes until we can be sure they’re
not harmful. Others believe that harm
reduction is the key goal, and since we
know e-cigarettes don’t pose the harms
associated with tobacco use (because
they don’t contain tobacco itself), they’re
likely to be vastly less harmful than
cigarettes even if there might be some
negative impacts of use.”
The TVECA states on their website
that “The e-cig is simply a battery and
five main ingredients (propylene glycol,
glycerol, nicotine, water and flavoring)
that work in harmony to provide adults
with their desired nicotine in a hand to
mouth ritual that cannot be mimicked by
traditional nicotine replacement therapies
(NRT's) such as gums, patches and
lozenges that have up to a 92% failure
rate.”
Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette
Association is an international nonprofit
trade association. So, the TVECA
clarifies that, “Our organization is
dedicated to creating a sensible and
responsible electronic cigarette market
by providing the media, legislative