Smoking is an addiction to nicotine and the act of puffing and there are a lot of people who want to stay healthy but don’t know how to quit. Quite a number of tools and devices have been invented to reduce the harm caused by tobacco – from E-cigarettes to vaporizers! But how safe and effective are they compared to traditional smoking?
These alternatives do not contain tobacco, but nicotine infused water that produces a vapor (odourless or flavoured) when inhaled. The CEO of Induction Vaporizer company Loto Labs, Neeraj Bhardwaj says “vaping helps eliminate addiction to traditional cigarettes, and the grave threat they pose to your health and the health of those around you.”
“Instead, vaping allows you to responsibly satiate nicotine cravings in a similar way, i.e. through inhalation, while reducing the significant harm done when you smoke. See, a vaporizer may still supply nicotine, but not the wide spectrum carcinogenic toxins supplied by cigarettes. So, you’re able to puff vapor instead of smoke, get rid of the harsh odor and secondary health risks of cigarette smoke, and yet still receive a comparable level of the satisfaction—just without all the proven, added health risks,” Bhardwaj added.
Research on Vaping and Smoking
Riccardo Polosa from the University of Catania, Italy, recently led a team of scientists to carry out a research on smoking addiction. 40 hardcore smokers were given alternative smoking products. Six months later, about 10 of these people had quite traditional cigarette smoking while more than 20 cut down on cigarettes by over 50 percent! Bhardwaj insists that regardless of outcomes like these, a Loto Labs vaporizer is not a “help me quit” health resource – it’s only a safer alternative to “healthy smoking”.
Health care agencies say they are concerned about the safety, quality and efficacy of these vaporizers, especially as they are now been sold in stores. But like other chief executives of major Vape-producing companies, Bhardwaj stressed that they cannot start marketing their products as an antidote for smoking addiction. Adding that “safety certificates are lined up in the office for anyone who wants to know how much we value consumer health”.
Consumers on the other hand said that products that are potentially useful might be taken off the market, if any regulation is enforced on these vaporizers or even e-cigarettes.
“The ideal scenario is for smokers to stop and never go back to tobacco again,” Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health – a public health charity organization in the UK – was quoted as saying. “Harm-reduction is something we will have to embrace… it’s not enough to say that smokers should simply just quit.” she added. Sanford voiced her concerns about the long term effects and chemicals these products may contain but acknowledged that they offered a better and healthier alternative to traditional cigarette smoking.
Comparing the Feeling
Different Smokers have different views on this issue. While some said they felt ridiculous vaping, many others insisted that they were getting the right feeling. However, the sales of vaporizers keep increasing and many companies (even some major players in the tobacco industry) have started launching similar devices and products. From the current resistance vaporizers to the magnetic induction vaporizers, smokers now have a range of alternatives to choose from.
Some health institutes around the world have argued that e-cigarettes, vaporizers and other related accessories can be considered harm-reduction tools. In a 2007 report, the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom) stated that “In any circumstance, the use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (including vaporizers) is many orders of magnitude safer than smoking.”
This goes a long way in helping smokers reduce the health risks tobacco smoking poses. Furthermore, NRTs are actually cheaper and safer for your health goals than the traditional cigarettes. They can also be recycled, hereby reducing the harm some of these products cause to the environment. So why not choose the perfect alternative from the wide variety available, and save both your health and your surroundings all the stress?