Physician Tells Public that Electronic Cigarettes Cause Lung Damage

A physician who heads New York University's Cardiac and Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Program has apparently told the public that electronic cigarettes cause lung damage and therefore should play no role in smoking cessation.

According to an article in the Washington Square News: "NYU Langone professor Jonathan Whiteson, medical director of the Culinary and Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Program, said the E-cigs are harmful to users' health. "Dangerous chemicals have been identified in the vapor, not just nicotine, and they can potentially cause lung damage," Whiteson said. ... As of now, few studies have been conducted or published on the health effects, but according to Whiteson, these cigarettes are not a valid method to quit smoking. "E-cigs play no role in the medical field of smoking cessation," he said."

The Rest of the Story

I would ask Dr. Whiteson to identify the specific chemicals in electronic cigarette vapor that he alleges cause lung damage in the user. I would also ask for the scientific evidence which documents that electronic cigarette vapor causes lung damage among users. Certainly, if one is going to make a public claim like that, one must have evidence to support it.

The rest of the story is that there simply is no evidence to support Dr. Whiteson's assertion. There is no evidence that electronic cigarettes cause lung damage.

Furthermore, what in the world does it mean to say that electronic cigarettes are not a "valid" method to quit smoking? What makes this an invalid method? If it works, it works. Perhaps what makes it an invalid method is that it is not manufactured by the big pharmaceutical companies which support many anti-smoking researchers and organizations. Other than that, it's perfectly valid. It appears to work for many people. There is no evidence that it causes lung damage. So how, exactly, do electronic cigarettes play no role in the medical field of smoking cessation?

There are literally thousands of ex-smokers who have quit smoking using electronic cigarettes. Many of them have experienced immediate improvement in their health. Their breathing has improved, their cough symptoms have resolved, and their doctors have told them that they are in much better health. Tell those individuals that electronic cigarettes are not a valid way to quit smoking and that they play no role in the medical field of smoking cessation.