WILLISTON — Along with hitting the gym more often and starting a diet, quitting smoking tops many New Year’s resolution lists. There are currently 67,400 smokers in Vermont and 57% of them tried to quit last year. New ads from e-cigarette companies would have those smokers falsely believe that switching to vaping is quitting smoking. The American Lung Association is reminding Vermont residents that the Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit.
Alex Crimmin, Health Promotions Specialist for the American Lung Association in Vermont said, “Misinformation about the health risks of vaping is rampant and e-cigarette use, especially among youth has been declared an “epidemic” by the U.S. Surgeon General. The simple truth is that e-cigarettes are tobacco products. As New Year’s inspires a new group of smokers to quit, we hope to direct them to proven-effective strategies and FDA-approved medications, while helping them understand that e-cigarettes are not the answer.”
Crimmin also offered these facts about e-cigarettes:
•  E-cigarettes are tobacco products. No tobacco product is safe, and that includes e-cigarettes. Recent hospitalizations and deaths related to vaping underscore the fact that vaping is in fact harmful.
•  Switching to e-cigarettes does not mean quitting. Quitting means ending your addiction to nicotine, which can be very difficult.
•  Research shows that e-cigarettes contain dangerous metals and toxic chemicals that can cause irreversible lung disease.
 “One of the biggest problems with e-cigarettes is that many times people become dual users, meaning they smoke cigarettes when they can and use vaping devices at other times,” says Albert A. Rizzo, M.D., American Lung Association Chief Medical Officer. “Using e-cigarettes is not safe: A new study released in December found adults who currently or ever used e-cigarettes are 30% more likely to develop chronic lung disease, including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.”
For years, the American Lung Association has been urging the FDA to crack down on these unproven quit smoking claims made by the e-cigarette industry. These ongoing claims have made it more confusing for smokers to know what to do when they’re ready to quit.
Get the facts at Lung.org/ecigs.