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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A large proportion of adult Americans believe that steam vaporizers or electronic cigarettes carry the same level of risk as ordinary cigarettes, or even more.
The results show how difficult it is to know the real dangers of e-cigarettes, especially as public health researchers continue to identify some of the real dangers of these cigarettes.
The identity of the people who use them is part of the difficulties in trying to reach the equivalent of the "risks and benefits" of electronic cigarettes.
Switching from regular cigarettes to electronic cigarettes can be less risky for adults.
But that does not mean that it's completely safe: electronic incandescent lamps have not spread enough to know what damage they can cause in the long run.
At present, there is little regulatory control over their components or batteries, which sometimes explode, though rarely.
In the non-adult age group of 18, they should absolutely not smoke in electronic incinerators because of the risk of heart and lung problems, as well as the nicotine addiction that can eventually lead to regular smoking.
Tobacco control community united on e-cigarettes
The present study, published in the JAMA Network Open of March 29, 2019, suggests that some of the content of this message shifts from the professional medical context to the context. Which can be welcomed by the public.
It is understood that the public does not know how to treat this type of cigarette because science is changing, said Gideon St Helen, a research scientist in the field of tobacco at the University of California at San Francisco, who n? did not participate in the study.
"The tobacco control community does not seem to be united on its vision of e-cigarettes," Helen said. Some people think that e-cigarettes are bad, others think it's like the second appearance of Christ. "
Divided in the public opinion also on his evil
Jidong Huang, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Georgia State University, wanted to know how popular the electronic evaporator is.
"We do not know what Americans think about electronic cigarettes," he told The Verge. Do they think that e-cigarettes are safe or do they think they are more harmful? "
Thus, in collaboration with a team of researchers, Huang analyzed two different opinion polls: one was an online survey conducted by Georgia State University and the other by the National Cancer Institute.
As of 2012, both questions have questioned thousands of adults about the dangers of electronic cigarettes compared to conventional cigarettes.
In 2017, the team found that many adults had opinions about electronic cigarettes.
In both surveys, the proportion of people who thought that e-cigarettes were less harmful than conventional cigarettes decreased between 2012 and 2017, the largest decrease between 2012 and 2015.
At the same time, the proportion of people who think that e-cigarettes are as harmful as conventional cigarettes has increased.
Although a few adults in 2017 thought that e-cigarettes were more harmful than conventional cigarettes – 4.3% in one study and 9.9% in the other – still more than at the beginning of the # 39, study in 2012, which was 1.3 in the first and 2.8 in the second.
Electronic cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes
"These results mean that people do not fully understand the risks associated with e-cigarettes, especially compared to traditional cigarettes (which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are" very dangerous and cause half of the deaths in long-term smokers, "Huang said).
"What we are trying to say is that it is very difficult to make it known to the public."
Robert Jacquel, professor of otolaryngology at Stanford University, believes that some confusion is that the public is becoming more informed, but to a lesser extent, about issues related to electronic cigarettes by the through the media.
The risks of smoking are not new. But scientists who discover chemicals that can cause lung irritation or heart problems, or when electronic vaporizers explode and vaporizers cause poisoning to children, we report.
"Most of us want to see adult smokers leave cigarettes lit and start smoking incense," Jacquard said.
It is appropriate to talk about concerns about e-cigarettes, but it can also confuse the relative risks of e-cigarettes compared to traditional cigarettes.
"Everything you see as an online news reader is a report that comes in and reveals the facts that are worth noting, which indicates that the explosions are not completely safe, and people are abusing the concept. in exchange for the safer.
This sounds like the traditional driving of cigarettes on a highway at 90 mph, while he considers the electronic cigarette as a more reasonable – but still fast – driving at 75 mph.
But that does not mean that it's safe
"Both types increase the risk of death," says Jacquard. But driving 75 miles does not result in the same risk of injury or death while driving at 90 mph. "
Huang said that the absorption of the message is wrong and that it could be dangerous for public health. Excessive manipulation of the risks associated with e-cigarettes can alter an element that may be a less dangerous (but still dangerous) alternative to conventional cigarettes for adult smokers.
Teenagers' ride worries doctors
On the other hand, he added, risk reduction could increase the number of teens who smoke electronic cigarettes.
This means that it is important to refine the messages for each group separately and by specific channels, Huang explains.
Social media campaigns aimed at younger audiences should not focus on the fact that e-cigarettes can be less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.
But this message may be appropriate for AARP readers, who are likely adult smokers.
The authors of the study point out that one of the major limitations of their study is that the data stop in 2017, before the significant increase in the number of teenagers who smoke electronic cigarettes, who called the best American doctors to consider electronic incinerators as a health hazard.
It was also before the big tobacco company Altria acquired a share of the giant production of electronic cigarettes Juul for $ 12.8 billion.
So the risk of this type of cigarette can be absorbed has changed since then.
Until now, their effect on the heart, lungs and cancer has not been demonstrated
Another problem is that an opinion poll was ambiguous in the definition of incinerators, which switched from electronic cigarettes to electronic sparks that appeared in subsequent years.
This can make a correct annual comparison difficult.
Opinion polls did not probe how people perceive different types of risks: heart problems, cancer and device explosion, says Michael Ong, professor of medicine and public health at the University of California at Los Angeles. Angeles.
However, the results of each study support the other. In addition, public health experts such as St. Helen believe that the results mean that we need to improve how the risks are explained, even if the right balance will be difficult.
"I think it's not good to scare people into believing that something is dangerous at a time when it's not as dangerous as it is." pretends, because it makes people skeptical about the scientific community, "he said. People can know it anyway. "
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