Clearing the air: Controversy and cautious hope over vaping

Tony Dokoupil comments on the subject:

Nicole Crumley grew up in tobacco country, and tried her first cigarette when she was barely out of middle school. "It's kind of what did you do in the South, when you're 13 years old. I think things are a little different down here. "

For the next 20 years, she could not kick the habit.

"I tried the gum, I tried the patches, I've tried the lozenges, and none of that stuff worked," she told Dokoupil.

What has been done is an e-cigarette, or vaporizer – an electronic device that heats what's called an "e-liquid" containing nicotine, but producing vapor, not smoke.

"I immediately realized I was feeling better," Crumley said. "I could breathe better. It does not take long for your lungs to kind of heal themselves. "

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Dokoupil asked, "Did you feel like there are changes going in your lungs?"

"I did," she replied. "I was not coughing when I woke up in the morning any more. That was a big thing. I think a lot of smokers go through that: They're getting up as soon as they wake up. I was not doing that any more, and I have not done that since. "

Crumley is now hoping to share that feeling, she's convinced, help save lives, as a volunteer for an advocacy group called the Tennessee Smoke-Free Association.

But e-cigarettes are more than just forming smokers. In fact, they are gaining support from a growing number of public health experts. In June, the American Cancer Society noted that while the long-term effects of e-cigarettes are "not known," they are "markedly less harmful" than traditional smoking.

If you're still there, it's good reason: for decades tobacco companies used to sell cigarettes and cigarettes, and then as safer.

But Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, believes this time really could be different. Last year he proposed a historic plan to help save the lives of America's 38 million smokers. It involves reducing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, and encouraging committed smokers to become "vapers" instead.

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He claims that if every smoker today switched to an e-cigarette, America would be safer. "The hope is that you'll be able to get off the hook, and off of nicotine altogether," said Dr. Gottlieb. "But for a component of smokers, if we can migrate to the harmful products, noncombustible products, the presumption is you're going to reduce risk in an adult population."

"So, nicotine, to be clear, is not a cause of cancer?" Asked Dokoupil.

"Nicotine's not. It's all the components of combustion. Nicotine is a complete benign compound – it has side effects. But the cause of cancer, and carcinogens in tobacco, are the products of burning. "

In other words, it's not the nicotine that will kill you, it's the smoke. But Gottlieb and others are quick to point out what can be helpful for adults looking for a better job.

Dokoupil asked, "How do you balance the interests of adult smokers with the risks associated with teen use? "

"Well, this is the challenge that we have," said Dr. Gottlieb. "You're hooking a generation of young people on nicotine. And some of those young people will be long-term users of nicotine, and maybe long-term users of e-cigarettes. "

Ashley Gould, Chief Administrative Officer for Juul, has a California startup that makes the single bestselling e-cigarette in America – and which marketing practices are under investigation by the FDA – told Dokoupil, "I just want to be clear. not want a single teen using this product. "

"E-cigarettes are more popular among young people than traditional cigarettes. Is Juul the reason? "

"I have no idea."

The device is a sleek rectangle, paired with colorful nicotine cartridges as potent as a pack of cigarettes, and sweetened with flavors like mint, mango and fruit medley.

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Dokoupil asked, "So, people look at your early marketing and they conclude, 'How could they be known to be attractive to young people?' Bright colors, cool flavors, cool people. Seems obvious. "

"It was an incredibly short-lived campaign, and we would not have it," Gould said.

"It's an error?"

"It was not done in a way that helped us achieve our mission."

That mission, according to Juul co-founder James Monsees, is to give smokers everything they like about the ritual of smoking without danger.

Dokoupil asked, "Not so long ago at the beginning of the Juul phenomenon, you've had a good time and thought about the ritual of smoking. Do you think in creating Juul, you've created something beautiful and wonderful? "

"Yeah, I think so," Monsees replied. "I hear that quite a bit. I think one of the most wonderful parts of the design for consumers is that, you know, they're finally able to be cigarettes. But you know, I think what it takes is an equally beautiful experience. "

But a key part of that experience is under threat. This summer has been shown in the hometown of San Francisco. Other cities are like

Malia Cohen, president of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, led the campaign to ban flavored tobacco in the city.

"I got a lot of hate mail about this," she said. "The tagline was #adultsloveflavorstoo or something like that," she laughed. "And you know what? What is the table for adults, but really focusing on children.

"What I've learned, not only in the tobacco industry but also in the sugary beverage industry, is that they also falsify data. And so that's what's most alarming. If the FDA is going to really be studying this, I want to be independent, pure, empirical research and data to drive this policy conversation. "

For Cohen, this policy fight is also personal. "My grandparents died of smoking-related diseases. And I remember after I finished college I lived with my grandmother, so I'm in my early 20s, and I would go buy her cigarettes for her. "

Cohen argues that e-cigarette makers are nothing but old-school Big Tobacco companies with a Silicon Valley deal.

But walk into a vape shop anywhere in the country, and you see another side of the industry. Steve Nair and his wife, brandy.

The Nairs are co-owners of Mountain Oak Vapors, a small chain that sells vaporizers, and manufactures its own e-liquid.

"It's much cleaner than a tobacco factory," said Brandy.

"They call us a tobacco product for regulatory purposes," said Steve. "We're not really too connected to tobacco in the traditional sense. You do not see any tobacco around here. "

He showed Dokoupil the process of manufacturing e-liquid. He says the liquid is a mix of propylene glycol, nicotine, and flavors: "All kinds of different flavors from fruits, bananas, peaches, mangoes, melons, pineapples."

"It's okay to touch it?"

"Yeah yeah. It's just a food flavoring you would use in bakery or candy making at home. "

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"If the FDA concludes that flavors cause them to go to that shelf, this shelf, gone."

"Well, that would mean our business would be gone," said Steve. "We're based on flavored products. Vaping as an industry really revolves around flavored products. We would not be able to compete with the cigarette if we did not have these flavors. "

Keep in mind, the potential of smoking. But legacy cigarette companies are not betting on it. They, too, see e-cigarettes as the future.

Andre Calantzopoulus is CEO of Philip Morris International. He told Dokoupil he imagines a future where Philip Morris is no longer selling cigarettes: "Yes, that will be the future. And the faster, the better. "

Philip Morris, which last year manufactured some 800 billion cigarettes, is also the maker of Iqos, a new device that the company said was obsolete.

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Crumley said, "I wish I had never started smoking to begin with."

Dokoupil asked, "How's your health?"

"My health is improved. I actually went to Colorado last month. And, you know, the elevation is a little different up there, and I actually did not like it. And I was like, man! There was no way I could have done this before! "

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Story produced by Anthony Laudato.