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(CBS) – Vaping is the subject of our highly controversial cover story, reported by Tony Dokoupil:
Nicole Crumley grew up in tobacco country and tried her first cigarette while she was just out of college. "It's a bit like what you did in the South, at the age of 13. I think things are a little different here."
For the next 20 years, she could not get rid of this habit.
"I tried chewing gum, I tried the patches, I tried the pellets, and none of that worked," she said at Dokoupil.
What ultimately worked is called an e-cigarette, or vaporizer – an electronic device that heats what's called an "e-liquid" containing nicotine, but producing steam, not the smoke.
"I immediately realized that I felt better," Crumley said. "I could breathe better, your lungs heal quickly."
Dokoupil asked, "Did you have the impression that there were changes in your lungs?"
"I did it," she replied. "I was not coughing when I woke up in the morning, it was a big problem, I think a lot of smokers endure it: they cough as soon as they woke up, I did not do it anymore, and I have not done it since. "
Crumley now hopes to share this feeling and, she is convinced, help save lives as a volunteer for a rights group called the Tennessee Smoke-Free Association.
But e-cigarettes earn more than former smokers. In fact, they are getting the cautious support of a growing number of public health experts. In June, the American Cancer Society noted that while the long-term effects of electronic cigarettes are "not known, they are" significantly less harmful "than traditional smoking.
If you're still skeptical, well, there's a good reason: For decades, tobacco companies have been using misleading scientific data to sell cigarettes and smoke first, safely and then safely . safer.
But Scott Gottlieb, a board member of the US Food and Drug Administration, says the timing could really be different. Last year, he proposed a historic plan to help save the lives of 38 million American smokers. This involves reducing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and encouraging smokers to become "vapers".
He says that if every smoker today opts for an electronic cigarette, America would be safer. "The hope is that you can wean tobacco smokers and nicotine," said Dr. Gottlieb. "But for a smoker component, if we can migrate them to less harmful, non-combustible products, it's assumed that you're going to reduce the risk in adults."
"So, nicotine, to be clear, is not a cause of cancer?" asked Dokoupil.
"Nicotine is not it.These are all components of burning.Nicotine is not a totally benign compound – it has side effects.But the cause of cancer and carcinogenic substances of tobacco are the products of combustion. "
In other words, it's not the nicotine that will kill you, that's the smoke. But Gottlieb and others have quickly pointed out that what might be useful for adults seeking to quit is also attractive to teens.
Dokoupil asked, "How do you reconcile the interests of adult smokers with the risks associated with teenagers' use?"
"Well, that's the challenge we have," Dr. Gottlieb said. "You tie a generation of young people to nicotine, and some of these young people will become long-term users of nicotine, and perhaps long-term users of electronic cigarettes."
Ashley Gould, administrative manager of Juul, a California start-up specializing in the sale of the best electronic cigarette in America – and whose business practices are the subject of an FDA investigation – told Dokoupil: does not want a only teenager using this product ".
"E-cigarettes are now more popular among young people than traditional cigarettes – is Juul the reason?"
"I have no idea."
The device is an elegant rectangle, combined with colorful nicotine cartridges as powerful as a pack of cigarettes and softened with flavors such as mint, mango and fruit.
"If the FDA concludes that the flavors cause children to start vaping and that they restrict or even ban the flavors, that would mean that shelf would disappear."
"Well, that would mean our business would have gone," said Steve. "We are based on flavored products.The industry of the sap is really focused on flavored products.We could not compete very effectively with cigarette if we did not have these flavors."
Do not forget that the potential end of the steam industry could cause more people to smoke. But traditional cigarette manufacturers do not bet on it. They too see the electronic cigarette as a future.
Andre Calantzopoulus is CEO of Philip Morris International. He told Dokoupil that he imagined a future where Philip Morris would no longer sell cigarettes: "Yes, it will be the future, and the faster, the better."
Philip Morris, who last year manufactured some 800 billion cigarettes, is also the maker of Iqos, a new device that, according to the company, could make cigarettes obsolete.
Dokoupil asked, "Can you say with confidence that if you smoke at Iqos, you will have less chance of having a lung disease?"
"Yes, I can say that."
"Less likely to have cancer? Heart disease?"
"Yes, all diseases."
Iqos heats real tobacco leaves by producing an aerosol that, according to Philip Morris International, is less harmful than smoke. The company has asked the FDA for permission to sell it in the United States.
Dokoupil asked Calantzopoulos: "How, after years of deception recognized on the part of the tobacco industry, have you convinced not only the regulators, but also the public to trust you while you say [e-cigarettes are] better?"
"Listen, it's very nice to say," Philip Morris, you can not believe them today because you could not believe them yesterday, "etc., but do we think that? will a smoker leave the cigarette with that? No. The world is changing. "
The FDA is still reviewing Iqos and looking for ways to regulate the world of smokeless tobacco products, a process that should take years.
People like Nicole Crumley, however, do not wait. She is now trying to convince her father – a smoker for 40 years – to try to run out of steam ("it's not for me," he laughed), while enjoying this that she says to be the benefits of a smoke-free life.
Crumley said, "I would have liked never to start smoking."
Dokoupil asked, "How's your health?"
"My health has improved.In fact, I went to Colorado last month.And, you know, the altitude is a little different there, and I've actually made a hike and I did not feel stung, and I was like, man, no way I could have done this before!
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