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Question:
Is the nicotine delivered via the e-cig going to promote cancer
in already existing pre-cancerous cells?
Answer.
Not likely and not in the next 10 years.
1)
Nicotine is not a known carcinogen
Nicotine, inhaled or by any
route, is not recognized by the state of California as a known cause
of cancer in humans or animals. Hundreds of other chemicals are so
recognized, and scores of them are in cigarette smoke. Second hand
tobacco smoke is recognized in this way.
2) Careful follow up for 10 years - the Lung Study in the USA has followed
thousands of ex-smokers for five years and then for 7.5 years after
that,. Risk of cancer of the lung was
increased in those who continued to smoke, but not in those using
nicotine alone compared with those who quit entirely.[1]
That means 10 years of follow-up. If their cells were pre-cancerous to
start with, and nicotine was a cause of cancer, new cancers would have
been expected to appear within those 10 years.
3) Widespread use of nicotine for 25 years. Since 1984,
nicotine has been given to millions of smokers trying to quit smoking,
to help them quit smoking, with no reported increase in lung cancer. Over 40,000
were followed for at least 6 months, and some have been followed for 20
years.[2] Some 8% of nicotine gum users become
long term users, [3] but no increase in cancers has been reported in
long term users of nicotine gum or patch.
________________________
Pre-cancerous cervical cells are
commoner in smokers. Any smoker so affected, should obtain rigorous
follow-up. We have no reason, however, to believe e-cigarettes will
increase the risk of cells becoming cancerous.
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E-cigarette
use reduces risk of cancer by supplanting the smoking of tobacco
cigarettes
Using e-cigarettes INSTEAD of
smoking tobacco cigarettes is bound to reduce the risks of lung cancer,
because the cancer-causing gases such as 1,3 butadiene found in the
smoke of all cigarette brands, are no longer inhaled.
Switching to e-cigarettes with
nicotine continued, can be expected to reduce lung cancer risk the same
as altogether quitting cigarettes without e-cigarettes.
Complete
quitting and complete switching required
100% altogether-quitting or 100%
quitting by 100% switching to e-cigarette is required.
Anyone continuing to smoke even one
cigarette per day along with e-cigarettes (dual smoking) increases risk
of premature death by about half.[4]
1.
Murray RP, Connett JE, Zapawa LM. Does nicotine replacement therapy cause
cancer? Evidence from the Lung Health Study. Nicotine
Tob Res. 2009 Sep;11(9):1076-82. Epub 2009 Jul 1.
2.
Stead LF,
Perera R, Bullen C,
Mant D, Lancaster T. Nicotine replacement
therapy for Smoking Cessation. Cochrane
Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD000146.
3.
Hajek P, McRobbie H, Gillison
F. Dependence potential of nicotine replacement treatments: effects of
product type, patient characteristics, and cost to user. Prev Med. 2007 Mar;44(3):230-4.
Epub 2007 Jan 4.
4.
Bjartveit K, Tverdal A.
Health consequences of smoking 1-4 cigarettes per day
Tobacco Control 2005; 14: 315-20, based on follow-up of 43,000
Norwegians from 1970s to 2002.
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