E-cigarettes not advisable for smokers – DOH

I was a heavy smoker for more than 35 years and thanks to e-cigs, I was able to kick the habit. The DOH doesnt know what they are talking about. Were they paid by the giant tobacco companies to come up with this public information campaign? Are the giant cigarette companies affected already by the sin taxes?? Why dont you go to the canteens and small eateries behind Quirino Memorial Medical Center along JP Rizal in Project 4 Quezon City. Your brilliant doctors are vaping and using e-cigs and they were able to quit smoking. DOH, you are sick, very sick!!! Think naman, please!!!

The article conveniently forgot to mention that the presence of nicotine in E-Liquids are optional ... and that the level of nicotine varies depending on the user's preference ... More so, it is misleading to say that “E-cigarettes are being flavored to cover the (taste of nicotine). So you would think that there’s no nicotine in it until you develop addiction,” ... all users of the E-cigarettes can distinguish the presence of nicotine (if it is present) for it gives of a distinct sensation when inhaled ... The presence of nicotine in the E-liquids use in E-cigarettes helps in the transition of quitting ... it helps lessen the withdrawals symptoms a person experience when trying to quit smoking ... E-Cigarette does not claim to cure you from smoking, it HELPS you when you are trying to quit ... It is what you can call, a device aims for "Harm Reduction". Nicotine is not the bad part of cigarette smoking, it is the carcinogens that kills ...

If you tell the smokers not to use e-cigarette, what do you recommend them? Will you tell them to keep smoking the traditional cigarettes and die soon? Why don't DOH make more research about this instead of spreading false statements? This is absolutely a discrimination of the people who stayed away from smoking traditional cigarettes/tobacco! I think you should tell us that e-cigarette is not safe only when you can tell us that someone has already died from inhaling it. At least we are 100% confident that traditional cigarette or tobacco has killed million of lives already. So think again!!!

Mr. Leachon, you may be talking to the wrong resource persons. Talk to us, we'll be very glad to have a conference with you. We were able to quit smoking with the help of e-cigs. You may reach us at 09234056296

Well you did manage to mention the 70 toxic chemicals found in cigarettes...what are the ones found in e-cigarette juice? All e-cigarette juices are labeled with the amount of nicotine found in each bottle giving the user the opportunity ta gradually reduce their nicotine dependency. Similar to treatment of a drug addiction you cannot go cold turkey from smoking overnight without health risks. You can gradually bring down your nicotine use until you finally start using 0nicotine juice...this means you are no longer physically dependent and the only thing you need to start working on is your "act of smoking" habit which would be easier to deal without the dependency. Our household of 6 was composed of 5 smokers...we all started using e-cigarrettes 8mos ago and since that day not one cancer stick was lit...hows that for "you don't kick the habit" and "you easily go back to smoking"? The question here is .... what would YOU recommend? just keep smoking and inhaling those 70 toxic chemicals? no matter how you look at it ...I'd take 1 toxic chemical that I can reduce and eventually eliminate over 70 any day! Oh and by the way...that mist you are talking about is the exact same thing the fog machines produce in concerts and clubs(non-smoking aiconditioned places)...so if thats bad for the health better start banning those as well

This article is an insult to the vaping community. Do some research please. It is the smoke that harms lungs. The vapor from e-cigs is nearly 99% less harmful.

"He said if a person wants to quit but can’t do it on his own, he should consult a doctor for proper counseling and medication." --So what do doctors recommend? Nicotine patch? Nicotine gums? Those few examples also contain nicotine, nicotine is not harmful and in many ways it is very much like caffeine. I've been a smoker for 12 years, tried to quit couple of times but it didn't work, with the help of e cigarettes now im on my 19th month of non smoking, im pretty happy with that. And if you're going to ask me if i'll be back from smoking? Hell no. “E-cigarettes are being flavored to cover the (taste of nicotine). So you would think that there’s no nicotine in it until you develop addiction,” --Are you serious? A smoker will know if nicotine is present or not. Infact E-cigarette users are free to choose whether to have it with nicotine or not, also how much nicotine content per 10ml bottle. Addictive? Yes its addictive as far as nicotine is involed. We do not claim that E-cigarettes are safe, but it is far safer than smoking cigarette. If you're trying to stop us from using E-cigarattes why don't you try to stop smoking first?

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112683512/new-research-done-on-the-benefits-of-an-electronic-cigarette/ http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/09/04/e-cigarettes-dont-harm-heart-study-shows/ http://smoke-vs-vapor.webs.com/ http://www.ivaqs.com/

Do you want proof that electronic cigarettes could help a person stop smoking? We are the proof! We are a small community of people trying to live better lives without cigarettes. Mr. Anthony Leachon, electronic cigarette smoking has helped me stop the bad habit of smoking. That fact alone negates your statement. I have never lit up another stick of cigarette since February of 2012, thanks to vaping. It only took me a month since I started vaping to completely quit smoking. I cut my cigarette consumption slowly then on the 4th of February 2012, I started to vape exclusively, that is, not a single stick from that date onwards. Quitting smoking was so important to me that I will even celebrate my 1st year of a cigarette-free life next month. I was a pack a day smoker for the past 11 years of my life. Double that amount whenever I go out with my buddies. I’ve tried a lot of things to quit. Patches, gums, cold turkey, but none worked. That was till I got my first set o electronic cigarettes. Now, I’ve never looked back to lighting up another cancer stick. Could you tell me now with a straight face that e-cigs cannot help a person stop smoking? Ms. Maricar Limpin. As smokers, we already were addicted to nicotine. That’s what makes smoking so hard to let go off. Electronic cigarettes were designed to still answer our nicotine needs. Yes, our e-cigs have nicotine, but sans the thousands of harmful chemicals you get when burning cigarettes. A lot of vapers have started with a high nicotine consumption but have now weaned off and are consuming small amounts. Some others have gone to vaping with no nicotine at all, and a few have also quit vaping altogether. I urge DOH to conduct further studies before they say something with finality on the matter. Whatever happened to the scientific and methodical process of research? You want participants? We are here. We are reaching out to you NOW. You want numbers? We will give you the numbers. You want proof? WE are the proof that they work. P.S. Yeah, it’s such a shame that Big Tobacco (aka the conglomerate of tobacco companies) and Big Pharma (oh yes, they also have something of interest in this issue, they are the biggest drug companies supplying expensive meds) are pulling strings in our government to continue to earn money. Big Tobacco, haven’t you caused so much a damage to the human population that you still want to send millions more of people to their graves? Big Pharma, you who would suffer most by not earning with your sky-high prices for chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer patients, and the numerous other medicines that are in high demand due to smoking-related disorders, wouldn’t it be better if the need for these medicines would go down indicating that the world’s population is a bit better without more people dying from cigarettes?

I want to point out to the writer that a few parts of this article are very misleading. Like this one: "Nicotine is only one of the 70 toxic chemicals, 70 of them carcinogenic, found in cigarettes. These include butane, used in lighters; cadmium, used in batteries; stearic acid (candle wax); toluene (industrial solvent); ammonia (toilet cleaner); paint; methanol (rocket fuel); carbon monoxide; arsenic (poison); methane (sewer gas); acetic acid (vinegar) and hexamine (barbeque lighter)." If I was a non-vaper and didn't read this paragraph for a second time I would've assumed that you were taliking about ecigs having these substances. And it's not mist perse, it's vapor. The process involves hitting up the e-juice (which is liquid) until it evaporates and turns into it's gaseous form. Yes, nicotine in it's purest form or in high dosages is very toxic and could even be lethal. But please bear in mind that the amount of nicotine used in the liquid that we use for ecigs is normally equal, if not less, than your average cigarettes. Also, ecig users have the option to choose the nicotine level of juice. You can even order ejuice that does not have any nicotine in it. Most of the people I know started with liquids that have nicotine and gradually decreased their nicotine level. Some of them use liquids which contain no nicotine anymore and some of them were actuallly able to quit overall. Also, THERE'S NO COVER UP! All brands of ejuice, as we call it, clearly state the nicotine content, if ever nicotine is present. And the flavor alone can't actually mask the presence of nicotine. Smokers and vaper alike can tell if the liquid has nicotine in it or not because they will feel it. Just like when a coffeelover knows whether or not a particular cup of coffee has caffeine or not. Most, if not all, ejuice are made from food grade material. You can actually find some ingredients you can use for making e-juice at your local supermarket. The only thing that can be considered toxic in an ejuice is the nicotine and it is not even harmful in small and controlled amounts. Plus ecigarette is better than smoking because what we exhale afterwards is not as dangerous as 2nd hand smoke. 2nd hand smoke can actually make someone who regularly is around 2nd hand smoke sick. Second hand vape on the other hand only contains TOC and Glycerin. Nothing like carbon monoxide, excess nicotine, and other carcinogens were found. here's the link: http://www.utahvapers.com/clearstream_files/page1-clearstreamair.jpg Also, there has already been a study in may parts of the world which suggests, if not conclude, that ecigs are way way safer than traditional cigarretes and have a higher chance of helping a person quit than the conventional way like nicotine patches and gums. Here's another link: http://sph.bu.edu/insider/Recent-News/evidence-suggests-e-cigs-safer-than-cigarettes-researcher-claims.html

Also, if simple citizens like ourselves can do this kind of research in a matter of minutes. I'm sure the DOH Consultant for non-communicable diseases, executive director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines, and a journalist for one of the leading newspapers in the Philippines, can do better considering that you have more resources at hand compared to us. To the DOH consultant and the executive director, if ever you are reading this, you are professionals. You are expected to be fair, honest, and unbiased. Please do extensive research before you go to your conclusions. You might be throwing away the biggest chance that we have in our fight against smoking tobacco. Do your jobs right. To the writer of this article, as a journalist you should be fair, honest, and unbiased. You should be able to tell both sides. You should have all the details. Not some half-assed sorry excuse for an article. I'm sorry, but from my point-of-view it looks like a one-sided article. You write fo a newspaper. You are a JOURNALIST. Live up to your title.

I urge all of your "researchers and sources" to go to a "vapemeet". Your sources and researchers might even be surprised to see their colleagues vaping. They can talk to us and get first hand accounts of how vaping has saved us from Cigarettes.

tagalugin ko na lang po ha para maintindihan nila, ako po wala background sa smoking. Ngayun nagstart po ako sa e-cigarette eh anu ngayun? Masama kc may nicotine? eh sa "SIGARILYO" po gaanu kadaming chemical ang nilalagay? AKO gumagawa po ako ng sariling juice para sakin optional po ang "NICOTINE" kung gustong lagyan kung gusto tumigil sa paninigarilyo start sa medium pababa hanggang sa walang nicotine simple po diba? hindi na matatawag na smoking ang vaping....... At isa pa mga guys bakit parang pinagtatanggol nila ang mga tobacco companies? kayo na po bahala sumagot :)

We, the vaping community, CHALLENGE your claim against e-cigarettes as being dangerous to our health. Send in your best non smoking representative during one of our vape meets, and we'll see if he/she coughs insanely compared to sitting beside one person smoking a real cigarette. Even 100 vapers vaping all at the same time couldn't make you cough even once for we don't exhale any second hand smoke. We produce VAPORS. If VAPORS are bad for our health, then you should go ahead and warn the general public against the use of nebulizers. The problem with the government is they think the Filipinos are still uneducated. That we are still incapable of thinking logically. If NICOTINE is so effin' dangerous, why don't you recommend the closure of the tobacco companies right away?Millions have died from smoking cigarettes, yet, they still sell it. MALAKI SUHOL SA INYO E NOH? Stop being irrational, stop being ignorant and stop being a dumb ass on subjects you don't know anything of. And puhlease...... Stop showing us we're wasting our hard earned taxes on donkeys like you....

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Professors Cahn and Siegel from the Department of Political Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley did some research into electronic cigarettes. The maximum level of total TSNAs reported was 8.2 ng/g. This compares with a similar level of 8.0 ng in a nicotine patch. This is 0.07–0.2 per cent of the TSNAs present in cigarettes. DEG was only found in one of the 18 cartridges studied by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - most likely due to contamination. Whilst there is no evidence to suggest that ecigs are safe, there is also no evidence to suggest that they are not. Perhaps the reason there has been such a backlash against ecigs is actually due to political and financial reasons rather than actual evidence. For further information see http://www.uniqbuy.com/ecigsafety.html