"At first glance, it looks like the real thing. It's white, with a brown filter. When the tip glows red, a smoke-like puff follows. But this is not a typical cigarette -- it's an 'e-cig.' A what? An electronic cigarette. When an e-cigarette user inhales, a battery inside warms liquid nicotine stored in a plastic filter. Makers of e-cigs tout their product as the first healthy cigarette, free of harmful chemicals and tar typically found in tobacco products. The only ingredient: pure liquid nicotine."

March 13, 2009

"Because no burning is involved, makers say there's no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette. There's no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers say."

February 27, 2009

"They look like cigarettes, but unlike the real thing these are battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine using a vapor. Electronic cigarettes - now available online and at mall kiosks - contain no tobacco and produce no smoke. Thus, their risk is minimal compared to conventional cigarettes, which deliver not only nicotine but also more than 4,000 chemical toxins and more than 60 carcinogens. As an additional benefit, e-cigarettes produce no secondhand smoke. Many smokers are using e-cigarettes to stay off conventional cigarettes. And because they look like cigarettes and simulate the act of smoking, they are proving to be far more effective in keeping smokers off cigarettes than nicotine replacement therapy".

Dr. Michael Siegel, Associate Chairman, Community Health Sciences
Boston University

May 11, 2009

"While I support restricting access of electronic cigarettes to children under the age of 18... If adults want to purchase and consume these products with an understanding of the associated health risks, they should be able to do so..."

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor, California

October 14, 2009

"Conventional cigarettes account for about 80% of nicotine consumption in the United States, but more than 98% of the illness and death. This harm is not caused by the nicotine, but by toxic products of combustion. A cigarette smoker can reduce his or her risk of future tobacco-related death by 98% or better by switching to a low risk smokeless tobacco product. He or she could cut that risk by 99.9% or better by switching to a nicotine-only delivery product like one of the pharmaceutical products or E-cigarettes."

Dr. Joel L. Nitzkin
Chair, American Associate on Public Health Physicians

April 2, 2010