Jump to full article: News24 (za), 2009-08-07
Intro: Forty-five percent of South African smokers who used e-cigarettes were able to quit tobacco smoking within two months, a new SA study shows.
In the first local medical study on the efficiency of electronic cigarettes to help smokers kick the habit, a team of doctors supplied 349 patients with Twisp electronic cigarettes, over a period of eight weeks.
Of Dutch origin, the Twisp e-cigarette is an electronic device that delivers nicotine through vapour but without the tar, carcinogens or smoke found in standard cigarettes.
All participating doctors agreed that e-cigarettes are a significantly more healthy alternative to conventional smoking.
The study's outcome revealed that:
- 6% of smokers quit within two weeks increasing to 45% within eight weeks. . . .
- When asked if an e-cigarette could act as an agent to overcome all the physical and psychological challenges to quit tobacco smoking, all doctors said "yes".
Dr Clifford Hulley, one of the participating medical professionals in the survey, reported that "an e-cigarette is the most effective treatment method on the market for quitting tobacco smoking".
Prof Martin Veller, Head Vascular Surgeon at the University of the Witwatersrand, who also participated in the project, added that e-cigarettes have the appearance of normal tobacco cigarettes but are non-toxic. . . . .
Earlier this year Health New Zealand carried out trials into the safety of e-cigarettes. According to the head of research Dr Murray Laugeson, the test found that e-cigarettes were very safe relative to cigarettes, and also safe in absolute terms on all measurements. . . .
According to Matt Salmon, president of the Electronic Cigarette Association (Eca) in the USA, available data indicates that electronic cigarettes reduce the risk of illness and death to under 1% of the risk posed by tobacco cigarettes "which are responsible for 400 000 deaths per year in the US - more than Aids, drugs, homicides, fires and auto accidents combined".
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