THE other day while travelling from Karachi to Lahore by PIA I was shocked to see two passengers puffing away electronic cigarettes (e-cig) during the flight. The flight crew did nothing to stop these passengers from using e-cig. At the time of take-off the announcement did mention the ban on smoking but there was no mention about e-cig.

E-cig is a device run by batteries designed to look similar to cigarette, but it delivers nicotine vapours instead of tobacco smoke. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, with an estimated 1.3 million people using globally in 2013. Most other airlines in the world do not allow the use of e-cig during the flight or at the airport because of its safety concerns. As ‘ends’ do not generate the smoke that is associated with the combustion of tobacco, its use is commonly believed by consumers to be safer than smoking tobacco. This illusive ‘safety’ of ‘ends’ can be enticing to consumers.

The use of electronic cigarettes leads to emission of fine and ultra-fine inhalable liquid particles, nicotine and cancer-causing substances into indoor air. At present there are no long-term scientific studies on the health effects of e-cig.

However according to one recent research, ‘smoking’ or ‘vaping’ an e-cig for 10 minutes causes an increase in airway resistance, obstructing the air getting into and out of the lungs. According to a report from the Centre for Disease Control in the US, there has been a several-fold increase in the number of cases reported of nicotine poisoning from the use of e-cig during the past few months.

People who think that e-cigs are safer than traditional cigarettes need to understand that the first commercial cigarettes were introduced in 1865 but it was several decades later in 1950 when the public came to know that smoking cigarettes could cause lung cancer.

Javaid A. Khan

Chair, National Alliance for Tobacco Control

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2014