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The e-cigarette represents a curious case of a product with seemingly honourable intentions, namely nicotine replacement, belying an alternate agenda, namely nicotine promotion. The fact that the manufacturers make few health claims is telling. Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco with serious and well established adverse effects beyond addiction alone (1,2). Where once nicotine was ‘merely’ a component, it is now the end product. Where once there was some pretension of addiction being incidental, it is now one must assume, the aim.
Remarkable, is that the e-cigarette has flourished under the guise of innocuousness, despite little direct marketing to this effect. Such is the degree of misunderstanding that we have witnessed healthcare professionals, from Consultants to Nurses, condoning their use in the preoperative and early postoperative periods. The e-cigarette has so far thrived in its role as the lesser of two evils, but as with tyrannical political regimes, we should be mindful that backing the lesser of two evils seldom ends well.
1. Krupski WC. The peripheral vascular consequences of smoking. Ann Vasc Surg. 1991;5(3):291-304
2. Krueger JK, Rohrich RJ. Clearing the Smoke: The Scientific Rationale for Tobacco Abstention with Plastic Surgery. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2001;108(4):1063-1073.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
03 February 2014
Roshan Vijayan
Junior Clinical Fellow, Plastic Surgery
Johann Jeevaratnam, Plastic Surgery Registrar. Adam Blackburn, Plastic Surgery Consultant
Re: Last gasp for e-cigarette ads that glamorise the habit?
The e-cigarette represents a curious case of a product with seemingly honourable intentions, namely nicotine replacement, belying an alternate agenda, namely nicotine promotion. The fact that the manufacturers make few health claims is telling. Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco with serious and well established adverse effects beyond addiction alone (1,2). Where once nicotine was ‘merely’ a component, it is now the end product. Where once there was some pretension of addiction being incidental, it is now one must assume, the aim.
Remarkable, is that the e-cigarette has flourished under the guise of innocuousness, despite little direct marketing to this effect. Such is the degree of misunderstanding that we have witnessed healthcare professionals, from Consultants to Nurses, condoning their use in the preoperative and early postoperative periods. The e-cigarette has so far thrived in its role as the lesser of two evils, but as with tyrannical political regimes, we should be mindful that backing the lesser of two evils seldom ends well.
1. Krupski WC. The peripheral vascular consequences of smoking. Ann Vasc Surg. 1991;5(3):291-304
2. Krueger JK, Rohrich RJ. Clearing the Smoke: The Scientific Rationale for Tobacco Abstention with Plastic Surgery. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2001;108(4):1063-1073.
Competing interests: No competing interests