Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
How safe are smoking cessation products? How effective are they? What explains the contemporary polarization on the topic of e-cigarettes, and what are the consequences of that polarization?
For millions, e-cigarettes provide a means to relieve nicotine cravings while avoiding harmful cigarette smoke. Yet e-cigarettes remain deeply controversial. Different priorities, values, and interpretations of available data have led to seemingly intractable disagreements between stakeholders about the promise of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and the risks they pose to public health. E-cigarettes are not risk-free. However, regulations attempting to reduce the demand for e-cigarettes have increased consumption of more harmful substitutes, particularly combustible tobacco. How, then, should e-cigarettes be regulated?
This volume, which is the second volume in a three-volume resource, provides context for policymakers on the role that e-cigarettes may play in smoking cessation. The authors provide a critical review of evidence concerning the health effects of vaping and whether using e-cigarettes helps or hinders cessation from smoking. The conceptual origins of the extraordinary discord between the main competing views of e-cigarettes, the precautionary principle and harm reduction, is explored. The misinformation and motivated bias surrounding issues regarding vaping both follow from but also feed the polarization, perpetuating confusion about e-cigarettes and leading to poor decision-making by government agencies and people who smoke.
Synopsis
For millions, e-cigarettes provide a means to relieve nicotine cravings while avoiding harmful cigarette smoke. In the second volume in this three-volume resource, the authors provide a critical review of evidence concerning the health effects of vaping and whether using e-cigarettes helps or hinders cessation from smoking. The empirical evidence, however, does not help decision-makers resolve the normative questions relating to e-cigarettes. Different priorities, values, and interpretations of available data have led to seemingly intractable disagreements between stakeholders about the promise of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation and the risks they pose to public health. The misinformation and motivated bias surrounding issues regarding vaping both follow from but also enhance polarization, perpetuating confusion about e-cigarettes and leading to poor decision-making by government agencies and people who smoke. The authors argue that, ultimately, the safety and efficacy of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation are not immutable properties of the product class-itself diverse and dynamic-but are also contingent upon the conditions of the regulatory environment, and the manner in which e-cigarettes are discussed by regulators and the media. This volume provides important context to help decision makers at all levels better understand the risk and benefits of e-cigarettes and the tradeoffs between them.