The American Cancer Society also expressed the same view in May. Both the AHA and ACS have, however, expressed great concern about these popular nicotine-vapor products and have called for more regulation in order to keep the e-cigarettes away from the reach of children.
They also stress that traditional smoking cessation methods should be tried first by the addicted smokers if they want to quit smoking.
But if those fail, "it is reasonable to have a conversation" about e-cigarettes, said the Heart Association's president, Dr. Elliott Antman. The Cancer Society said e-cigarettes "may be a reasonable option" for people who fail to quit after trying counseling and approved methods, such as nicotine patches.
But neither group says that e-cigarettes can be used for smoking cessation, and they want the government to make laws preventing the makers of the devices to market the e-cigarette that way.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporize nicotine. In US, the sale of this device first started in 2007 but e-cigarettes have now become global phenomena. There is no denying the fact that the amount of toxin in the e-cigarettes is less than traditional cigarettes but not much is known about their side effects on health.
The detractors of e-cigarette claim that the device encourages smoking by letting people maintain their habit in places where cigarettes are banned. This concept, called harm reduction, "is probably the most important and the most contentious issue that the tobacco community is dealing with right now," said Tom Glynn, who recently retired as the Cancer Society's top scientist on the e-cigarette issue.
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