While government studies show that e-cigarette sales are, at the least, leveling off, some physicians are pointing to the dangers of using the devices because of chemicals contained in the generated vapor which is inhaled.
Now, even fire marshals and medical examiners are pointing to potential hazards.
Jacksonville News reported that on October 14, a school was forced to be evacuated in Lambeth, south of London, last week when an eCigarette exploded and damaged the building. Fire investigators said the device was being re-charged on a computer with an incorrect adapter.
The fire wasn’t the first catastrophe linked to the popular tobacco-alternative products. In August, David Thomas, 62, was killed at home in Merseyside, UK after his e-cigarette exploded.
ECigs Falling
The popularity of e-cigarettes has leveled off according to some analysts. Others say the popularity is declining. A fund manager in Seeking Alpha wrote recently that when he wrote about valuations of stock in a company called Vapor Corp in July, the price stood at just over $5 a share. A follow-up piece last week reported the value had dropped 70 percent and closed at $1.50 a share.
Investors have a rule-of-thumb they try to follow: “Don’t try to catch a falling knife.” The devaluation of stock in some ecig companies can remind potential investors that there is a solid reason behind that rule. Despite all the hoopla about e-cigarettes being a booming industry, financial trends are showing the market has possibly at least plateaued — if not actually on the downhill slope yet.
E-Cigarette Sales Down
A recent U.S. government study shows that the number of American adults who have used electronic cigarettes may be leveling out. Although the number of users increased from 3 percent to 8 percent between 2010 and 2012, there was no perceptible change in 2013 according to the study performed by the Centers for Disease Control.
Dr. Carolyn McClanahan, a family doctor, points to a new law passed in June that makes it illegal for minors to buy e-cigarettes. McClanahan thinks that may be impacting on the number of people trying them for the first time, according to a story in The Standard.
“I think it’s great that e-cigarettes are leveling off. People need to understand that they’re still dangerous and contain nicotine formaldehyde,” she said.
The battery-powered nicotine delivery devices are believed by many to be a safer alternative to cigarettes. E-cigs, which first hit the market in 2006, are not regulated by the federal government and they have not been the subject of extensive research.
Even Ecigsopedia.com, a Wiki of sorts for e-cigarettes, includes advisories for consumers to follow the safety directions included in each package sold. The website also points to studies which show that “vaping” may not be that safe an alternative to tobacco use. The site says:
“A study by the US Food and Drug Administration has raised concerns about the possibility of toxins being released in some vaping devices during the process of vaporization, while in another study in the journal Circulation, researchers scrutinized a range of data and found evidence that vaping delivers higher levels of nano-particles – particles too minuscule to be seen even with a microscope – which may in turn have causal links with asthma, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.”
