Electronic Cigarettes - The Future of Smoking?
Despite the health risks and enormous campaigns to persuade the public to give up smoking, people are still taking up the habit and it seems, like drinking, it could be here to stay. So what might it look like in, say, 300 years? In Star Trek The Next Generation, the 24th Century has synthohol as a replacement for alcohol. The premise is that humans will still want to come together to socialise, maybe lose a few inhibitions, but don't want the impaired judgement and inevitable hangovers. Could the future of smoking be similar, with the act of smoking persisting but the health risks all but eliminated?
In his book "The Tipping Point", Malcolm Gladwell points out that in the US teenage smoking is still on the increase despite massive campaigns to convince us all of the health risks of prolonged smoking. He puts forward a different view of how anti-smoking campaigns may succeed. He quotes research that shows, despite popular misconception, that all smokers start out, and many remain as "chippers", ie they can smoke one day and not the next at will, and are not hooked beyond control. He suggests that the tipping point to get hooked on nicotine is around 5mg a day. If cigarettes contained less nicotine, so that no matter how many you smoked you would never reach this level, then smokers would remain as chippers rather than progressing to addicts who cannot last without their regular puffs. How might this be done?
Enter the Electronic Cigarette. The first generation already exists, and anyone who has tried one will know that the water vapour that replaces the smoke adds something to the act that makes it more than just a way to quit. Smoking has always been about more than addiction, and the experience of actually blowing out a vapour captures much of it. But of course, with no smoke, nearly all of the harmful toxins are removed. Cartridges can contain nicotine, if you choose, similar to a current tobacco cigarette. But technology advances. I foresee a time when the amount of nicotine administered through the e-cigarette can be regulated more precisely so that the tipping point of 5mg is never reached in a day. This would fulfil Gladwell's target and could result in smoking remaining as a social choice rather than addiction.
The health benefits of course would be massive. Most users report the improved feeling of using an e-cig within days as they take in less and less tobacco smoke. Although long term studies have yet to complete, common sense suggests the vast strain put on national health systems would be drastically reduced. And the health issues of second hand smoke are completely removed.
Maybe the current approach is wrong in trying to get people to quit smoking. Prohibition of alcohol is a good example of failure. Should we accept the fact that people will always smoke and instead work to make it healthier, and harmless to those around them? Make the important step to treat smokers as adults by allowing them to continue with their habit rather than pouring money into campaigns that seem to be doomed to failure?
With the choice firmly with the smoker of when to smoke, rather than feeding a bodily addiction, there's no reason why the mess on the Starship Enterprise might not have a few glowing electronic cigarettes to accompany that synthetic whiskey!
In his book "The Tipping Point", Malcolm Gladwell points out that in the US teenage smoking is still on the increase despite massive campaigns to convince us all of the health risks of prolonged smoking. He puts forward a different view of how anti-smoking campaigns may succeed. He quotes research that shows, despite popular misconception, that all smokers start out, and many remain as "chippers", ie they can smoke one day and not the next at will, and are not hooked beyond control. He suggests that the tipping point to get hooked on nicotine is around 5mg a day. If cigarettes contained less nicotine, so that no matter how many you smoked you would never reach this level, then smokers would remain as chippers rather than progressing to addicts who cannot last without their regular puffs. How might this be done?
Enter the Electronic Cigarette. The first generation already exists, and anyone who has tried one will know that the water vapour that replaces the smoke adds something to the act that makes it more than just a way to quit. Smoking has always been about more than addiction, and the experience of actually blowing out a vapour captures much of it. But of course, with no smoke, nearly all of the harmful toxins are removed. Cartridges can contain nicotine, if you choose, similar to a current tobacco cigarette. But technology advances. I foresee a time when the amount of nicotine administered through the e-cigarette can be regulated more precisely so that the tipping point of 5mg is never reached in a day. This would fulfil Gladwell's target and could result in smoking remaining as a social choice rather than addiction.
The health benefits of course would be massive. Most users report the improved feeling of using an e-cig within days as they take in less and less tobacco smoke. Although long term studies have yet to complete, common sense suggests the vast strain put on national health systems would be drastically reduced. And the health issues of second hand smoke are completely removed.
Maybe the current approach is wrong in trying to get people to quit smoking. Prohibition of alcohol is a good example of failure. Should we accept the fact that people will always smoke and instead work to make it healthier, and harmless to those around them? Make the important step to treat smokers as adults by allowing them to continue with their habit rather than pouring money into campaigns that seem to be doomed to failure?
With the choice firmly with the smoker of when to smoke, rather than feeding a bodily addiction, there's no reason why the mess on the Starship Enterprise might not have a few glowing electronic cigarettes to accompany that synthetic whiskey!