In regards to Diethylene Glycol, according to the ECA (Electronic Cigarette Association) it would take 12,500 hundred (YES HUNDRED) cartridges a day to create toxic concerns. The avereage e-cig smoker uses 1.5 cartridges per day. The FDA is concerned about Diethylene Glycol but not arsenic, amonia, formaldahyde and thousands of other chemicals in cigarettes? Give me a break. They should be banning addatives in cigarettes but they are not because they whored themselves out to lobbyists. Grow up people, the Gov is not here to help you.

Dog e-cigs all you want, the fact is I actually stopped hacking and can breath easier now … but hey what do I know? I’m not an MD.

The bottom line is as a smoker of both cigs and e-cigs, I must say being smoke free the past couple of weeks do to e-cigs is by far well worth the potential ummm, not proven, ummm could be side effects.I feel like I am reborn I can breathe easier , I am filled with more energy, and not to mention I DONT SMELL LIKE A DIRTY GARBAGE CAN ANY MORE. So to the cynical negativity being posted about :OMG they are dangerous!!!!” WAKE UP PLEASE!!! CIgarettes killed more freinds and family members than any other thing that comes to mind. So who are we trying to kid? One can not even phathom that e-cigs are as bad as regular cigs.

I also like the one from “Cold” about anti-freeze. I’ve spend a lot of time in RVs and trailers over the years. Know what they use as an anti-freeze in the drinking water pipes and tanks in these things? Yup, propylene glycol. Guess why they use it instead of ethylene glycol? Know who approved it “as generally safe for human use?” You won’t believe it, but it’s the same three-letter outfit who approved nicotine polacrilex in patches and gum you can by OTC at Rexall and Walmart. Now, this leaves batteries, atomizers, and LEDs, have these been proven safe by the FDA?

Just accept, without my going into the standard 45-years-smoking-praise-God-for-e-cigs litany, that I know whereof I speak. Every time I heard or read of a smoking reduction or cessation device or method, I tried it: no soap. (Well, no one told me to try soap, but I would have, I tried weirder things.) Even when I used pipes and cigars I was inhaling my own sidestream smoke, and everything around me smelled wretched, so I probably did as well.

Aside from yet another vote for e-cigs, what do I have to offer the cause? The fact that I’ve spent countless hours researching them online, and here’s what I’ve learned of note:

o MANY non-smokers seem curiously interested in the topic (perhaps because they know and care about friends and relatives who smoke, and/or they suffer from sidestream smoke). And a HUGE number of these non-smokers side with “vapers” against the FDA (perhaps because they’ve learned to trust Federal Express more than any other outfit with the name “Federal” in its name).

o VERY few (I believe I’ve read two, and seen one in a video) of those who have tried vaping have said it was not for them, that they would not consider using e-cigs as an alternative to actual smoking.

o NO non-smokers have reported having an interest in taking up the nicotine habit via e-cig, or having inadvertently done so, although one, curiously, said she might get one to use with a zero-nicotine cartridge, just to “smoke” in bars. (Hey, as far as I’m concerned, go nuts…even if you have to use a fake ID to get into the bar; I was smoking unfiltered Pall Malls and Chesterfields at 15, and scrounged ashtray butts before that–stripped and RE-ROLLED!).

o EXTREMELY FEW e-cig users said they still smoked combustibles occasionally, but those who did had reduced consumption to perhaps 1/5th their previous usage. The vast majority said they’d quit smoking, cold, and that this surprised them (it surprised me, too, after my experiences with pipes, cigars, herbal blends, patches & gum, hypnosis, Wellbutrin, snuff and smokeless…clearly this is no mere psychosomatic phenomenon when this many users simply don’t bother to light up again).

o The VAST majority of the news items from here in the US have been negative, slanted, biased, not factual, utterly out-of-touch with the reality of the e-”smoking” phenomenon. The reality is that hundreds of thousands of ex-smokers in the last 2-3 years feel they’ve been given a new lease on life (and their pocketbooks, for that matter…these things average out to under 1/5th, often MUCH less, than tobacco products plus taxes).

o Only a small fraction of e-ciggers are trying to use them to quit nicotine per se (having given up hope years past), although many claim to have gradually cut down anyway. ALL users have used them to cut down on smoking combustibles, and most have been 100% successful in this regard, the vast majority on Day One.

It is no wonder so many vapers have become evangelists…they’ve recently learned they won’t necessarily die of cancer, emphysema, heart disease, COPD, etc., or have to live as a social pariah for the rest of their shortened days. Nor did they have to go through quitters Hell to accomplish this.

o Since their invention and inception 5 or 6 years ago, no one has died from them and come back to tell us about it. Nor have any grieving friends, relatives, doctors, or coroners.

“Has ‘Our’ FDA Finally Gone Too Far?” is the sort of title we should be seeing in the media, not the uninformed crap we’ve been subjected to. From what I’ve seen in my Internet research, even the public who hear only the FDA’s side of the story aren’t buying it this time. (Probably mostly consumers of Cheerios and organic foods illegally mis-labeled as heart-healthy.)

Now, about those Vioxx studies we, curiously, have heard so little about lately… You know, where the FDA approved a drug for a major drug lobbyist which caused nearly 28,000 heart attacks they admitted to (other estimates, 55,000)?

Using these you will not remove the physical habit nor the Nicotine addiction (Unless you wean off the nic)

Propylene glycol is used:

* As a solvent in many pharmaceuticals, including oral, injectable and topical formulations. Notably, diazepam, which is insoluble in water, uses propylene glycol as its solvent in its clinical, injectable form.[5]
* As a moisturizer in medicines, cosmetics, food, toothpaste, mouth wash, and tobacco products
* In electronic cigarettes to deliver vaporized nicotine
* As an emulsification agent in Angostura and orange bitters
* As a solvent for food colors and flavorings
* As an ingredient, along with wax and gelatin, in the production of paintballs
* As a humectant food additive, labeled as E number E1520
* As a cooling agent for beer and wine glycol jacketed fermentation tanks
* As a carrier in fragrance oils
* As an ingredient in massage oils
* As a less-toxic antifreeze
* As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
* In smoke machines to make artificial smoke for use in firefighters’ training and theatrical productions
* In hand sanitizers, antibacterial lotions, and saline solutions
* In cryonics
* As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
* As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
* To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
* As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
* As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration.
* To treat livestock ketosis
* As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks.
* To de-ice aircraft.[6]
* UV Blacklite Tattoo Ink

I still stand that nicotone is not good for you, maybe in the caffiene arena but still not good but I see too many jumping on the antifreeze train. Enough.

One of the main arguments against these products is the anti-freeze one. Leaving diethylene glycol aside for a moment, Propylene glycol (used as the main ingredient) is used in anti-freeze but this comparison with anti-freeze is like saying water is used as engine coolant and a coolant in nuclear power stations as well as being a major component of urine so dont drink it!!

One brand in the UK are now using a liquid which does not contain propylene glycol possibly to avoid the anti-freeze stigmatism. I’m sure many will follow suit.

I am in the UK and this debate hasnt started here yet but as soon as it starts to threaten the revenue from tobacco you can be assured they will start picking on it.

As for the diethylene glycol someone has already pointed out it was only found in ONE sample at a very low concentration. The FDA have sighted media hype with this one result. Much the same as the hysteria caused with swine flu deaths (we all know seasonal flu kills people. Swine flu is no different other than it will affect more people in a shorter space of time ergo – more deaths) but the governments cause media hype and public hysteria.

As for carcinogens the reports I have seen only show very small amounts which are well below international safety limits.

Whatever the risks are (if any) they cant possibly be anywhere near as bad as smoking real cigarettes.

Also these products should not be compared to smoking. They mimic the action of smoking but no combustion takes place so there is no smoke. Perhaps the correct word to use would be misting or atomising.

I went cold turkey from cigarettes 2 months ago and if i ever felt the urge to go back it would be an e-cig not a standard one. With normal cigarettes you know you are putting around 4000 harmful substances in your body. With e-cigs they are manufactured to be as safe as possible and any nasties you might find in them cant possibly be as toxic as a normal cigarette.

Riding my bike in heavy traffic probably causes me more harm from toxic inhalation than an e-cig ever could.