E-Cigarettes: Is Nicotine Bad for You?
Amid all of the official feigned dismay over the potential hazards posed by electronic cigarettes, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that there is little scientific evidence suggesting any real harm. When interviewed, opponents of these products often begin with non-specific assertions about dangerous chemicals that users can be exposed to when using these products. On those rare occasions when interviewers actually press those opponents to get more specific, however, they typically tend to focus on one chemical: nicotine. That, of course, might cause some to ask: is nicotine bad for you? The Historical Assumption For some time now, there has been a general tendency to lump nicotine in with all of the other chemicals present in tobacco products. For most people, it was a foregone conclusion that everything in cigarettes was bad for their health – including nicotine. Too many people assumed that when tobacco opponents railed against tar, toxic compounds, and other harmful...