Breathe Easy
Another piece of research for the Antz to ignore, this time supporting the claim that vaping improves lung function for asthmatic smokers who switch.
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by Dave Cross
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Australian public health commentators seized upon this “study” as they scramble around looking for anything to denounce electronic cigarettes. “E-cigarettes can cause lung damage,” says Asthma Australia while pushing traditional forms of NRT on the continent.
WebMD have a similar stance of siding with those producing the most dubious pieces of work: “New research suggests that e-cigarette vapor produces tiny particles that users suck deep into their lungs, potentially causing or worsening respiratory diseases. The particles are of comparable size to those contained in cigarette smoke, and as many as 40 percent of them reach the deepest part of the lungs when inhaled.”
Dr. Andrew Davidson, from Charleston’s Allergy & Asthma unit, previously said: “There are some people that may have pretty mild asthma but using the e-cigarette could bring the symptoms out. Other people who have severe asthma and have frequent life threatening attacks an e-cigarette could be something that throws them over the edge into a life threatening attack.” Davidson has clearly not read the paper produced by Professor Riccardo Polosa.
In 2014, Polosa concluded: “Considering that e-cig use is reportedly less harmful than conventional smoking and can lead to reduced cigarette consumption with subsequent improvements in asthma outcomes, this study shows that e-cigs can be a valid option for asthmatic patients who cannot quit smoking by other methods.”
The research prompted Churnmag to comment: “Most people believe that dual use is not beneficial, but Polosa’s findings show that it is actually quite effective.”
Which leads us to the recent study carried out by Doctor Christina Russo at the Italian University of Catania. Unlike the pharma-funded work from Athens, produced to slight vaping and promote traditional NRT products, Russo’s work was funded by in full by the university and the Italian League Against Smoking – she held no other financial conflicts of interest.
Russo’s work concluded: “Every one of the objective and subjective measures of asthma status evaluated in the study showed statistically significant improvement 1 year after patients adopted e-cigarettes, and the e-cigarette users’ consumption of conventional cigarettes dropped precipitously.”
While the best solution for asthmatics is to avoid smoking and vaping the research highlighted that vaping offers a safer method to recreationally use nicotine and that the NHS, WebMD and Asthma Australia are (at best) being ignorant to the truth about the use of ecigs.
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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