Health Scare Story Du Jour

From The Daily Mail:

They are touted as a safe alternative to smoking, but electronic cigarettes could damage the lungs, latest research has found.

The devices were found to cause an immediate rise in airway resistance in the lungs - meaning less oxygen is absorbed by the blood. On average the effect lasted for ten minutes, a report presented at the European Respiratory Society's Annual Congress in Vienna found.

Around 650,000 smokers are thought to be using the inhalers - which look like cigarettes or pens - to help them kick the habit. But at present the devices - which are all imported from China - do not have to undergo any safety checks before being put on sale in high street chemists...

Professor Christina Gratziou, Chair of the ERS Tobacco Control Committee, said:

"We do not yet know whether unapproved nicotine delivery products, such as e-cigarettes, are safer than normal cigarettes, despite marketing claims that they are less harmful. This research helps us to understand how these products could be potentially harmful. We found an immediate rise in airway resistance in our group of participants, which suggests e-cigarettes can cause immediate harm after smoking the device.

"More research is needed to understand whether this harm also has lasting effects in the long-term. The ERS recommends following effective smoking cessation treatment guidelines based on clinical evidence which do not advocate the use of such products."

Ministers are concerned that some brands of E-cigarettes may contain very high levels of nicotine - the addictive substance in cigarettes has also been linked to cancer.

The conditional words and subliminal messages in order: touted, could, thought to be, imported from China, do not have to undergo safety checks, Tobacco Control, we do not know if they are safer, could be potentially harmful, lasting effects, may contain high levels of nicotine.

UPDATE: Bayard points out that there's a sneaky "linked to" right at the end, two words traditionally followed by either "cancer" or "Al Qaeda".

Apart from that, who knows what 'airway resistance' is? AFAIAA, people don't use inhalers because they want to 'kick the habit' but because you can use them where smoking is prohibited. And wouldn't you expect somebody from the EU-funded ERS Tobacco Control Committee to be just a little biased in these matters?