Cigarettes are not Green
As all people know, the color green means life and renaissance. That’s why is unnecessary to say that smoking is not very green.
Almost all people know how harmful can be a cigarette, that’s why many of them started to smoke e-cigarettes – a stylish new smoking alternative that dispenses nicotine through vapor, rather than smoke, in a reusable, odorless cigarette-like device. E-cigarette users can also “smoke” indoors without affecting others. They never need a lighter, and prevent hundreds of butts from being stubbed out on the pavement, since the device uses rechargeable batteries and refillable cartridges.
However, absolutely green smoking even e-cigarettes are too good to be true. Turns out, the electronic smokes, which are marketed on several websites as healthier than real cigarettes, can be as harmful as traditional kind.
These two smoking products have not been obeyed to the FDA for evaluation or approval, at this time the agency has no way of knowing, except for the limited testing it has executed, the levels of nicotine or the amounts or kinds of other chemicals that the various brands of these products give to the user.
The FDA’s Division of Pharmaceutical Analysis analyzed the ingredients in a small sample of cartridges from two leading brands of electronic cigarettes. In one sample, the FDA’s analyses detected diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze that is toxic to humans, and in several other samples, the FDA analyses detected carcinogens, including nitrosamines.
These tests indicate that these products contained detectable levels of known carcinogens and toxic chemicals to which users could potentially be exposed.
However the harmful chemicals aren’t the only reason for the warning. The FDA is more concerned about the safety of these products and how they are marketed to the public.
Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., commissioner of food and drugs said that the e-cigarettes are sold in malls, and the flavored nicotine may tempt kids. These kinds of smoking products are also touted as “healthy,” “green,” and “environmental.”
Traditional cigarettes, too, will tout their green certificates. For example, American Spirit brand uses USDA-certified organic tobacco, avoiding the pesticides that other growers use (tobacco farmers use 27 million pounds of pesticides each year).
Statistics show that the global tobacco industry manufactures approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes annually.
