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Hector Lopez

Hanan Saadi

ENGL 1302

06/15/2023

E-cigarettes Vs. Cigarettes

Nicotine is considered one of the most addictive drugs in the world. Due to this fact,

researchers everywhere have been trying to figure out ways to lower deaths yearly because of

nicotine. This research topic is where the debate of E-cigarettes Vs. Cigarettes began. Various

questions have arised due to this debate, including which one is considered safer, which one

comes with more risks, and which one the world prefers. Both forms of nicotine distribution are

horrible for the body, but e-cigarettes are considered ten times safer. Various researchers,

including Kim Pulvers, Jungmi Jun, Jidong Huang, and their colleagues, have proven this fact. In

their specified article, each researcher makes sure to answer the questions that are constantly

asked of them, and they make sure to back up all their research with evidence. E-cigarettes vs.

cigarettes has been a topic that researchers have been looking into for years. The world wants to

know which one is considerably better for the body and why. These researchers answered all the

questions they were asked accurately and were indeed the first stepping stones to figuring out

which one is considerably better.

Questions are constantly circling in the researchers' heads about the difference between

E-cigarettes and regular cigarettes. However, the most popular one, and the one that comes up

the most, is which one is considered safer. Kim Pulvers and his colleagues make sure to answer

this question effectively. Throughout their article, Effect of Pod E-Cigarettes vs. Cigarettes on

Carcinogen Exposure Among African American and Latinx Smokers, they found out that over a
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controlled 186 participants, the ones that strictly smoked e-cigarettes saw a significant decrease

in any respiratory problems compared to those who strictly smoked cigarettes throughout the six

weeks the trial was going on. At the end of the six weeks, they found out, "At week 6, exclusive

e-cigarette users had significantly greater reductions in NNAL and CO levels than dual users and

cigarette smokers. Dual users also had greater reduction of CO levels compared with exclusive

cigarette smokers." (Kim Pulvers, et al., 2020) His research showed that even though e-cigarettes

may still come with their own problems, they are considered significantly better than regular

cigarettes. He makes sure to mention this fact throughout the article. Kim Pulver's report gave

considerable insight into the many chemicals that are actually in tobacco/nicotine. However, it

also proves in various ways why e-cigarettes are significantly better to use.

Even though figuring out which nicotine alternative is safer is an important question,

people also wonder which one has more risk factors in terms of use. Jungmi Jun and his

colleagues do an exceptional job of answering this question in their article, Tobacco Risk

Information and Comparative Risk Assessment of E-Cigarettes Vs. Cigarettes: Application of the

Reinforcing Spirals Model. The article discusses the risks associated with tobacco use, explicitly

comparing the dangers of e-cigarettes to traditional cigarettes. The study uses the Reinforcing

Spirals Model to analyze the factors contributing to tobacco use and addiction. The Reinforcing

Spirals Model suggests that three main factors contribute to tobacco use: individual factors (such

as genetics and personality), social factors (such as peer pressure and media influence), and

environmental factors (such as availability and cost). The study found that e-cigarettes may be

less harmful than traditional cigarettes but still pose significant health risks, particularly for

young people. During their articles, the researchers make it a point to constantly point out how

dangerous cigarettes are compared to e-cigarettes, which is why most cigarette smokers
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transition to e-cigarettes. An example is a quote from the article, "During e-cigarette risk

information search, current users are likely to expose themselves to information comparing harm

between e-cigarettes and cigarettes and thus may find that cigarettes are consistently depicted as

harmful." (Jungmi Jun, 2019)

The most crucial question Among all these answered questions is which one the world

prefers. Nicotine is a dangerous drug to get into, but again and again, e-cigarettes have proven to

be the safer way to intake this drug. Jidong Huang and his colleagues confirm that even the

world agrees in their article, Changing Perceptions of Harm of e-Cigarette vs. Cigarette Use

Among Adults in 2 US National Surveys From 2012 to 2017. The study analyzed data from two

national surveys conducted in 2012 and 2017, including questions about the perceived harm of

e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes. The results showed that in 2012, only 11.5% of adults

believed e-cigarettes were less harmful than conventional cigarettes, while 50.7% thought they

were equally deadly. However, by 2017, the percentage of adults who thought e-cigarettes were

less harmful had increased to 36.4%, while the rate who thought they were equally dangerous

had decreased to 41.2%. The study also found that younger adults (18-24 years old) were more

likely to perceive e-cigarettes as less harmful than traditional cigarettes compared to older adults

(over 65 years old). (Jidong Huang, et al., 2019 )

Additionally, individuals who used e-cigarettes were more likely to perceive them as less

dangerous than those who had never used them. These changing perceptions of harm have

important implications for public health policies and messaging around e-cigarette use. In

conclusion, the study "Changing Perceptions of Harm of e-Cigarette vs. Cigarette Use Among

Adults in 2 US National Surveys From 2012 to 2017" highlights a significant shift in the

perception of harm between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes among adults in the United
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States. People everywhere are starting to realize that even though nicotine has a horrendous

amount of backlash on the body, e-cigarettes are the safer option. Throughout the article, Jidong

Huang makes this fact known. "Although the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are still

unknown, growing evidence and consensus among scientists and researchers suggest that the

short-term health risks of completely switching to e-cigarettes are substantially less than those of

continued smoking for adults who are unable or unwilling to quit cigarette smoking." This quote

is only one example of the many things they discovered throughout their research. (Jidong

Huang, et al., 2019 )

Nicotine/tobacco will always be a part of our lives. However, in order to save thousands

yearly, researchers everywhere, including Kim Pulvers, Jungmi Jun, Jidong Huang, and their

colleagues, are working hard every day to prove to people which one is significantly safer. They

proved time and time again that e-cigarettes are a better alternative compared to cigarettes.

Whether they did that by conducting a controlled study, studying what people think of

e-cigarettes and cigarettes, or even by figuring out which one came with more side effects/risks.

Due to this fact, they proved time and time again that e-cigarettes are definitely the safer option.

Of course, e-cigarettes still come with their own risk factors, but compared to cigarettes, they are

a ten times better alternative. Maybe they haven't studied enough to realize all the risk factors of

e-cigarettes, but people that transition to e-cigarettes from cigarettes prove how it saves lives.

The yearly number of nicotine deaths has decreased significantly since smokers started to

transition to e-cigarettes. Nicotine comes with its own dangers as a whole, but if more people are

living every day simply because they chose to switch, it's a sacrifice researchers everywhere are

willing to make.
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Work Cited

Pulvers, Kim et al. "Effect of Pod e-Cigarettes Vs Cigarettes on Carcinogen Exposure Among

African American and Latinx Smokers: A Randomized Clinical Trial." JAMA network

open 3.11 (2020): e2026324–. Web.

Dobbs, Page D., David T. Rolfe, and Marshall K. Cheney. "Cigarettes Vs. E-Cigarettes: Policy

Implications from a Focus Group Study." Substance use & misuse 54.12 (2019):

2082–2087. Web.

"Cigarettes Vs e-Cigarettes: How Does the Experience (and Cost) Compare?" The Journal of

family practice 65.6 (2016): 383–. Print.

Jun, Jungmi, Sei-Hill Kim, and Linwan Wu. "Tobacco Risk Information and Comparative Risk

Assessment of E-Cigarettes Vs. Cigarettes: Application of the Reinforcing Spirals

Model." Journal of health communication 24.4 (2019): 422–431. Web.

Soneji, Samir et al. "Association Between Initial Use of e-Cigarettes and Subsequent Cigarette

Smoking Among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and

Meta-Analysis." JAMA pediatrics 171.8 (2017): 788–797. Web.

Shiffman, Saul, and Mark A. Sembower. "Dependence on E‐cigarettes and Cigarettes in a

Cross‐sectional Study of US Adults." Addiction (Abingdon, England) 115.10 (2020):

1924–1931. Web.

Huang, Jidong et al. "Changing Perceptions of Harm of e-Cigarette Vs Cigarette Use Among

Adults in 2 US National Surveys From 2012 to 2017." JAMA network open 2.3 (2019):

e191047–e191047. Web.
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Dai, Hongying Daisy, Adam M Leventhal, and Ali S Khan. "Trends in Urinary Biomarkers of

Exposure to Nicotine and Carcinogens Among Adult e-Cigarette Vapers Vs Cigarette

Smokers in the US, 2013-2019." JAMA : the journal of the American Medical

Association 328.18 (2022): 1864–1866. Web.

Lee, Peter N et al. “Cigarette Consumption in Adult Dual Users of Cigarettes and e-Cigarettes:

a Review of the Evidence, Including New Results from the PATH Study [version 2; Peer

Review: 1 Approved with Reservations].” F1000 research 9 (2021): 630–. Web.