By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Filed under: Health & Medicine, Science & Technology
Smoking is a leading cause of death, and cessation treatments are largely ineffective, yet regulation threatens a promising new technology that might help smokers quit. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge regarding public health will agree that the most important, devastating, and preventable issue facing America is the human toll of cigarettes. Yet our nation’s main health regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will issue regulations within the next few weeks that could harm our nation’s 45 million smokers. Smokers trying to quit have an extremely difficult time, yet a new technology which might ease their path — electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes — is facing relentless opposition from public health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA, and the American Cancer Society (which sponsors this week’s Great American Smokeout to encourage quitting) — and their antipathy is certainly not based on science….
Read full article at The American Magazine