E-cigarettes: helpful or harmful?

Are e-cigarettes good or bad for you?  This is a matter of current debate.  Some claim that electronic cigarettes are less harmful to the body than smoking ("the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States"), and some point out the dangers.  Many of the articles that pop up in a PubMed search point out that research is needed -- hardly any studies have been done.


A point to keep in mind: they are not regulated by the FDA (which is collecting Adverse Events Reports), and there is no way to know what chemicals are in them, and what those chemicals might do to the human body.  E-cigarettes are a new phenomenon, and long-term health effects are not known, so using e-cigarettes is like participating in an experiment.

One thing is for sure, the use of electronic cigarettes is growing rapidly.  As regulators catch up with the technology, and time passes, we will learn more about the dangers and benefits of vaping.