Dr. Sanjay Gupta Stands Corrected on E-Cigs

In CNN’s “Paging Dr. Gupta” series last week was a question regarding e-cigs. 

The question posed was whether or not there was any dangerous secondhand smoke from the e-cig, and I was disappointed to find the same old misleading information in the answer given by Dr. Gupta.  It was pretty clear he was trying to give his readers an uneasy feeling about the e-cig, however, what makes this blog posting noteworthy is the heartwarming response given in the comments by e-cig supporters.  So far 96 comments have been added (and those are just the ones they chose to print), the vast majority of them slamming Gupta’s stance on the e-cig, accusing him of not doing his research, and abundantly supplying him with the correct information on the constituents of e-cig vapor.

While it certainly is great to see the e-cig supporters so vocal and willing to step forward in defense of their own health, I can’t help but think how unfortunate it is that other smokeless products don’t have such a following.  If only smokeless tobacco users had been as well informed, and less vilified (and thus disempowered), the misinformation that has been allowed to spread over the last decade about smokeless tobacco might have been quelled (and we may perhaps have millions fewer smokers today).

-CMN