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Better than cigarettes? <br />According to a report released by the American Heart Association last year, “[e]- cigarettes are mostly unregulated and their <br />health effects are not fully known, especially when associated with long-term use.” <br />Research on the effects of traditional cigarettes accumulated over decades. However, because e-cigarettes sprang quickly onto the <br />US market in 2007, there hasn’t been enough time for researchers to determine how e -cigarettes affect the human body. <br /> <br />Some of the e-cigarette liquids for sale in N.C. today. Flavors from left to right: watermelon, Irish Cream and appletini. Photo <br />credit: Rose Hoban <br />Despite this, there are already some known risks associated with e-cigarettes. One instance concerns the chemicals used to flavor <br />the vapor. While these chemical products are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for ingestion, they have not been <br />approved for inhaling. <br />“Safe to ingest does not mean safe to vaporize and inhale,” Williams says. “When they vaporize a product at a high temperature, <br />it creates more and more dangerous chemicals that can be damaging to lung tissue and other tissue.” <br />Chemicals such as diacetyl (butter or popcorn flavor) and cinnamaldehyde (cinnamon flavor), both of which are found in many e- <br />cigarette flavorings, pose known health risks. <br />In addition, nicotine itself is highly addictive and can have long-term consequences for brain development, particularly for young <br />people. <br />Taken together, these health risks have many people concerned. <br />“I think we know they’re not safe and we’re still finding out how unsafe they are,” says Peg O’Connell of the North Carolina <br />Alliance for Health. “I think that’s the public health message.” <br />Policy changes <br />At the national scale, the FDA announced in May that it will begin regulating the sale of e -cigarettes in August. This policy was <br />partially informed by the Internet Tobacco Vendors Study, which based its suggestions on the research findings of Williams an d <br />her team. <br />Williams believes this is a step in the right direction. She said a national policy would address some of the jurisdictional problems <br />associated with having different regulations in different states. She hopes that the FDA will end up enacting strict age-verification <br />requirements for online vendors at both the point of order and the point of delivery to keep minors from getting access to e - <br />cigarettes.