Study Says Misconceptions About E-cigarettes Still Persist

According to news from today, May 25, a study from Rutgers University found that about half of smokers and young non-smokers believe that nicotine-based e-cigarettes contain the same or even more harmful chemicals than regular tobacco cigarettes.

The study, published in the journal Addiction, compared a national sample of over 1,000 adult smokers aged 18 and older with over 1,000 non-smokers aged 18 to 29, measuring the perceived levels of harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes versus cigarettes.

The study also measured the association between perceptions of relative harm of e-cigarettes/cigarettes, e-cigarette use, and interest. About 20% of participants believed that e-cigarettes contained fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes, while about 30% responded that they did not know how e-cigarettes compared.

Olivia Wackowski, an associate professor at Rutgers University's Tobacco Research Center, said: "Our results are interesting because previous review reports indicated that e-cigarettes expose users to fewer types and amounts of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals than cigarettes. Equally interesting is that only about half of adult smokers who believe e-cigarettes contain fewer harmful chemicals also believe e-cigarettes are less harmful to health."

Perceptions of the relative harm of e-cigarettes compared to typical cigarettes are a common question included in major national health and tobacco surveys in the U.S. However, surveys on e-cigarettes often do not include questions about perceived exposure to harmful chemicals or levels of harmful chemicals compared to cigarettes.

According to the researchers, measuring perceptions of exposure to chemicals in e-cigarettes and cigarettes is important because e-cigarette communications often directly mention chemicals in some way, which may influence people's views on chemicals and the relative harm of using e-cigarettes compared to smoking cigarettes.