Are E-Cigarettes the true healthier alternative to smoking?

Vaporizers and e-cigarettes.

You’d think they would look like the regular cigarettes since they’re promoted as a “safe alternative”.

But they can look like pretty much anything these days.

A flute or even a pen.

But this visually appealing aspect is what some health experts say is causing concern.

Carol Fenner, the Prevention Supervisor at the Wicomico County Health Department, said, “the look of them, the fact that they are electronic, it makes them very appealing to our youth.”

Recent data shows that in this past year, electronic cigarettes have contributed to a drastic increase in calls made to poison control centers across the U.S.

Nearly doubling calls from 2013 to 2014.

And even more troubling children under the age of *six* represented *more than half* of those increased calls.

We’re told nicotine overdoses could result in vomiting or even seizures, and as a local health expert explained, this could in fact pose a significant threat to children’s health given these e-cigarettes are not approved by the FDA.

“we don’t really know exactly what’s in the e-cigarettes so down the road there could be possible side effects that’s unknown at this time.” Said Fenner.

But supporters of e-cigarettes say despite these frightening figures, they serve an important purpose in the smoking cessation movement.

Russel Sutherland manages “Vape It”, which specializes in vaporizers and he explains how vaping consists of smoking juices through these electronic devices.

He says he has had personal success when it comes to kicking the habit, saying:

I’ve been vaping for about two years now, I smoked for 14 years, I got my dad off of smoking, he smoked for 45 years.” and “I get success stories everyday and I have people quitting. Everyone’s tried the patch, the gum, the lozenges, Chantix, and none of those seem to work for them.”

And when it comes to the argument over ingredients, and the FDA approval, Sutherland says this, “there’s only about on average four or five ingredients in this compared to a cigarette that has seven hundred dry, that when you light turns into seven thousand.”