It’s one of the first studies to confirm that switching to e-cigarettes can reduce the risk of cancer for smokers, and researchers say it will bolster efforts at the local and national level to help smokers quit the habit.
That’s according to Maciej Goniewicz, lead author of the study and assistant professor of oncology in Roswell Park’s department of health behavior, whose work will be published in the journal Nicotine Tobacco Research.
While nicotine exposure remains the same, individuals who switch from tobacco cigarettes to e-cigarettes saw the levels of specific carcinogens and toxins reduced significantly. The study also found that switching did not cause study participants to crave higher levels of nicotine.
“They are safer, less toxic,” he said. “It’s the first time we have very strong evidence that we will be able now to give (smokers) that the answer is, yes , this you should consider a transition, a substitute for your tobacco cigarette that will save your life.”
Researchers focused on transitioning existing smokers to e-cigarettes, recruiting 20 individuals who reported smoking an average of 16 cigarettes per day and who had previously tried, unsuccessfully, to quit using different medicines and smoking cessation methods.
“We focused on this transition because we thought and still think this is the potential transition that can have a huge impact on public health,” Goniewicz said.
The study is believed to be the first on smokers to demonstrate that substituting e-cigarettes for tobacco cigarettes may reduce exposure to toxins and carcinogens that can cause cancer. That’s an important finding for a cancer institute that focuses on reducing exposure and causes of cancer, he said. Roswell Park also holds the contract to run New York’s statewide smoker’s quitline.
“Toxins and carcinogens we measure in the body almost disappeared – the body cleared the 17 different chemicals we were looking for,” Goniewicz said.
He stressed the study does not make any claims that e-cigarettes are safe and should not be taken as a signal it’s okay for non-smokers to take up the habit. But it does provide evidence that those who already smoke can reduce their health risks.
“We know that they inhale hundreds of thousands of different chemicals with every puff they take on tobacco cigarettes. This mixture is so deadly and dangerous to the lungs and cardiovascular system, to the brain and any organs in the body,” he said. “As a cancer center, we are working on cancer prevention.”
Previous research by Goniewicz has focused on second-hand nicotine exposure as well as toxicity of e-cigarette vapor. Earlier this year, he was funded for a new study on abuse liability of electronic cigarettes in adolescents.
The study was co-authored by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and the Medical University of Silesia in Poland, where the subjects were recruited.
According to Goniewicz, the study was funded through public support at the three institutions, with no support from industry groups in the tobacco or pharmaceutical markets, nor e-cigarette manufacturers.
Researchers plan to follow up the study with a longer-term look at a larger subject group, likely in the hundreds, to better determine the impact of e-cigarettes.
Tracey Drury covers health/medical and nonprofits
Resource : http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2016/08/18/roswell-park-study-finds-e-cigarettes-safer-less.html
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