LIVINGSTON, N.J. -- In a clinical study released yesterday, television personality and psychiatric expert Dr. Keith Ablow reported strong evidence that electronic cigarettes can help smokers cut back on--if not completely quit--tobacco use.
Funded by LOGIC Technology, Ablow's study monitored the habits of traditional tobacco smokers who were given 10 menthol or tobacco flavored electronic cigarettes. After three months, Ablow reported that 70% of participants had completely stopped consuming tobacco entirely--with only two participants eschewing the electronic cigarettes and continuing their traditional tobacco consumption at the same rate as before.
Out of the 70% who had stopped using tobacco at the end of the study, an additional 47% said they had also stopped using electronic cigarettes, describing themselves as non-smokers. Further suggesting the potential electronic cigarettes might have at curbing tobacco use was the fact that 60% of participants who were still using tobacco products after the 90 day study reported that they had cut back significantly.
"I am thrilled with the results and am further convinced that electronic cigarettes may turn out to be the most effective anti-tobacco tool we have ever known," Ablow said in a press release issued by LOGIC. "This sample of participants strengthens the argument that the government should embrace electronic cigarettes. It is in the interest of public health for the National Institutes of Health to immediately fund a large-scale trial to determine whether these findings can be replicated and whether, in addition, it is found that transitioning people from tobacco to electronic cigarettes also allows them to quit all forms of tobacco."
LOGIC's new president Miguel Martin was equally impressed by the results of the study, echoing Ablow's call for more government-funded studies.
"Dr. Ablow's results, along with additional recent studies, are important indicators of the need for accelerated studies by the government to carefully and thoughtfully examine electronic cigarettes, and then properly educate consumers," said Martin. "We want our customers, trade partners and the general public to have a clear, science-based understanding as to the differences between traditional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes."
Considering that Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, has expressed the need for scientific-based evidence and public health considerations to guide deeming regulations for electronic cigarettes, the study could be a big positive for the industry.
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