The good folks at Nicorette have been running these ads in the English media and on subway trains:
If they didn’t feel their business model was threatened by vaping, they wouldn’t be running this campaign. Why the UK? It could be due to the fact that authorities there are all but endorsing e-cigarettes as a cessation tool. That cuts into business.
And is Nicorette any safer than vaping? Not by a long shot if you read the ingredients [pdf]. Electronic cigarettes contain propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and nicotine. Nicorette QuickMist takes those ingredients and adds the following:
- Anhydrous ethanol
- Trometamol (which may cause birth defects)
- Poloxamer 407 (which may cause liver problems)
- Sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda)
- Acesulfame potassium (basically Aspartame, with the attendant issues)
- Hydrochloric acid
That last one should speak for itself.
Yet in the States, Nicorette has the wholehearted approval of the FDA and electronic cigarettes are on the chopping block. I suppose the potential to lose a chunk of a $206 billion settlement stings a bit.