The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Smoking out tobacco: The rise of the e-cig Posted: 12 Feb 2013 01:32 AM PST  A flurry of e-cigs are entering the market as tobacco prices skyrocket and smokers become ever more concerned about the toxins they inhale. — shutterstock.com pic It resembles the TV smoking ads of yesteryear, now banned in most of the world, yet this modern-day offering is approved for American television viewers. "You know what the most amazing thing about this cigarette is? It isn't one," explains a narrator as the modern-day Marlboro Man fixes the viewer with a broody stare before returning the reusable smoke to a container that resembles the traditional pocket-sized cardboard pack. The NJOY "cigarette" is electronic -- its tip lights up with the help of an LED and what appears to be smoke is actually water vapour. The actor is not smoking, but "vaping". "Cigarettes, you have met your match," proclaims the ad for a product that claims to mimic "the look, feel and flavour of the real thing" — minus the tar, ash, smoke and most toxins. NJOY is one of a flurry of e-cigs entering the market as tobacco prices skyrocket and smokers become ever more concerned about the toxins they inhale. But the jury is still out on whether the gadgets are safe or not. "Without question, e-cigarettes are safer than traditional tobacco cigarettes," said Joel Nitzkin, of the American Association of Public Health Physicians. "They deliver nicotine, with only the tiniest traces of other toxic chemicals." But there are concerns that these battery-driven alternatives, officially called electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), may pose health hazards we are not even aware of yet -- just like cigarettes before their ill-effects became clear. "The safety of ENDS has not been scientifically demonstrated," the World Health Organisation said in response to a query. "The potential risks they pose for the health of users remain undetermined." The UN's health organ said some testing "suggests the presence of other toxic chemicals, aside from nicotine", and "strongly advised" consumers not to use them. E-cigs first emerged in China in 2003 as an alternative to tobacco, which kills nearly six million people each year. Just like their predecessors in the 1950s and 60s, electronic cigarettes are being advertised with attractive women and rugged, virile men — hinting at a better, more popular you. It's a strategy that seems to work. A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM) last month said 80 percent of users questioned in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia believed e-cigarettes to be less harmful than their tobacco counterparts. NJOY chief executive Craig Weiss told AFP that industry predictions are for electronic cigarette sales, which have doubled in the United States every year since 2008, to reach $1 billion (about 750,000 euros) in 2013. "Growth in the category has occurred as a result of the millions of smokers who are actively seeking an alternative to cigarettes," he said by email. The company would not comment on the health aspects. According to Nitzkin, the hazard posed by traditional tobacco cigarettes is about 100 times higher than today's smokeless tobacco alternatives. "When burned, cigarettes create a tarry residue that sticks to the inside of the smallest bronchial tubes of the lungs and in the alveoli, where the body absorbs the oxygen and releases the carbon dioxide. "This tarry residue stays in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the life of the smoker," he said — a side-effect that ENDS do not have. Yet the European Respiratory Society said this month it could not classify e-cigs as a safe alternative to smoking, and stressed the principle that tobacco users "should not trade one carcinogenic product for another." Last month, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority banned an ad for an e-cigarette, Nicolites, saying: "claims that the product was not harmful had not been substantiated". Some researchers have also expressed concerns that non-smokers may get hooked on nicotine through e-cigarette use, or that the gadget would keep people addicted to nicotine who might otherwise have quit. Nicotine can be harmful to children, pregnant women and adults with heart disease. A recent study among 3,400 high school pupils in France showed that 12 per cent of 15-to-16-year-olds who claimed never to have smoked before had experimented with ENDS, and 19 per cent of 17-year-olds. "As a doctor, I cannot recommend the electronic cigarette," lung specialist Bertrand Dautzenberg told AFP recently at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris. "But I would not interfere with a smoker who wants to take it up. With a cigarette, there is a 50 perc ent chance of killing oneself. With the electronic cigarette, we aren't too sure yet, but it is probably less," he said. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| High-tech glasses correct colour blindness Posted: 12 Feb 2013 01:26 AM PST  Scientists have created a pair of glasses that have been shown to correct red and green color blindness. — shutterstock.com pic iO9.com recently reported on the glasses, developed by 2AI Labs in Boise, Idaho, which use filters to help doctors spot veins more easily. But they have a surprising side benefit: they can enhance the ability to see red and green colors. "We didn't design them for colour blind people," evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi of 2AI Labs told New Scientist, "but we weren't too surprised to find they help." Last summer, the team at 2AI developed three pairs of glasses called O2Amps based on Changizi's colour vision theory. According to his theory, colour vision evolved to "perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin in order to detect social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies," writes Scientific American. The goal of the new glasses is to visually enhance this effect, to better clue wearers into the emotional state of people around them. The eyewear is currently being used for various practical applications, including medical, to help nurses spot veins, and to applify bruising that may be invisible to the naked eye. Late last year, 2AI Labs distributed the Oxy-Iso variety lenses to people who are colour blind to see if they would help with red-green colour blindness (a genetic trait that occurs in about 10 per cent of men), with positive response from users. The downside is that the lenses inhibit the perception of yellows and blues, which can be problematic for drivers because the glasses render yellow lights nearly invisible, reports Scientific American. The company is also in the process of developing ambient lighting technology to reduce glare and create a warm illumination, making everyone in the room look younger and more luminous, no corrective eyewear needed. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: Features To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan