Pneumologist Lowenstein: No Potential Toxicity in the Electronic Cigarette
Pneumologist Lowenstein: No Potential Toxicity in the Electronic Cigarette
“We absolutely must reassure electronic cigarette users”. This is the concern expressed by the French doctor William Lowenstein who, having returned from a round table at the Sommet dé la vape, gave an important interview to the Breton newspaper Le Télégramme. Pulmonologist, specialist in internal medicine and president of Sos Addiction (a medical association that deals with the fight against addiction, Lowenstein is keen to shed light on the crisis of polomary diseases, the so-called Evoli, in the United States. “It is not the instrument that causes the deaths – he explains – is the liquid, an oil with cannabis. Some States of the USA, which have not applied any regulation on the subject, have suddenly taken refuge in the prohibitionist regime. “And then he adds:” But it is something that does not it could never happen in France or in Europe ”.
Because, the doctor explains, France immediately severely regulated the vaping sector and it is not possible to market liquids without first being deposited, evaluated and verified by the drug and food regulatory agency (Anses) . As is the case throughout Europe. Lowenstein also rejects the thesis that there are not enough scientific studies on the electronic cigarette. “It is false – he says – it has been studied for ten years. There are completely reliable research conducted in the United States, Great Britain, France and elsewhere “. And he adds that it has been known for a long time that neither nicotine nor tobacco per se are the killers of traditional smoke. “It is the burning of tobacco – he explains – that emits carbon monoxide (which causes vascular problems) and that of paper that generates tar and benzopyrene”. “In the vaping – he underlines – there is no potential toxicity”.
Lowenstein’s latest critical words are for the World Health Organization, which last July published a report on tobacco that called the electronic cigarette “unquestionably harmful”. Meanwhile, the French doctor points out, the report was not drafted by the WHO, but by Bloomberg Philantrhopies, ie by a private foundation. As evidenced also on these columns, the study consisted of 200 pages, four of which were dedicated to the electronic cigarette, “and they didn’t really speak badly about it”, adds Lowenstein. “Then – he comments – in a final sentence, it is classified as harmful. In France, the academies of medicine, pharmacy and numerous specialists have become indignant about this incomprehensible position! “.
