Electronic cigarettes were a product a long time in the making, with many architects. The concept dates in a serious way to the 1920s; the first patents were issued to American inventor Henry A. Gilbert in the mid-1960s; in the late 1990s, former NASA engineer and microprocessor pioneer Phil Ray experimented with a new, non-smoking technology. Although Ray’s efforts didn’t go anywhere commercially, they did deliver the word “vape” to the lexicon.
The big breakthrough arrived 15 years ago. It was achieved by a Chinese chemist named Hon Lik, whose motivations were a combination of intellectual curiosity and entrepreneurial rewards -- and human welfare. Cigarette smoking had hastened his father’s death. Hon Lik had a heavy tobacco habit himself, and was experimenting with ways to quit.
Essential Reading
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Bottom Line: This report reveals the results of the Action on Smoking and Health Smokefree surveys on the use of e-cigarettes among adults in Great Britain. It asks about users' awar...
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Bottom Line: In order to help the 70 percent of adult American smokers who want to quit -- an estimated 29 million people -- lawmakers must recognize that e-cigarettes have massive ...
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Bottom Line: How best to communicate risks of vaping to deter non-smokers while seeking to attract smokers to switch to a less harmful product remains an ongoing question. This study...
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Bottom Line: E-cigarette policymaking is increasingly running up against human rights law -- specifically the right to human health. The obligation of governments around the world to...
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Bottom Line: Vascular health outcomes significantly improved among study participants who switched from tobacco cigarettes (TC) to electronic cigarettes (EC). This positive outcome o...
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