Hearth Association: e-cigs could help smokers quit

Medical professionals should support but not promote using e-cigarettes as cessation devices, according to recently released statement from the American Heart Association (AHA).

E-cigarettes should also be subject to the same laws that apply to tobacco products, and the federal government should ban the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes to young people.

The group also called for thorough and continuous research on e-cigarette use, marketing and long-term health effects.

“Over the last 50 years, 20 million Americans died because of tobacco. We are fiercely committed to preventing the tobacco industry from addicting another generation of smokers,” Nancy Brown, CEO of the AHA, said in an association news release.

The recommendations were published Aug. 25 in the AHA journal Circulation.