E-cigarettes are quickly rising in popularity, with over 200 small companies making them in the United States.They are marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, and part of their popularity lies in the fact that they recreate the experience of smoking, which was part of the failure of other smoking alternatives such as the patch or gum. E-cigarettes are also favored because they lack the odor that so many cigarette smokers and those who associate with smokers complain of.

“E-cigarettes are battery operated devices that usually consist of a mouthpiece, tubes, a heating element to vaporize a carrier solution and a reservoir with nicotine dissolved in a solvent. They are available in different nicotine strengths and flavors. Each cartridge is typically designed to produce the same number of puffs as one to two packs of tobacco cigarettes, or 250 to 400 puffs. Cigarette smoke has been associated with multiple significant health problems at a very high cost in the United States and around the world including several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema, as well as recurrent respiratory infections. These effects have not been studied with e-cigarettes,” Dwight Look, pulmonologist at Phelps County Regional Medical Center said.

The New York Times published a story about rural jails in at least seven states capitalizing on e-cigarette’s lack of secondhand smoke. Cigarettes are commonly sold on the black market in prisons, and strapped for cash rural jails can sell e-cigarettes in their commissaries to make a little extra money, as well as cutting down on contraband sales, and calming the moods of prisoners suffering from nicotine withdrawal.

However, even though the prisoners may no longer be exposed to the harsh smoke and tar of cigarettes, e-cigarettes pose health risks of their own.

“Nicotine exposure and addiction alone are likely harmful to health. Nicotine has cardiovascular and other effects on the body that are detrimental. Thus, I don’t buy that nicotine exposure and addiction is in itself safe, but using a non tobacco smoke delivery system may be a somewhat safer alternative,” Look said.

E-cigarettes do not pose a totally safe alternative to smoking, and it is possible that the nicotine that they contain could lead to addiction in non-smokers and negative effects on the heart.

“E-cigarettes are advertised and marketed as a safer, more convenient, alternative to cigarettes. It makes sense that they do not release the majority of the known toxins in tobacco cigarette smoke, but they have been shown in one study to release a number of potential toxins and carcinogens including nitrosamines, diethylene glycol, and other substances although at levels much lower than cigarettes. Another study showed that a short term exposure had significant effects on lung airway function. Some believe that they may be used as  an aid for smoking cessation. However, their efficacy as an aid in smoking cessation has been established, and they are not FDA approved for this. Common side effects of e-cigarettes are mouth and throat irritation and dry cough. Lung irritation by the carrier of the nicotine has been reported,” Look said.

The official company line of NJOY, one of the first major e-cigarette companies, is that they do not want to make new smokers but instead convert cigarette smokers to a safer alternative, which is why there is an age limit for buyers. However nicotine free hookah pens may be looking to tackle a younger market, as they come in bright, colorful packaging with flavors such as blueberry, mango and lemon.

“I know less about hookah pens. They are advertised as producing flavored vapor, but their health effects have also not been well studied and the carrier used in the liquid that is vaporized likely has effect on the body,” Look said.

The marketing of hookah pens to a younger crowds may be leading to an upswing in their use and the use of e-cigarettes within schools. E-cigarettes and hookah pens require no prep work, such as lighting up, so it would be easy to pull one out and take a couple puffs and the vapor is virtually odorless and dissipates within a few seconds.

“Obviously it is the new fad that people are talking about so it’s what we need to be aware of,” Rolla High School assistant principal Josh Smith said.

Even though an e-cigarette poses no secondhand smoke risk and hookah pens and e-cigarettes can be purchased without nicotine they are still considered contraband material in Rolla Public Schools and could fall under either the school’s drug or tobacco policies, which can be found in the student handbook, depending on the situation.

“Right now, we consider e-cigarettes just like a cigarette depending on what it contains in it. They can also contain drugs, as far as some students have used them with marijuana or things like that. Whether it has nicotine or tobacco in it or not, we’re not going to fight that argument. It represents a controlled substance. If we have a student snorting something we’re not going to decipher what it is it represents a controlled substance so that’s where it falls under. It’s something that we don’t want here so there will be consequences for it,” Smith said.