Puff Fiction

Anti-tobacco activists take it up against e-cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes have gradually found their way into the market as a healthier alternative to smoking. But anti-tobacco activist Jeffery S Wigand thinks they are “just another lie” peddled by the tobacco industry to suit its purpose by “initiating or maintaining nicotine addiction.” Wigand, whose life and mission were chronicled in the film The Insider (in which Wigand was played by Russell Crowe) was in Delhi last week at a talk organised by the web site Newslaundry. Health activist Chitra Subramaniam was also part of the panel. Wigand said that most e-cigarettes are made in China and have no quality control. Moreover, he said that if we understand nicotine as a poison and as an addictive substance that results in acute myocardial infarction—heart attack—e-cigarettes deliver as much nicotine, if not more, as other forms of cigarettes.