From All Headline News.

Boston University School of Public Health researchers bucked the trend this month and stated electronic cigarettes are not nearly as dangerous as conventional tobacco cigarettes.

by David Goodhue, December 20, 2010

Boston, MA, United States--A new study suggests electronic cigarettes are much safer than conventional smokes that burn tobacco, and could be used to effectively help people quit the real thing.

Researchers Zachary Cahn and Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health wrote in the December issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy that the controversial products should be considered for their "harm reduction" potential.

"We conclude that electronic cigarettes show tremendous promise in the fight against tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. By dramatically expanding the potential for harm reduction strategies to achieve substantial health gains, they may fundamentally alter the tobacco harm reduction debate," the authors wrote.

Harm reduction is a theory that posits it is be better for the public health overall if anti-smoking policies were aimed more at helping smokers switch to less-dangerous sources of nicotine delivery, rather than taking a "quit or die" approach.

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, work similar to a real cigarette. The nicotine is in liquid form at the base of the cigarette, and when the smoker drags on it, a battery vaporizes the nicotine, which the smoker inhales. Advocates of the products also tout that they produce no second-hand smoke, since users only exhale liquid vapor.

But the Boston University study contrasts greatly with other recent reports, including one from the University of California that urges more research be conducted on the products before regulators allow them to stay on the market.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also tried to ban the products' sale in the United States, but lost in a federal appeals court battle earlier this month.