E-Cigarettes Safer, But Not Risk Free

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

Cigarette smoking kills. That we know. So, manufacturers made electronic cigarettes as a safer smoking choice - safer than tobacco.

E-cigarettes contain the drug nicotine like cigarettes. But they do not use tobacco. And you do not light them. They are powered by battery.

So, if e-cigarettes are so safe, why have poison control centers around the United States seen an increase in telephone calls about e-cigarette poisonings?

The answer is children.

Most of the calls are from people worried about children who have played with the devices. In the period of one month this year, the United States Centers for Disease Control say 215 people called the Center with e-cigarette concerns. More than half of these calls were for children ages five and younger. The devices apparently had made them sick.

Tim McAfee is director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. He says the problem is regulation. Meaning, the U.S. federal government does not control e-cigarettes even though they contain liquid nicotine. Mr. McAfee adds that liquid nicotine is a well-known danger.

"Nicotine historically has been used as a pesticide in the United States. And that's where we have really had for many, many decades significant poisonings when people got exposed to nicotine that was in liquid solutions."

Mr. McAfee explains that nicotine poisoning happens when the substance gets into the skin, gets into the eyes or is swallowed. Even a small amount, he says, can make a person sick.

Nicotine poisoning can cause stomach pain or a sense of unbalance. Headaches and seizures are also common signs of nicotine poisoning. And too much nicotine can kill.

Tim McAfee says e-cigarettes do not create the level of risk to people that tobacco products do. He notes that almost 500,000 Americans die each year from cigarettes.

"So, cigarettes are the winner in that contest. And we don't really know what's going to happen with e-cigarettes."

E-cigarettes do not contain hundreds of harmful chemicals that are found in real cigarettes. So, the U.S. Surgeon General has suggested that e-cigarettes may be a useful tool for adults trying end their tobacco use, or quit.

But McAfee worries that teenagers may think electronic cigarettes are harmless. They could become addicted, or hooked, on the nicotine and then start smoking real cigarettes. In other words, he fears that for young people fake e-cigarettes could be a "gateway" to the real thing.

And that's the Health Report. I'm Anna Matteo.

词汇解析

emphasize

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

vt.强调;着重;使突出

参考例句

用作及物动词 (vt.)

We cannot emphasize too much the importance of learning English.

我们再怎样强调学英文的重要性也不为过。

I would like to emphasize that we are ready to meet the management at any time.

我想着重指出，我们愿意在任何时候与管理部门会谈。

contain

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

vt.容纳;包含;抑制;克制

vi.自制

参考例句

用作及物动词 (vt.)

The atlas contains forty maps.

这个地图集有四十幅地图。

用作不及物动词 (vi.)

She couldn't contain herself for joy.

她高兴地难以自制。

federal

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

adj.联邦制的;联邦政府的;同盟的

n.联邦主义者;同盟盟友

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

Switzerland is a federal republic.

瑞士是联邦制的共和国。

Expenditures by the Federal Government have been steadily pared.

联邦政府的开支正在逐渐削减。

tobacco

难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词

英汉解释

n.烟草

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

A high amount of money is spent on tobacco every year.

每年都要花费大量金钱在烟草上。