E-Cigarettes may help people quit smoking.

Major print, wire source and Internet media coverage is given to a study finding that electronic cigarettes may help people quit smoking. The New York Times (5/21, A3, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that a study published online May 21 in the journal Addiction “has found that smokers trying to quit were substantially more likely to succeed if they used electronic cigarettes than over-the-counter therapies such as nicotine patches or gum.” After interviewing nearly “6,000 smokers who had tried to quit on their own without counseling from a health professional,” researchers found that “about a fifth of those who said they were using e-cigarettes had stopped smoking at the time of the survey, compared with about a tenth of people who had used patches and gum.”

        The Los Angeles Times (5/21, Kaplan) reports in “Science Now” that public health officials and researchers “are eager to sort out the pros and cons of e-cigarettes, which are lightly regulated and increasingly popular.” Advocates for e-cigarettes “say they promote health by providing an alternative to traditional cigarettes and the poisonous tars and carbon monoxide that come with them.” However, “critics – including Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – counter that e-cigarettes get people (especially kids) to get hooked on nicotine, increasing the risk that they will move on to regular cigarettes.”

        The Washington Post (5/20, Phillip) “To Your Health” blog reports, “About 42 million Americans currently smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Of those who smoke, “more than 68 percent are trying to quit.” Today’s study findings notwithstanding, “the Food and Drug Administration still plans to regulate e-cigarettes, which could curb sales to minors and force manufacturers to put health warnings on their labels.”

        Bloomberg News (5/20, Kresge) reported that questions remain as to whether e-cigarettes “could serve as a gateway for teenagers to start smoking the real thing.” Recently, a CDC survey “found that one in 10 American high school students reported using an e-cigarette in 2012, compared to 4.7 percent a year earlier.”

        Also covering the story are Reuters (5/20, Kelland), the Huffington Post (5/21, Almendrala), the Daily Caller (5/21, Deutsch), theChristian Science Monitor (5/21, Swan), Newsweek (5/21, Bekiempis), HealthDay (5/21, Reinberg) and MedPage Today (5/21, Wickline).