New research shows that while most adults recognize that nicotine is what makes tobacco cigarettes addictive and compels smokers to smoke, the majority of people mistakenly believe that nicotine is what causes cancer in cigarette smokers.
The research was conducted by Pinney Associates, a company which, by their account, helps pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare clients reduce regulatory risk while enhancing the commercial value of life sciences products.
According to the researchers behind the study, this common misconception that nicotine is what causes cancer in cigarettes is playing an active role in the misconception among people that e-cigarettes are not significantly less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
Public Health England’s latest electronic cigarette review found e-cigs to be around 95% less harmful than traditional cigarettes.
The Pinney Associates e-cig study’s findings were presented at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco’s 24th annual meeting, which took place on February 24, 2018.
During the course of their study, the researchers analyzed data from over 1,700 adults who participated in the government administered 2017 health information national trends survey. According to the data, roughly 85% of the survey’s participants indicated that nicotine is what causes people to continue smoking, which is correct. However, 53% indicated that they believed nicotine to cause most of the cancer stemming from smoking, which is incorrect.
The study also found that smokers are three times as likely to believe that nicotine causes cancer than electronic cigarette users (vapers).
Karen Gerlach, a researcher at Pinney Associates and the study’s lead author, was quoted by the Winston-Salem Journal as having said that it’s “troubling” to find that such misconceptions over the health implications of nicotine “persist despite the long-term availability of over-the-counter NRT products.”
“It’s troubling that adults’ misperceptions about the health effects of nicotine persist despite the long-term availability of FDA-approved over-the-counter NRT products.”
Are you surprised by how many adults mistake nicotine as the ingredient in tobacco that causes cancer?
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