Why I don't post personal testimonials about e-cigarettes on by blog

There is a long and well-developed literature about the placebo effect where people think a treatment worked when, in fact, it was no better than a sugar pill.  Personal testimonials about the benefits of e-cigarettes do not constitute scientific evidence that they are effective ways to quit smoking.

If and when there are high quality longitudinal studies showing that e-cigarettes as actually used actually help people quit smoking conventional cigarettes, I will modify my opinions on e-cigarettes as cessation aids. As of now, the reality is that such studies simply do not exist.  Until they do the US Federal Trade Commission and, once it takes jurisdiction, the Food and Drug Administration (and other similar authorities in other countries) should prohibit making or promoting such claims by companies selling e-cigarettes.

To avoid contributing to the misinformation on this point, I do not post the testimonials I am sent. 

Regardless of how the particular issue of whether or not e-cigarettes actually help people quit is resolved, e-cigarettes should not be allowed indoors in workplaces or public places or to be promoted or sold to kids.  They may pollute the air less than conventional cigarettes, but they still pollute the air.  And companies should not be allowed to promote an addictive drug to kids.