What if you could get your daily nicotine fix without also inhaling the hazardous chemicals found in conventional cigarettes?

Chinese manufacturers have solved that problem by creating an electronic cigarette, which delivers nicotine in a cigarette-like package but without the tobacco and chemical additives that are linked to cancer and other health problems.

But while these products are slowly growing in popularity around the world, including Canada, they are not approved for use as smoking-cessation aids such as nicotine gums and patches, and it is still unclear if the amount of nicotine they deliver is safe.

"I think that things that help people to quit are very good, like approved products that help people to quit," Prof. Kelli-an Lawrance, a tobacco researcher at Brock University's Community Health Sciences department, told CTV.ca.

"I think that these particular devices are being marketed with the intention of keeping people smoking...They're not smoking them to try to quit. And so I think that that's a really big issue."

While some manufacturers and distributors of e-cigarettes market them as smoking-cessation aids, many simply advertise them as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. Some have claimed that the World Health Organization has endorsed the products, something that WHO officials deny.

They are also concerned that little, if any, testing has been done on the products to prove that they deliver a safe amount of nicotine.

"WHO knows of no evidentiary basis for the marketers' claim that the electronic cigarette helps people quit smoking," reads a statement issued by the organization's Tobacco Free Initiative last fall. "Indeed, as far as WHO is aware, no rigorous, peer-reviewed studies have been conducted showing that the electronic cigarette is a safe and effective nicotine replacement therapy."

An e-cigarette looks remarkably like the real thing and even includes a red light at one end to mimic the burning embers of a cigarette.

It has a chamber for storing liquid nicotine, which is heated to a mist and absorbed by the lungs.

E-cigarettes were first developed in China in 2004 and are now sold throughout the world.

They are popular in the United Kingdom, where pub owners look at them as a way to get around tough anti-smoking laws that prevent people from lighting up conventional cigarettes in public places.

Health Canada has not approved their use in Canada as a smoking-cessation tool, a spokesperson for the agency told CTV.ca.

If an e-cigarette is marketed as a smoking cessation aid, then it would be subject to the Food and Drug Act.

"A company wishing to market an e-cigarette as a smoking cessation product in Canada would have to submit evidence to Health Canada clearly demonstrating that the product is indeed safe, effective and of high quality under its recommended conditions of use," said Paul Duchesne.

In a follow-up email, Health Canada spokesperson Philippe Laroche said the agency is in the process of evaluating e-cigarettes that are not intended to help smokers quit but are merely a smoking alternative "in order to mitigate the potential risks that these products may pose."

INSTEAD Electronic Cigarettes, an American company that markets its e-cigarettes as a smoking alternative, ships to Canadian consumers from a Canadian warehouse. The company charges about $180 for a starter kit, which includes an e-cigarette, a rechargeable battery, a charger and cable, five nicotine cartridges and 20 refills.

Consumers can even choose between tobacco or menthol flavours, which are available in various strengths.

The concern, experts say, is that no one knows the exact amount of nicotine released by e-cigarettes, whereas nicotine levels in approved smoking-cessation aids are clearly indicated and proven to be effective at helping smokers kick the habit.

Nicotine-replacement therapies safe, effective

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, products such as nicotine-replacement gums, which have already been tested for their safety, are remarkably effective at helping smokers quit.

According to the AHRQ's Clinical Practice Guidelines for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, a set of directives used by health-care practitioners on both sides of the border to help patients quit smoking:

*Nicotine-replacement gum increases the likelihood of long-term abstinence from tobacco products by 50 per cent compared to placebo.

*Nicotine-replacement inhalers and nasal sprays double the likelihood of long-term abstinence from tobacco products compared to placebo.

*Nicotine-replacement lozenges can double and even triple smokers' odds of abstaining from smoking six months after quitting.

These therapies are designed to be used for a limited period of time, usually about three months. However, many smokers continue to use them, particularly the gum, for several months or even years.

Research has found that some former smokers continue to use nicotine-replacement gum for as long as five years after they quit, but without suffering from any adverse side effects, according to the AHRQ.

This does not suggest that these products are themselves addictive, Lawrance said. In fact, there is no scientific evidence that smoking-cessation aids, which deliver a much smaller dose of nicotine than cigarettes, are physiologically addictive.

"Obviously it's much better to have nicotine gum as your crutch as opposed to a cigarette, because you're doing yourself far, far less harm, if any, and you're doing no harm to the people around you," she said, "unlike cigarettes, which are obviously harming both you and the people around you."

On the other hand, there is some concern that e-cigarettes may release a high amount of nicotine that can worsen a smoker's addiction, Lawrance said.

Health Canada expects to complete its review of e-cigarettes by March of this year. Officials say they have the authority to ask retailers to stop selling any e-cigarettes that claim to be a smoking-cessation aid without having a drug identification number (DIN).

In the meantime, Canadians will have to decide for themselves if they want to risk using the product with little evidence of its safety or efficacy.