By Steph Moore

Cigarette smoking on college campuses has become an important public health issue and there has been increase in campus-wide smoking bans and other preventative programs to reduce the rates of students smoking.

Students choose to smoke for a variety of reasons including stress, weight loss, social interaction, or just the continuation of a habit. Providing them with a “cool” and healthy alternative is the electronic Safe Cig (www.TheSafeCig.com). The company was started by John Cameron (younger brother of director James Cameron!), who quit Hollywood a year ago, making it his life’s mission to provide tobacco smokers with a safe alternative to satisfy their need without the deadly mix of tar, ashes, and smoke.

Designed by Seamus Blackley, developer of the Xbox, The Safe Cig looks, feels, and tastes like a cigarette, yet is rechargeable and produces a harmless vapor. Unlike cigarettes ~ which contain over 4,000 harmful chemicals ~ The Safe Cig contains just four ingredients: water, food flavoring, vaporizing fluid and nicotine. But the best part is that it allows smokers to fulfill their physical need to smoke (opening the pack, feeling the cigarette on their lips, drawing in and exhaling the vaporizing liquid that mimics smoke).

The Safe Cig starter pack is priced at $59.95 and comes complete with seven refill cartridges, two batteries and a USB Charger. Each refill cartridge is equivalent to a pack of cigarettes or about 250 drags.