Called Voke, the device has been in the making for years. It has been licensed as a medicine and a safer alternative to smoking by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and delivers rapid nicotine craving relief without heat, combustion or vapour.
As for vaping, the administration of Voke mimics that of smoking, likely making it a favourite with smokers transitioning to not smoking. Moreover, in this case the device looks a lot like a packet of cigarettes, including a rectangular box, and a plastic cigarette which slots into it. The price is also similar, with 20 charges costing £11.99. This qualities are likely to make this product a very effective NRT.
Nicotine consumption during pregnancy
Meanwhile, while this device is being marketed as safe to use in pregnancy, a 2019 study from Canada had associated the use of nicotine during pregnancy with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Titled, “In utero exposure to nicotine abolishes the postnatal response of the cardiac sodium current to isoproterenol in newborn rabbit atrium,” this study was published in Heart Rhythm and looked at the effect of nicotine consumption on babies in utero.
The researchers had conducted their study on rabbits, and found evidence linking fetal exposure to nicotine, to long-term changes in the heart function of babies. The researchers explained that these changes may interfere with the adaptation of the babies’ cardiac action potential and could prevent awakening during sleep apnea.
“Clinicians often prescribe NRTs to pregnant women who want to stop smoking to reduce the number of sudden infant deaths,” says researcher Robert Dumaine from the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada. ” However, our data shows that nicotine alone is enough to change the electrical currents in the heart and cause arrhythmias that cause the baby to die,” added the researcher.
