E-cigarettes around 95% less harmful than tobacco, estimates landmark review

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review

by troydavis • 8 years ago

52 42 8 years ago

gov.uk

bitxbitxbitcoin3• 8 years ago

Yet we'll still have people saying that that 5% is just too much.

ZeroGravitas• 8 years ago

Maybe it is. Would be good to benchmark it against stuff other than the byword for self inflicted cancer.

Is it as bad as coca cola? If so it should probably be discouraged.

bitxbitxbitcoin3• 8 years ago

I would actually love to know if it's as bad as coca cola.

Jonovono2• 8 years ago

E cigs are physically healthier than normal cigarettes but I still think they are worse for you.

code_beers2• 8 years ago

What on Earth does that even mean?

verdverm7• 8 years ago

I feel like they are worse for society. We have an epidemic among children, people smoking them indoors, unknown usage and concentrations of a highly addictive substance.

jdhn• 8 years ago

There will always be people who want to eliminate all risk, even if it's impossible to do so.

verdverm7• 8 years ago

From 2015, also curious who "funded" the study?

DanBC• 8 years ago

I think it's funded by governemnt.

The report is published by, and commissioned by, Public Health England.

PHE is an executive branch of the Department for Health and Social Care. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-en...

troydavis• 8 years ago

Here's a 2018 URL affirming the same estimate:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-independent...

That page has tons more detail. The first footnote is a report commissioned by Public Health England, the British equivalent of the US FDA.

Here's a joint statement by 13 of the most influential - and most neutral - UK public health organizations, including the Royal College of Physicians (US equivalent: American Medical Association) and the British Lung Foundation (US equiv: American Lung Association): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

These aren't obviously biased studies or people and they aren't easy to dismiss.

Whether the health difference is 20x ("at least 95% healthier"), 10x, or 50x, there's now a nicotine delivery method - vaping - that, while far from healthy, almost everyone agrees is far healthier than traditional smoking. The difference may be large enough to justify removing paper cigarettes from the retail market entirely.

LinuxBender2• 8 years ago

My son grew up with my ex. The entire household smoked. When he moved in with me, he switched to vaping. I am very thankful for that. While vaping has some risks (shady vape juice vendors, low quality coils that give off toxins), I gladly accept that over something that we all know causes cancer for the consumer and those around them.

Any time I see discussions or articles about vaping or e-cig being dangerous, I automatically assume it is funded by a part of the tobacco industry that has not invested in vaping. There is no logical reason otherwise. The vape juice quality can and should be addressed by the FDA and consumer reviews. By all means, educate people on risks, but every attempt to keep people on cigarettes needs to be nullified.

verdverm7• 8 years ago

We do need to get rid of flavored Vapes, kids don't even realize they are using nicotine and becoming lifelong addicts.

wahern3• 8 years ago

Adults use flavored vapes, too. In fact, almost all the adults I know who vape use flavored vapes; adults ranging in age in from 30-70. And all those adults switched from cigarettes to vaping.

The war on cigarettes has gone on so long that we've lost perspective. Part of the strategy of that war was to make nicotine out to be some horrendous and horrendously addictive poison, which was an easier sell for some people than explaining the varied and complicated effects from smoking combustible tobacco.

Kids shouldn't be using nicotine because of their developing brains. Kids experimenting with vaping out of ignorance should be educated.

But let's not lose sight of the fact that cigarette smoking is unfathomably more harmful for society. From an epidemiological perspective, if this was a zero-sum game it would make perfect sense to trade vaping for cigarettes, even if that meant teens were vaping at the same rate as they were smoking cigarettes at the peak.

If people want to obsess over flavored poisons, we should start by banning wine coolers (if not all wine!), alcoholic cider, and the myriad brands of flavored hard liquor.

rudedogg• 8 years ago

I think if they do this a lot of people will go back to smoking.

Ex-smokers still want to smoke, vaping is just barely decent enough to switch if you want to.

exolymph• 8 years ago

1) That only matters if nicotine itself is substantially bad for you, which is far from clear: https://www.gwern.net/

2) Adults like flavors too. We shouldn't ban anything appealing that kids shouldn't have just because it might appeal to kids.

folkrav3• 8 years ago

There's no reason adults would want to vape juice that tastes like shit. Why not going after retailers that illegally sells to minors instead of fucking over consenting adults? By this logic, you'd have to ban sales of peach schnapps to be anywhere consistent.

Waterluvian• 8 years ago

I think I could live with an increase in e-cig users if it meant a drastic decline in tobacco users.

Fighting all use of e-cigs throws the baby out with the bath water. That's my frustration with all the anti vape campaigns you tend to see.

It's like advocating against teen education of condoms because not having sex as a teen is possibly healthier.

folkrav3• 8 years ago

It's obviously worse than not smoking at all, but it's getting clearer study after study that it's at least partially better than smoking. The huge majority of vapers I've ever spoken to (the overwhelming majority being ex-smokers), except those Vape Naysh types, are very aware of this.

copperx• 8 years ago

Unless he's vaping juice without nicotine, there is still a cancer risk.

I used to chew nicotine gum to enhance my concentration but after reading research that nicotine by itself causes lung cancer I stopped.

masonic• 8 years ago

  research that nicotine by itself causes lung cancer

Reference, please? I haven't heard of a causal link between non-inhaled nicotine and lung cancer.

LinuxBender2• 8 years ago

There are indeed some shady vape juice providers as I mentioned. Some even included heavy metals. People should research what they are buying and where it comes from.

As for vaping itself causing cancer, I would be interested in seeing the studies and who is funding them. Applying any heated material to your tissue can increase the probability of cancer, just about as much as walking in the sun for a short period of time. This is still substantially lower risk that sucking tar/smoke that is radio-active, which all cigarettes are.

If someone outlaws vaping, I will help my son avoid said laws until such a time that people snap out of it.

esturk• 8 years ago

Nicotine by itself is not a carcinogen. There could be other substances that causes cancer inside the gum.

WMCRUN• 8 years ago

The study makes broad claims about physical health but was conducted by psychologists.

Also, the heavy metals in vape liquid and the spiking addiction rates in teenagers and children beg to differ with their conclusions.

folkrav3• 8 years ago

The study makes broad claims about physical health but was conducted by psychologists.

Where did you see anything about them being psychologists? Closest I could find was a handful of authors being associated with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience - neuroscientists and psychiatrists are very far from being psychologists...

Also, the heavy metals in vape liquid

Very curious about your sources about the "heavy metals" in e-juice.

the spiking addiction rates in teenagers and children beg to differ with their conclusions.

Addiction is caused nicotine, which hasn't been found to be particularly harmful by itself. Addiction rates speak nothing about harmfulness.

You're making a whole lot of unexplained claims here.

jmcgough• 8 years ago

The entire public health crusade against e-cigs reminds me of the anti-pot crusade in the 80s and 90s. Lots of decisions made by the government based on emotion instead of based on evidence.

In the 19-29 year old demographic, e-cig vaping is cannibalizing cigarette smoking. That's a net public health gain, since e-cigs have dramatically fewer carcinogens.

verdverm7• 8 years ago

Challenge to vape users, go 3 days without and evaluate the effects on your mood. Nicotine withdrawal is the part about giving up smoking that suuuucks!

Do you want to be dependent upon this particular chemical? Do you want to permanently change your brain? (I highly recommend against)

spaceprison• 8 years ago

It's good to see studies like this.

To my knowledge addiction to nicotine poses no known health risk. Its interesting that the anti-smoking movement that was motivated by the public health risk associated with smoking has gradually turned into a puritanical drive to eliminate addiction.

It seems to me that identifying less harmful alternatives to smoking (ecigs) is a more realistic path to smoking cessation than saying it's all bad.

marsrover• 8 years ago

I don’t smoke cigarettes but I’ve been exclusively vaping weed since 2012. Hope I’m getting some similar benefits.

E-cigarettes around 95% less harmful than tobacco, estimates landmark review

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