Buzz
When it comes to e-cigarettes, everyone has their own take: ask ten individuals about their safety, and you’re bound to hear ten unique responses. Intense debates often arise because the data is still lacking, but some key points are agreed upon by experts. Let’s dive into the details.
Vaping stirs up controversy primarily because it’s a relatively new phenomenon, which brings two major implications. First, the science surrounding its safety is still inconclusive. Second—perhaps more crucially—political and commercial forces are still undecided. Does Big Tobacco view vaping as a rival or a new opportunity? Is vaping a breakthrough in public health or just a stepping stone to traditional cigarettes?
Given all the unresolved issues, we can’t offer a definitive yes-or-no answer in a single post. (Unfortunately, not all of life’s questions can be boiled down to a simple response.) Instead, we’ll explore the evidence surrounding several critical questions, sharing what experts agree on and what remains uncertain.
Do E-Cigarettes Contain Harmful Ingredients?
Let’s begin with the obvious: Nicotine is found in most e-cigarettes. This is the main purpose if you’re using it as a substitute for a traditional cigarette or as part of a smoking cessation plan. While there’s a lot of buzz around the different “flavors” of the liquid, most products sold in convenience stores are essentially flavorless or menthol-flavored nicotine delivery systems.
Nicotine is addictive, but it doesn’t cause cancer. This leads supporters of e-cigarettes to make claims like “The issue with traditional cigarettes is the additives, smoke, and chemicals, not the nicotine itself,” but this isn’t entirely accurate. Nicotine has its own set of risks. It can affect adolescent brain development, and it’s dangerous for pregnant women as it disrupts fetal development, including lung growth, and increases the chances of premature birth.
Carcinogens are found in the tar of cigarettes. E-cigarettes don’t contain tar, which is why the primary benefit of vaping is avoiding this cancer-causing substance.
However, there may be other harmful chemicals involved. Diacetyl, a chemical in some e-cigarette flavors, is safe to eat but should not be inhaled. Studies on mice exposed to e-cigarette vapor showed mild lung damage, though significantly less than that caused by cigarette smoke. In one widely-publicized study, researchers found that e-cigarettes could release more formaldehyde than regular cigarettes, but only if the heating element was set to an unusually high temperature. While vaping isn’t as safe as breathing clean air, it’s likely a safer alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes.
Is this enough to call e-cigarettes mostly safe? The World Health Organization remains cautious, yet correct, when they highlight the uncertainties involved:
The potential dangers e-cigarettes present to users' health are still unclear. Moreover, studies show that these products can vary significantly in the amount of nicotine and other substances they release, and there is no way for consumers to know exactly what they are getting from the product they purchase.
Put simply, it’s the same issue we see with supplements: there’s no verification of the exact contents or their quantities, leaving you to rely on the product without clear information.
Another risk, not found in the vaporizer itself, comes from the refill bottles. These bottles contain concentrated nicotine that can be inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin. Accidental ingestion of the liquid has even led to at least one fatality of a toddler. Currently, childproof caps are not required. If you handle this liquid, be sure to do so carefully and store it safely out of the reach of children and pets.
Can Vaping Help You Quit Smoking?
Given that e-cigarettes contain fewer harmful substances than traditional cigarettes, it seems logical that making the switch would benefit your health. However, if this is the case, scientists are finding it challenging to prove. The American Lung Association, for instance, is "troubled by unproven claims" that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking; they argue the scientific evidence simply isn’t there.
Take, for example, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine last year. Among tobacco smokers who called a hotline for quitting support, those who used e-cigarettes didn’t show any greater likelihood of quitting. The researchers suggested that while vaping may have helped some quit, the success rate was so low that it wasn’t detectable in their study.
In contrast, a study published in the journal Addiction found that smokers who turned to e-cigarettes to quit had a 60% higher chance of success compared to those using nicotine patches. Why the conflicting results? The answer isn’t clear. These smokers were attempting to quit independently, not through a quit line, which could explain some of the differences between the two studies.
A more recent study introduces a new perspective: researchers reported in the American Journal of Public Health that when looking solely at habitual smokers—not quitters—those who used e-cigarettes were actually less likely to stop smoking altogether. In other words, vapers might not actually want to quit.
It’s possible that these smokers feel they’ve already reduced their health risks by using e-cigarettes, so a combination of smoking and vaping seems like a lesser evil compared to traditional smoking. However, without further research into their motivations, we can’t definitively say if this is the case.
Successfully quitting might also depend on factors such as the nicotine level delivered by the e-cigarette and your usage frequency. There are no universally accepted guidelines on using vaping as a tool for quitting smoking. This leaves us uncertain about whether vaping truly helps people stop smoking and how exactly it should be used if that is the goal.
Is Big Tobacco the driving force behind the growing popularity of vaping?
Traditional cigarette companies find themselves in a tricky situation: they are eager to tap into a market that sustains smoking habits, but at the same time, they want to protect their far larger market in traditional tobacco products.
This has led to a sort of battle between two groups of manufacturers. On one side, independent companies sell refillable products in vape shops, often boasting a wide variety of flavors. On the other side are disposable, cigarette-like products available at convenience stores, such as Blu, which is owned by a tobacco company, while NJOY, the second-largest brand, is not.
Big Tobacco seems to be hedging its bets by marketing cigalikes with warnings that make them seem worse than regular cigarettes, while simultaneously urging the FDA to impose stricter regulations on their 'open system' competitors, claiming these products are more dangerous.
Meanwhile, independent e-cigarette companies are emerging as a powerful marketing force. As the market continues to evolve, it's important to focus on the science, not the sensationalism.
Illustration by Tara Jacoby.
