To Vape or Not to Vape

IS VAPING SAFE? According to NHS-UK vaping is not completely risk-free but it poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking tobacco. We do not know yet long-term implications and dangers posed by vaping, since e-cigarettes are a relatively new product on the market. Two most harmful elements of smoking - that are not present in vaping - are Tar and Carbon Monoxide. Harmful chemicals exist in vapour and liquid that also can be found in tobacco but at lower levels. 

There have been some reported instances of e-cigarettes exploding or catching fire. As with all electrical devices one has to make sure they are not left charging unattended and the correct charger is used. In United Kingdom for any safety issues & concerns using your e-cigarette or to report a faulty product, do it via the (click) Yellow Card Scheme. This website is for anyone to report side-effects of medicines, vaccines, e-cigarettes, medical device incidents, fake products etc, to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in order to make sure of their effective and safe use.

In UK e-cigarettes are not available on prescription from family doctors and also there is no reported evidence that vaping is harmful to others, as opposed to passive or second-hand smoking. However is easy to buy them in vape-shops, supermarkets, pharmacies and also on the internet. There are voices who say: nicotine the addictive element of tobacco is present in vaping, however a review during 2021 found that people were twice as likely to Quit Smoking – alongside with face-to-face support by experts, than those using nicotine patches or gum. NRT [nicotine replacement therapy] has been with us for sometime now, and e-cigarettes have proven effective for many people to stop their tobacco addiction and quit smoking.

According to John Hopkins Institute there are 5 factors to take into consideration right now.

• Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it’s still not safe.
• Research suggests vaping is bad for your heart and lungs.
• Electronic cigarettes are just as addictive as traditional ones.
• Electronic cigarettes aren’t the best smoking cessation tool.
• A new generation is getting hooked on nicotine.

Data from 2021 shows that only 11% of 11-17 year olds are vapers and a study by UCL [University College London] estimates that for the age group 16-17 years old there are ~74.000 users in England. UK has strictest e-cigarette regulations in the world (vapes can’t contain more than 2% nicotine) e-cigarette marking is banned and only people over the age of 18 can buy them legally. However are concerns on growing numbers of young people using disposable vapes.

Since they came into public domain [2007] e-cigarettes have be shrouded in controversy in minds of the public and medical professionals. In 2016 The Royal College of Physicians published a 200 pages report, that examined e-cigarettes from science aspect, public policy, ethics and regulatory angle, and they said:

"E-cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking – in the UK, use of e-cigarettes is limited almost entirely to those who are already using, or have used, tobacco.

E-cigarettes do not result in normalisation of smoking – there is no evidence that either nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or e-cigarette use has resulted in renormalisation of smoking. None of these products has to date attracted significant use among adult never-smokers, or demonstrated evidence of significant gateway progression into smoking among young people.

E-cigarettes and quitting smoking - among smokers, e-cigarette use is likely to lead to quit attempts that would not otherwise have happened, and in a proportion of these to successful cessation. In this way, e-cigarettes can act as a gateway from smoking.

E-cigarettes and long-term harm - the possibility of some harm from long-term e-cigarette use cannot be dismissed due to inhalation of the ingredients other than nicotine, but is likely to be very small, and substantially smaller than that arising from tobacco smoking. With appropriate product standards to minimise exposure to the other ingredients, it should be possible to reduce risks of physical health still further. Although it is not possible to estimate the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely, the available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5% of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure."

To conclude:

UK has more than 2.6 million e-cigarette users, and many smokers use them to quit smoking. Although we do not know for sure long-term effects / safety of e-cigarettes, as far as we can see they are likely to cause less harm to your health than tobacco. Always the key word is tobacco – i.e to be used as an aid to Stop Smoking. Not to start vaping for vaping’s sake. As of now, e-cigarettes in UK have overtaken all licensed Nicotine Replacement Therapies, like gum or skin patches as nr.1 form of aid to stop smoking. Having this information at hand, now is up to you to decide: To vape, or Not to vape.

Sources

[1.] https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/

[2.] https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

[3.]https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/5-truths-you-need-to-know-about-vaping Michael Joseph Blaha, M.D., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins Medicine, 5 Vaping Facts You Need to Know,

[4.]https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely-substitute-smoking-says-new-rcp-report

[5.]https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2016/march/over-1-million-smokers-use-e-cigarettes-to-quit