By now we should all be able to agree that smoking tobacco products is very bad for your health. Less clear at this point is the effect of e-cigarette use, otherwise generally known as “vaping.” Vaping devices hit the market as a supposedly safer alternative to conventional smoking, containing far fewer known cancer-causing agents. E-cigs have rapidly increased in popularity, but many experts still don’t know what to make of the trend.
New research is helping to answer some unsolved questions, and the growing consensus seems to be that e-cigs are not safe. Aside from the fact that the electronic devices sometimes explode or catch fire in people’s pockets, causing serious physical injury, there are major long-term health concerns associated with vaping. Two recent studies have reportedly shown negative impacts on the immune and cardiovascular systems of users. Vaping companies have also been accused of marketing to minors, leading to a surge in teen e-cig use and eventually conventional cigarette smoking.
E-cigs do have their supporters, however. Many people have suggested that vaping can help users quit smoking tobacco products, which is a notoriously difficult thing to do. And, for now at least, e-cigs are considered a generally safer alternative than their tobacco counterparts. Even so, the American Heart Association has recommended that e-cigs be outlawed for minors and used as a smoking cessation option only when all else has failed.
It took decades for the scientific community and the public to come around on tobacco use, causing countless lives to be lost and tremendous damage to people’s health. Hopefully the answers will come a lot quicker on vaping.
