The Vape Debate: What You Need to Know

E-cigarettes: Are they a safe way for smokers to stop or a gateway to getting kids hooked on a habit that’s known to cause deadly diseases of the heart and lungs as well as cancer?

Public health experts and tobacco researchers are trying to find out. So far, results are mixed. One thing is certain. They’re not hard to find. Stores selling them — called “vape shops” — are everywhere across the country. In the summer of 2016, new rules about their sale went into effect. So you have to be 18 to buy them and show an ID if you’re under 27.

The Basics – E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that can look like a real cigarette or pen. Some with refillable tanks look a bit different. There are hundreds of brands, and they’re sometimes marketed as a way to get your nicotine fix without the danger of cigarettes.

They all work the same basic way:

• They have containers filled with liquid that’s usually made of nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals.
• A heating device turns the liquid into vapor that you inhale when you take a drag.

Using an e-cig is called “vaping.”

Are They Safer Than Smoking? E-cigarettes aren’t thought of as 100% safe, but most experts think they’re less dangerous than cigarettes, says Neal Benowitz, MD, a nicotine researcher at the University of California at San Francisco. Cigarette smoking kills almost half a million people a year in the United States. Most of the harm comes from the thousands of chemicals that are burned and inhaled in the smoke, he explains. E-cigs don’t burn, so people aren’t as exposed to those toxins. A 2015 expert review from Public Health England estimated e-cigs are 95% less harmful than the real thing.

That figure is controversial and might be a little high, says Kenneth Warner, a tobacco policy researcher at the University of Michigan. But, he adds, “The worst critics of e-cigarettes would probably argue they’re a half to two-thirds less dangerous. But from a practical view, they’re probably on the order of 80% to 85% less dangerous, at least.”

Some states and communities that ban smoking  in public places also ban vaping. But, Warner says, while the danger from secondhand vapor isn’t zero, “it’s probably very low.”

Do They Lead Kids to Smoke? Critics of e-cigarettes fear that vaping will get kids hooked on nicotine and that they’ll “graduate” to cigarettes when they want a bigger kick, Warner says. Two recent studies suggest a link. A 2016 study in the journal Pediatrics found that teens that never smoked but used e-cigs were six times more likely to try cigarettes compared to kids who don’t vape. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2015 found a connection too. Researchers surveyed 2,500 Los Angeles high school students who had never smoked. They found that kids who used e-cigs were more likely than non-users to smoke cigarettes or other tobacco products over the next year.But, CDC stats on teen smoking show that while use of e-cigs went up to 24% in 2015, cigarette smoking dropped to an historic low — to just under 11%.

What Else You Should Know About E-Cigs-

They can blow up. There were 134 reports of e-cigarette batteries overheating, catching fire, or exploding between 2009 and January 2016, according to Michael Felberbaum, an FDA spokesperson. Some people were seriously hurt. The new rules will allow FDA to review the safety of batteries and eventually take action to protect the public.

They can poison people. Liquid nicotine is especially dangerous to young kids. Reports of poisonings are on the rise. Keep all e-cigarettes out of reach of little ones.

The FDA plans on future rules that will require nicotine warnings and child-resistant packaging for products with e-liquids, Felberbaum says

By Regina Boyle Wheeler
WebMD Feature