Both smoking vs vaping have side effects and risks. Scientists do not fully understand the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) yet, but the science indicates that they are not a safe alternative to smoking.
In this article, we discuss the risks of vaping vs. smoking and consider the long-term effects and risks of each.
What Is A VAPE Device?
Smoking and Vape devices are also known as e-cigarettes. There are two types, both of which need charging:
Discreet pod or pen devices are mouth-to-lung devices. Pod devices have a battery and a disposable e-liquid cartridge. Pen devices have a battery, a tank that refills with liquid, and a coil that heats the vapour.
More complex tank devices are direct-to-lung devices and are the ones that can make big clouds.
Is Vaping Better Than Smoking?
Smoking vs Vaping both are difference, E-cigarette use, particularly among young people, is a dangerous trend with real health risks. For many reasons, e-cigarettes should not be promoted as a safe alternative to smoking.
While fewer people are smoking or starting to smoke than ever before, many are using other forms of tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems.
The increase in e-cigarette use (also called vaping) by kids and young people in recent years is a serious public health threat.
The battery-operated devices come in many forms and can look like conventional cigarettes, pens or even sleek tech gadgets.
Users inhale and exhale a vapor-like aerosol. This way of taking in nicotine poses health risks to both users and non-users.
Can Vaping Help to Cut Down or Quit Smoking Regular Cigarettes?
If a company makes a claim that its product can be used to treat a disease or addiction, like nicotine addiction, it must provide studies to the FDA showing that its product is safe and effective for that use.
On the basis of those studies, the FDA approves or doesn’t approve the product. So far, there are no large, high-quality studies looking at whether e-cigarettes can be used to cut down or quit smoking long-term.
Most of the studies have been either very short term (6 months or less) or the participants were not randomly assigned to different methods to quit smoking, including e-cigarettes.
Many of the studies are based on self-reported use of e-cigarettes. For example, a study done in four countries found that e-cigarette users were no more likely to quit than regular smokers even though 85% of them said they were using them to quit.
15 Other year-long studies, conducted in the U.S., had similar findings. A study published in a prestigious medical journal in 2014 found that although smokers may believe they are vaping e-cigarettes to help them quit, 6-12 months after being first interviewed, nearly all of them are still smoking regular cigarettes.
16 Similarly, a year-long study published in 2018 compared smokers who used e-cigarettes to traditional cigarette smokers, and concluded that e-cigarette users were more likely to say they were trying to quit but no more likely to successfully kick the smoking habit, with 90% of e-cigarette users still smoking regular cigarettes at the end of the study.
Until there are results from well-conducted studies, the FDA has not approved e-cigarettes for use in quitting smoking.
Which is less harmful?
Neither smoking nor vaping is beneficial to human health. Based on the available evidence, smoking appears to be more harmful than vaping. However, Vaping vs Smoking this does not mean that vaping is safe.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, vaping may be slightly less harmful than smoking.
- They note that a person who smokes inhales about 7,000 chemicals, whereas vaping likely involves a lower number of chemicals.
- The AHA note that vaping liquids contain fewer contaminants than cigarettes. However, they also state that vaping is not safe due to the following reasons:
- E-cigarettes contain a large dose of nicotine, a substance known to slow the development of brains in fetuses, children, and teens.
- The liquid that creates the vapor is dangerous to adults and children if they swallow or inhale it or get it on their skin.
- Vaping also delivers several dangerous chemicals, including diacetyl, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Vaping may normalize smoking again as it becomes more popular. - According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by early 2020, there had been a total of 2,807 hospitalizations or deaths from vaping.
- However, the CDC also acknowledge that since the removal of vitamin E acetate from vaping products, along with other harmful ingredients, the number of symptoms that people experience from vaping has declined.
Vaping vs Smoking, Unlike vaping, which is relatively new, there are years of research to fully back up claims that smoking is damaging to human health.
According to the CDCTrusted Source, smoking causes:
damage to every organ in the body
more than 480,000 deaths a year in the United States
90% of all lung cancer deaths
about 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
an increased risk of death
an increased risk of developing health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke.