Is Vaping Really That Bad?

Is vaping really that bad? Are traditional cigarettes actually worse than electronic ones? Does smoking e-cigarettes slowly corrode our lungs away?

Does vaping kill?

With the rising prevalence of e-cigarettes, these questions have inevitably been swimming around in the heads of parents, doctors, researchers and even teenagers themselves. The act of smoking e-cigarettes is rapidly cultivating a youth culture of “vaping” and “juuling”. With this looming over the horizon, unveiling the answers to these questions has become ever more pressing. These questions must be answered - before it’s too late.

Recently, having stumbled across the instagram post of a 19-year-old girl, Claire Chung, I discovered the many dangers of smoking e-cigarettes. Claire describes her horrific experience with vaping and the toll it has taken on her health, recounting how the pulmonologist had no other reaction to her chest CT scan than “wow”. The photo shared depicts her sprawled out on a hospital bed, connected to a ventilator and a heart-rate monitor - amongst other life-support devices. The accompanying post, showing her chest CT scan, reveals the severity of the damage caused: instead of her lungs showing up black on the film, as a pair of healthy lungs would, hers appear white and cloudy. They appear smothered in a layer of thick, murky smog. Considering she is merely 19 years old, the results of the scan are truly shocking.

While this post has been widely shared on social media, many teenagers have regarded the post with a hint of skepticism. After all, if e-cigarettes are as dangerous as Claire suggests, why aren’t there more widespread cases of serious health problems arising from the act of vaping, especially with millions of teenagers engaging in such activities everyday? Why aren’t e-cigarette companies being sued and being shut down? Why hasn’t there been more conclusive research to back up the claims that e-cigarettes are that dangerous to our health?

This brings us back to the question - is vaping really that bad?

In order to get to the bottom of this, we must first understand what e-cigarettes essentially are. They are handheld electronic devices that simulate the feeling of tobacco smoking. In order to create a substance for the users to inhale, they heat a liquid to generate an aerosol, otherwise commonly known as a "vapour".

This vapour is composed of a mixture of propylene glycol, glycerine, flavourings and other chemicals – often including nicotine – that replicates the smoking experience but supposedly without most of the toxic chemicals, or substances such as tobacco, found in traditional cigarettes.

However, there is doubt surrounding the validity of the “non-toxic” marketing of e-cigarettes. In 2016, Baptist University tested 13 different brands of e-cigarettes and found that they contain several carcinogenic substances, such as PAH, and another chemical, PBDE, which causes thyroid hormone disruption. The U.S. Federation and Drug Administration (FDA) has also proven that e-cigarettes contain carcinogenic chemicals and “ultrafine liquid particles of less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter which can penetrate deeply into our lungs”. As if that’s not bad enough - it has been shown that e-cigarettes contain diacetyl, a chemical that scars and constricts the airway of our lungs when inhaled.

However, compared to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes are cast in a much better light. 
E-cigarettes do indeed contain fewer toxic substances and carcinogens than tobacco ones. Normal cigarettes burn tobacco and create tar, which contains cancer-causing chemicals. In contrast, e-cigarettes vaporise liquid nicotine, so as to deliver the drug directly. This process, which replaces the inhalation of burning tobacco with vapour, means that the majority of toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke are absent. In addition, research funded by British American Tobacco suggests that inhaling nicotine vapour could be just as safe as breathing air. Therefore, despite e-cigarettes not being completely safe, the health impacts of vaping, compared to traditional cigarettes, are significantly reduced.

E-cigarettes are also comparatively better than traditional cigarettes, in terms of the second-hand smoke that is produced. E-cigarettes, as mentioned above, do not produce any sidestream smoke but emit a vapour instead. This is believed to be less harmful than the smoke produced from traditional cigarettes. In 2014, a study was conducted and published in the British Journal of Medical Practice, which examined the effects of the vapour on the environment and found that “the vapour contains nothing like the concentrations of carcinogens and toxins as cigarette smoke. In fact, toxin concentrations are almost all well below 1/20th that of cigarette smoke.”

In contrast, the toxic secondhand smoke released from cigarettes ends the life of over 1.2 million people each year. The damage caused by the second-hand smoke and sidestream smoke of tobacco cigarettes is two-fold. After it’s been released into the environment, not only does it wreak havoc on the health of people, it also harms our environment. Freakonomics.com has recently estimated that smokers produce as much as 84,878 tons of air pollution each year. The chemicals in the air that are present in second-hand smoke, such as ammonia, tar, acetone, arsenic and carbon monoxide, can cause life-threatening illnesses and irreversible damage to the environment. As such, e-cigarettes do seem to be a better alternative to tobacco cigarettes, regardless of the carcinogens that could still be transferred to first-hand smokers.

Another attraction of e-cigarettes is the belief that they can act as a useful smoke cessation aid. A study listed in the British Medical Journal has shown that the “long term use of e-cigarettes [is] associated with a higher rate of quitting smoking”. E-cigarettes have also been shown to encourage smokers to quit. Numerous studies have concluded that e-cigarette users are more likely to attempt to quit smoking than those who don’t use the electronic devices. As such, smokers would endeavor to try this means of quitting instead of using nicotine replacement therapy as e-cigarettes fulfill their habit of holding onto a cigarette, hence making them feel more comfortable while reducing their dependence and addiction.

Unfortunately, this belief has been challenged by several other organisations that present conflicting arguments. For example, both the World Health Organisation and the FDA have said that there is limited evidence to prove that e-cigarettes are effective tools in aiding smokers to quit.

At the same time, even if e-cigarettes are a potential cessation aid for smoking, there is no denying the danger of e-cigarette smokers becoming “dual smokers”, meaning using both e-cigarettes and tobacco ones. A study conducted by HKU on secondary school students shows that the act of vaping has made them reliant on nicotine and effectively addicted. Students report that using e-cigarettes help them concentrate and feel relaxed. As a result, teenagers, in the pursuit of this “relaxed” feeling, are likely to turn to smoking traditional cigarettes in addition to electronic ones. This is where e-cigarettes act as a “gateway” for teenagers all over the world to try traditional cigarettes. Therefore, e-cigarettes could increase the chance of adolescents becoming dual smokers.This is particularly detrimental to youths as an early nicotine addiction could harm brain development and alter the functioning of nerve cells.

It is also important that we keep in mind e-cigarettes have not been around long enough for the world to see the full potential damage. E-cigarettes were invented in 2003 and did not gain much popularity until 2007. The mere 17 years they have been on the market is unfortunately not enough time for there to have been sufficient medical research into the safety of vaping. If we take a look back in time, traditional cigarettes first became popular in the early 1800s, and the dangers of smoking had not started to come to light until the 1940s. But even in the 1960s, only one-third of all US doctors believed that the case against cigarettes had been established. Before then, cigarette companies were still using doctors’ approval to promote smoking. Is history being repeated with e-cigarettes?

In conclusion, the answer to “is vaping really that bad?” is not as clear-cut and precise as one would hope. On one hand, there is some evidence that e-cigarettes, if not completely safe, are at least better for our health than tobacco cigarettes. On the other hand, there are still studies that suggest vaping is destroying our lungs and could possibly lead to bigger health issues and even death. However, if you are a smoker of traditional cigarettes and you’re looking for an alternative to ease the process of quitting, e-cigarettes could be a good choice.

Ultimately, the debate surrounding whether e-cigarettes are better than tobacco ones is like deciding whether to jump off a 50-story building or a 25-story building. Jumping off the latter is safer than off the former, but we should avoid putting ourselves in such compromising situations in the first place.

If you’re a non-smoker, wouldn’t it be wiser to just stay away from all potentially toxic substances? If vaping could kill you, wouldn’t you want to steer clear of it? At the end of the day, that is a decision that can only be made by yourself.