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Vaping: not a safe alternative to smoking, new study suggests, and it may be more harmful to health than tobacco in normal cigarettes
- The number of people who vape has been increasing rapidly – from about seven million in 2011 to 41 million in 2018
- A study shows that harmful bacteria in the lungs becomes more virulent when directly exposed to e-cigarette vapour
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With the recent coronavirus outbreak, which can trigger pneumonia and damage lungs, smokers may want to consider giving up their habit.
Smoking e-cigarettes can be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco, according to researchers from Queen’s University Belfast in Britain. They discovered that bacteria found in the lungs becomes more harmful and causes increased inflammation when exposed to e-cigarette vapour.
The three-year study supports growing evidence that vaping is not a safe alternative to smoking. In January, the World Health Organisation warned that electronic nicotine delivery systems (Ends) were harmful to health, not safe – and particularly risky when used by children and adolescents.
This follows reports that US health authorities have linked vaping with at least 18 deaths and more than 1,000 cases of a mysterious lung illness.
An estimated 10 million Chinese people are e-cigarette users and online sales of the product have been banned in mainland China since November 2019.
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