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Vaping: what we know and what we don’t about e-cigarettes

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by Cancer Research UK | Analysis

26 April 2021

7 comments 7 comments

A man vaping

This article was originally published in April 2021, but was updated in November 2023 

It’s been a decade or so since e-cigarettes (commonly known as ‘vapes’) first gained popularity in the UK. Since then, the types of devices available and the number of people using them has risen sharply. 

And as the popularity of vaping has grown, so has the debate around it. It’s important to note that this information relates to legal e-cigarettes – this means vapes that are registered with the UK Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory authority (MHRA) and follow UK regulations. 

The big selling point for e-cigarettes is that they’re a way to help people stop smoking and reduce harm from the biggest cause of cancer in the world, tobacco. According to the Office for National Statistics, the level of smoking in the UK in 2022 was the lowest it had been since 2011. This follows the same trend as smoking rates in 2021, where it was suggested that the decrease could be partly due to the rise in vaping.  

But it’s a balancing act. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is the addictive chemical in tobacco. It’s important to make sure that people who have never smoked, particularly young people, don’t start to use them. 

While it may be hard to remember a time before vaping, in the grand scheme of research, there hasn’t been enough time yet to get the whole picture. And there’s still a lot more we need to understand about e-cigarettes. 

Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, says, “These are still relatively new products. But a huge amount of research has been done. It’s a far more sophisticated discussion now than it was in the early years.” 

Here are the big questions around e-cigarettes, what we know and what we still need to find out. 

Is vaping safe? 

There are a lot of mixed messages out there when it comes to e-cigarettes, with many headlines suggesting that vaping is just as bad or worse than smoking. 

In fact, research so far shows that vaping legal e-cigarettes is far less harmful than smoking. 


 

An animation of an e-cigarette

What are e-cigarettes/vapes? 

E-cigarettes (also known as vapes) heat a liquid so that it becomes vapour and people can breathe it in. They usually contain nicotine which is the addictive chemical found in cigarettes.  


 

Some studies have shown harmful effects of e-cigarette vapour. However, these are usually conducted on animals or cells in the lab, rather than in people. And the concentrations of e-cigarette vapour used are often much higher than people would be exposed to in real life. 

Whilst these studies are useful to explore the potential effects of e-cigarettes, they shouldn’t be used to estimate real-world impact in humans. 

The tone of the debate may also depend on where you live. In 2019, the US saw an outbreak of several thousand cases of a respiratory illness called ‘EVALI’ (‘e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury’) and nearly 70 deaths linked to the use of vaping products. But again, headlines can be misleading, as the outbreak was actually caused by contaminants in illegal products and not to regular vaping. There was no similar outbreak in the UK, and the chemicals of concern are banned here. 

However, if you do vape, it is important to make sure that you buy your vaping products from a reputable source, as there has been a rise in illicit and unregulated vaping products being sold across the world.  

The best evidence available in humans shows e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking. For example, one study found significantly lower levels of exposure to harmful chemicals in people who switched from smoking to vaping compared with those who continued to smoke. These levels were similar to people using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). There’s also no good evidence that second-hand e-cigarette vapour is harmful to bystanders. 

But e-cigarettes are a relatively new product. For this reason, there isn’t enough research yet into long-term use, or into their effects in people who have never smoked.  

“In people who vape, the vast majority are smokers or ex-smokers. So unpicking the relationship between those two risks is really tough” says Bauld. “Definitive answers about safety may still take many years to identify”. 

In short, there’s a lot more to learn. Cancer Research UK is funding research into e-cigarettes to help to answer some of the outstanding questions. 

But what researchers have had time to observe, over decades, is the huge amounts of research showing that tobacco is extremely harmful. Which is why experts can be confident that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than tobacco. This is broadly agreed by researchers and public health bodies. 

Do e-cigarettes help people to stop smoking? 

There’s growing evidence from around the world that e-cigarettes can help people stop smoking. In England, a study that looked at e-cigarette use and smoking cessation across the population estimated that e-cigarettes may have helped around an additional 50-70,000 people in England in 2017 to quit for the long term. 

Research shows the best way to stop smoking is through free support from stop smoking services. We now have evidence that e-cigarettes combined with support from stop smoking services are also effective in helping people to stop smoking.  

Bauld says that smoking is still the largest preventable cause of cancer and is linked to 15 different types. “Supporting smokers to quit and young people to not start is a really important cancer prevention priority. So, if e-cigarettes can provide support for individuals as an aid to smoking cessation, then that’s of interest to cancer researchers.” 

But there’s still a lot we need to find out. For example, we need to know more about the role that different types of devices, nicotine concentrations and flavours play in helping people to stop smoking. 

Although smoking rates in the UK continue to fall, levels in the most deprived populations are still much higher than in the least deprived, so experts are especially interested in whether e-cigarettes could help reduce this inequality. Recent research has suggested that people from lower socioeconomic groups might be more likely to use e-cigarettes, but it’s not yet clear whether this means e-cigarettes are improving smoking cessation rates in these communities. 

Various e-cigarettes available on the shelf of a shop

Does vaping in young people lead to smoking? 

Another question which often makes the headlines is around youth vaping and whether e-cigarettes are causing people to start smoking – the so-called ‘gateway effect’. 

Overall, there’s no strong evidence for a gateway effect in the UK. Although experimentation with e-cigarettes among young people has increased in recent years, the latest data show that regular vaping in young people in Britain remains very low.  

Some researchshows that young people who use e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke later on. But it’s a tricky relationship to untangle, as young people who smoke are also more likely to vape. Experts have suggested that some young people are generally more likely to engage in ‘risky’ behaviours – like alcohol, drug use or smoking and vaping. Therefore, studies examining smoking and vaping in young people don’t necessarily show that vaping leads them to start smoking, but that they may be likely to do both anyway. 

And the good news is that smoking rates and the perceptions around the acceptability of smoking have declined in young people, even since the introduction of e-cigarettes. So, it doesn’t seem like e-cigarettes have interfered with the promising drop in levels of smoking in young people. 

Currently, the evidence doesn’t suggest that many young people who have never smoked are vaping regularly, or that vaping is causing more young people in the UK to start smoking. But, vaping in young people is something we’re concerned about and are watching the evidence on closely. 

Is it OK to smoke and vape at the same time? 

There’s currently no good evidence that using both cigarettes and e-cigarettes is worse than just smoking. But there’s no safe level of smoking, so people need to switch completely from smoking to vaping. 

And there are still unanswered questions here. It may be that some people go through a period where they both smoke and vape to help them quit, but right now we don’t know how long this transition period is, or how it varies from person to person. 

Experts need to find out what causes people to switch from vaping and smoking to just vaping and how they can support people to do this. 

Getting answers 

Highlighting some of the main gaps in the current research, Bauld says that we don’t know enough about how people use e-cigarettes over time – including how use patterns change and if and when people stop using them. “We have some studies, but they’re really quite limited. We also don’t know enough about the impact of long-term use of these devices on health.” 

At Cancer Research UK, we fund lots of research into the role of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation and their use in young people, which complements research across the world to answer these big questions. And we work with policymakers to advocate for regulations that match the rapidly-evolving research in the area and engage with the public to ensure they receive accurate information. 

Large, long-term studies examining topics such as harms, youth use, use patterns over time, use of flavours and effectiveness in smoking cessation are needed. 

And to get the answers we need about the effects of different regulations, these studies need to be conducted across the world. This will allow governments and health bodies to develop laws that protect young people from vaping, but also allow e-cigarettes to continue to be used to help people stop smoking. 

There’s a lot we still need to know, but the evidence has come a long way so far. And all this evidence is why at Cancer Research UK, we recommend people who smoke consider using e-cigarettes as an option to help them quit, and why people who have never smoked, including children and young people, shouldn’t start to vape. 

    Comments

  • UK Vapor Waves
    25 April 2023

    Thank you for sharing us this awareness, Grateful.

  • Marie
    20 September 2021

    I believe vaping does help to stop smoking but vaping itself is very addictive. Although vaping is better than smoking cigarettes it’s better to use other methods of nicotine replacement therapy as these are used with a view to cutting down and eventually stopping. I say this with personal experience. I think if people want to stop vaping they will still need to use other forms of nicotine replacement.

  • Jenny Bateman
    16 May 2021

    Interesting review of research on cancer risk and vaping but without looking at cardiovascular risk. Is the level of nicotine in vapers more or less than that found in smokers?

  • reply
    Katie Roberts
    20 May 2021

    Hi Jenny,

    Thanks for your question. Studies show that levels of nicotine in people who switch to vaping compared with those who continue to smoke are similar. Nicotine is the chemical that makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive, but it’s not responsible for the harmful effects of smoking – it doesn’t cause cancer and is not a significant health hazard for people without heart conditions. You can read more about the potential cardiovascular benefits of switching from smoking to vaping on the British Heart Foundation’s website.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK

  • Joyce Waggoner
    10 May 2021

    My husband had knowledge when he worked in a business with Glycol. His thoughts are the Glycol product being used in E-Cigarettes can’t be anything but harmful to the lungs.
    Is there any information about this.

  • reply
    Katie Roberts
    20 May 2021

    Hi Joyce,

    Thanks for your question. Propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine are used to make the e-liquids for e-cigarettes. As with other research on safety, we still need more long-term data. However Public Health England have concluded that studies in animals have generally been reassuring that it does not pose a significant risk to health.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK

  • Stephen Hamann
    28 April 2021

    I think this assessment is flawed in numerous ways. See for example:
    US evidence shows using cigarettes and e-cigarettes worse than either on the respiratory system

    Reddy KP, Schwamm E, Kalkhoran S, et al. Respiratory Symptom Incidence among People Using Electronic Cigarettes, Combustible Tobacco, or Both. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Apr 15

  • John Madden
    27 April 2021

    Excellent news. Vaping needs to be encouraged.

  • Alan Beard
    26 April 2021

    A fair, balanced assessment, thanks CRUK, Alice, and Linda Bauld

    Comments

  • UK Vapor Waves
    25 April 2023

    Thank you for sharing us this awareness, Grateful.

  • Marie
    20 September 2021

    I believe vaping does help to stop smoking but vaping itself is very addictive. Although vaping is better than smoking cigarettes it’s better to use other methods of nicotine replacement therapy as these are used with a view to cutting down and eventually stopping. I say this with personal experience. I think if people want to stop vaping they will still need to use other forms of nicotine replacement.

  • Jenny Bateman
    16 May 2021

    Interesting review of research on cancer risk and vaping but without looking at cardiovascular risk. Is the level of nicotine in vapers more or less than that found in smokers?

  • reply
    Katie Roberts
    20 May 2021

    Hi Jenny,

    Thanks for your question. Studies show that levels of nicotine in people who switch to vaping compared with those who continue to smoke are similar. Nicotine is the chemical that makes cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive, but it’s not responsible for the harmful effects of smoking – it doesn’t cause cancer and is not a significant health hazard for people without heart conditions. You can read more about the potential cardiovascular benefits of switching from smoking to vaping on the British Heart Foundation’s website.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK

  • Joyce Waggoner
    10 May 2021

    My husband had knowledge when he worked in a business with Glycol. His thoughts are the Glycol product being used in E-Cigarettes can’t be anything but harmful to the lungs.
    Is there any information about this.

  • reply
    Katie Roberts
    20 May 2021

    Hi Joyce,

    Thanks for your question. Propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine are used to make the e-liquids for e-cigarettes. As with other research on safety, we still need more long-term data. However Public Health England have concluded that studies in animals have generally been reassuring that it does not pose a significant risk to health.

    Best wishes,

    Katie, Cancer Research UK

  • Stephen Hamann
    28 April 2021

    I think this assessment is flawed in numerous ways. See for example:
    US evidence shows using cigarettes and e-cigarettes worse than either on the respiratory system

    Reddy KP, Schwamm E, Kalkhoran S, et al. Respiratory Symptom Incidence among People Using Electronic Cigarettes, Combustible Tobacco, or Both. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 Apr 15

  • John Madden
    27 April 2021

    Excellent news. Vaping needs to be encouraged.

  • Alan Beard
    26 April 2021

    A fair, balanced assessment, thanks CRUK, Alice, and Linda Bauld