There’s no polite way to say this: public health experts continue to lie to adult smokers about the benefits of vaping. Nicotine vapor products have been on the market for over two decades, and the evidence produced over that time has consistently shown that they are far safer than combustible tobacco.
But that’s not the message you’ll receive from agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Vapes “deliver harmful chemicals and contain nicotine, which is highly addictive,” FDA’s website declares. “Moreover, given the harmful chemicals found in e-cigarettes, further high-quality research on both short- and long-term health outcomes is needed.”
Each of those claims is false. And as long as myths like these are amplified by powerful government agencies, we need to swat them down to ensure that Americans have access to accurate information about vaping, a habit that could save millions of lives. Let’s take FDA’s claims one at a time.
Myth 1: Nicotine Vaping Delivers “Harmful Chemicals”
Reality: While nicotine is a stimulant, found in both cigarettes and vaping products, the way it is delivered to the body is significantly different. Cigarettes burn tobacco, releasing thousands of toxins and at least 70 carcinogens, while vaping involves heating a nicotine-containing liquid, producing an aerosol that is far less toxic. Studies have shown that nicotine vaping is at least 95% less toxic than smoking cigarettes, and there has been no evidence of a causal link between vaping and any disease.
Simply put: the dose makes the poison. There are far fewer chemicals in nicotine vapor. The remaining chemicals that are present in vapor are there in much lower amounts than those found in tobacco smoke. As an agency staffed by scientists, FDA is well aware of these facts and continues to minimize them for ideological reasons.
Myth 2: Nicotine Vaping is Addictive and Dangerous for Non-Smokers
Reality: Addictions are harmful behaviors that people engage in despite the serious consequences they carry. This standard does not apply to nicotine, which many people use for their entire lives without experiencing any ill effects. Smokers are harmed by chronic tobacco use, but that harm isn’t caused by nicotine itself. While the drug “keeps people using tobacco products, it is not what makes tobacco use so deadly,” the FDA has acknowledged elsewhere.
Myth 3: We Need More Studies on the Short-and-Long-Term Health Outcomes of Vaping.
Reality: We have close to 30 years of evidence from millions of people around the globe who have switched from smoking to nicotine vaping. Their experiences have been documented in hundreds of high-quality studies at this point. If the FDA thinks more studies are needed, the agency should explain why instead of implying that there is a serious health risk just waiting to be discovered.
Conclusion
While the FDA continues to wring its hands and speculate about the so-far entirely hypothetical risks of nicotine vaping, hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to die from smoking every year. The agency’s priorities are wildly out of order. Instead of fretting about the much less harmful habit, let’s get as many people as possible to quit the far deadlier one.
