Is Vaping a lot more safe than cigarettes?

@RMNofTikTok

Ok, fair enough, but you are still a nurse and not a scientist and I think you are minimising the harm of vaping.

People need information. As a former nicotine addict myself, I know we don't give up smoking or vaping just because we are aware of the harm, but being ignorant of the harm is of no benefit to anyone.

I don't know the symptoms of cadmium poisoning but I know lead causes all kinds of disorders, including madness, so gaily dismissing the identification of "significant" amounts of lead as being ok because there is lead in apples, is highly irresponsible.

DH and I were both smokers, me a lot less than him but overall, for twenty years plus for each of us.

We switched to vaping after doing some research and it was an easy swap but more importantly it has improved our health, wealth and we no longer stink. I realised the other day that I hadn't bought air freshener for months. We used to smoke in the garden but the smoke smell got everywhere.

I have threatened DS with cutting his hands off if he starts to smoke or vape though!

I think my username is pretty self explanatory. But if you want the break down, I'm a RMN, a qualified stop smoking advisor. I don't do front line nursing anymore due to a disability. But as someone who spent years working in prison as a substance misuse nurse, I'd like to think I know a thing or 2 about inhaling drugs, including nicotine.

Do you need any more credentials? Inside leg measurement maybe?

I vape a fair amount. I like it and I don't want to stop.

It doesn't affect my asthma, it doesn't make me short of breath, it doesn't give me a cough. Most importantly to me, it doesn't smell like cigarettes.

Smoking affected me more, significantly. The amount of gack I used to cough up was vile. It absolutely impacted my performance during exercise. It was rough on my sex life. And it stank. My clothes used to smell like crap.

I think people really need to understand that nicotine is just really popular. People won't just stop having it. And that sometimes the best thing is the better of two evils. Yes, vaping has issues. But it has fewer.

In 2022, UK experts reviewed the international evidence and found that "in the short and medium-term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking".

Of course they can only talk in terms of short and medium term as they don't have the long term data

@RMNofTikTok
Do you know what else contains nickel, calcium and lead?

APPLES.

Oh, that is great to know and here was I thinking that heavy metals were bad for us. Silly me!

I don't know what part of the industry you are working for, but it would be better if you were honest about it. Smokers do not defend cigarettes and try to make out they are harmless.

Neither of them.

I attended some training recently by Public Health England on vaping. The overall message was that vaping legal vapes is less harmful than smoking. Vaping illegal, unregulated vapes is probably a lot more dangerous. But all vaping is harmful.

their summary was: ideally do neither but if you must do one then choose legal, regulated vapes.

The insane frequency that people seem to be vaping can't be helping, some teenagers don't seem to be able to put them down. It's like chain smoking

The 600 puff vapes have 40mg of nicotine in them, so the equivalent to 40-50 cigarettes. But nicotine itself isn't very harmful.

Scientists cannot accurately judge long term effects of vaping yet..it hasn’t been around long enough. However, there’s already enough science and data to show that it is much , much safer than smoking cigarettes.

Unfortunately, vapes are also incredibly addictive and ‘“safer than cigarettes” doesn’t mean “good for you”. Nobody who doesn’t already smoke should start vaping. But for people who smoke, vaping is indisputably safer. The scientific evidence is pretty clear on that already.

I vaped to give up smoking. I smoked for 20 years failed many times to give up. Tried the tablets, counselling etc. vaping replaced cigarettes. But I think I got addicted to vaping. I used a vape or more a day. Got cheap bigger ones from under a shop counter. Reckon I was vaping equivalent to 40 a day habit. It came to bed with me and I had to nip to toilets at work to vape.

it’s addictive. I went on holiday to Mexico and stopped as it’s illegal there. Now using gum.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update/nicotine-vaping-in-england-2022-evidence-update-main-findings
this is nice clear report about where the evidence is at currently. TLDR: safer than cigarettes.

Is it worth thinking about things like easy origami to do when you want busy hands?

When I'm trying to replace a habit I often up my tea consumption - making a proper pot with milk in jug etc makes a nice ritual which often distracts me.

Well done! Try a breath lace. I think they're about £30.

I vaped until I got pneumonia 3 weeks ago, I haven't gone back to it. The cravings are awful, I don't know what to do with my hands, I have tried a couple of times to have a puff, but it tastes absolutely vile.

Evidence for your claim?

Not everyone is using disposable vapes either - I think they're great for a day out but I wouldn't use them all the time!

But I use a prober rechargeable battery & a tank - eliquid that is very tightly controlled in the UK.

Ideally no one would vape or smoke.

No one should take up vaping if they don't already smoke.

We don't have evidence over the long term safety of vaping.

But we do have evidence of the long term harm from smoking and the causative factors.

If you use vaping as a smoking cessation aid, cut down on the nicotine in it gradually and then slowly wean yourself off it, creating other rituals and breaks for yourself then it's very likely it will be safer than smoking.

If you end up using as a method of investing ingesting (edit) ever more nicotine (which has a negative impact on your immune system) then it's definitely likely to be bad for you - but potentially better than smoking.

That's my reading of the things I have read anyway.

Good job you can only buy 2% nicotine salt in disposable vapes in the uk then isn't it?

Do you know what else contains nickel, calcium and lead?

APPLES.

Here's a research paper outlining the risks to humans when consuming apples: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916046/#:~:text=The%20content%20of%20heavy%20metals%20in%20the%20apple%20samples.&text=The%20results%20of%20statistical%20analysis,51.42%25%20(Table%202).

Are you going to stop eating them? Are you going to cry about the dangers of them? Are you going to try and cause moral panic about them and try and get them banned?

Just remember, not all research papers are equal....

Heres the "official" NHS view on vaping.

"Myth 1 : Vaping is just as harmful as smoking

In 2022, UK experts reviewed the international evidence and found that "in the short and medium-term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking".

Cigarettes release thousands of different chemicals when they burn – many are poisonous and up to 70 cause cancer. Most of the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke, including tar and carbon monoxide, are not contained in vape aerosol.

People who switch completely from smoking to vaping have significantly reduced exposure to toxins associated with risks of cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke"

As a former smoker who now vapes, I'm happy I've made the right choice. Would it be better to not vape? Yes it would, but I've almost certainly significantly reduced the harm I'm doing myself by making the switch.

Vaping myths and the facts - Better Health - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Earlier this month a 12 year old in an induced coma for 3 days after her lungs couldn't cope with an infection due to her vaping.

@Dymaxion

https://www.gob.mx/cofepris/articulos/cofepris-y-conadic-emiten-alerta-sanitaria-para-vapeadores-y-productos-emergentes-de-tabaco-ocasionan-graves-danos-a-la-salud?state=published

Here is
part of the Health Alert translated into English:

These products contain significant levels of metals such as cadmium, nickel, lead, among others, which represent a health risk. The commissions warn about the risks of consuming these products, highlighting that a cartridge containing 5% nicotine salt is equivalent to between one and three packs of cigarettes. These high concentrations of nicotine have long-term adverse effects on the brain development of boys, girls, adolescents and developing fetuses. As part of the alert, health authorities point out three main types of health damage associated with these products, which are: Respiratory damage due to inflammation of the lung tissue, causing conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cancer. Cardiovascular damage due to changes in blood circulation, which can cause arteriosclerosis and heart attacks. Mutagenic damage that increases the risk of cancer and reproductive disorders, such as erectile dysfunction.

I vape as a means to quit smoking and definitely feel better for it. I use one vape about every 10 days. My clothes and hair don’t smell of fags and I have saved a fortune!

However, I think it’s terrible that these things are being glamorised to teenagers, with all the different flavours and packaging. That needs to stop asap. It’s like when alcopops were invented when I was a teen. Suddenly we went from cheap cider of grans sherry, to a world of cool and colourful designs.

Safer than smoking but never intended to be taken up by non smokers (well not by the scientific community, clearly so by those selling it).

My biggest concern would be how much you are going to pay for it. Vapes may be cheap now but it is a matter of time before the tax goes up now there is a new generation hooked. How difficult vaping is to give up is also yet to be seen. For many perhaps even harder than smoking as they are more frequently used and even more habit forming.