U.S. Public Health Experts: Vape Bans Undermine Anti-Smoking Efforts

Bans and restrictions on vaping products are spreading rapidly across the United States. Last month, San Francisco banned the sale of vaping products, and public health experts worry that other cities may follow suit. In an article on Yahoo News, Dr. Michael Siegel, a prominent expert in the field and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, explained why it is so crazy to ban or restrict these devices while still allowing cigarettes to be sold to everyone.

In 2015, Public Health England (PHE) officially declared that “vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.” That statement was reaffirmed by the health body in 2018, when it launched a new campaign called the “PHE Health Harms Campaign.” Many studies around the world have also supported this figure, and these devices have been found to be the most effective smoking cessation tool to date.
 
Meanwhile, panic continues to spread in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says youth vaping has become an “epidemic.” Unfortunately, this narrative does not mention that if teenagers vape instead of smoke cigarettes, which is in fact the case, that would be a positive step toward better public health.

As the FDA itself has acknowledged, nicotine is “most harmful when delivered through combustible tobacco products.” Vaping devices do not release the toxins produced by burning tobacco, the toxins that cause lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease. On its own, nicotine is addictive —— but not toxic,” Siegel said.

Data from other countries tells a different story from the one in the United States.

In fact, contrary to the alarming figures reported by the U.S. FDA, an ASH report from the UK shows that vaping is fully supported as a smoking cessation aid, while smoking rates in the UK are at a historic low. The proportion of people under 18 who have tried vaping has fallen to its lowest level since 2016.

“Vaping is uncommon among young people who have never smoked. The vast majority of never-smokers aged 11-18 (93.8%) have either never used an e-cigarette (87.8%) or are unaware of e-cigarettes (6.0%). Among never-smoking young people aged 11-18, only 5.5% have ever tried an e-cigarette, 0.8% are current users, and only 0.1% vape more than once a week. No never-smoker vapes daily.”