Are E-Cigarettes Really More Harmful Than Cigarettes?

Are e-cigarettes really more harmful than cigarettes?

There are still some seemingly plausible arguments in society regarding the harm of e-cigarettes.
 

Many people in the e-cigarette industry believe that e-cigarettes "do not release tar" and are relatively less harmful to the human body compared to traditional cigarettes. They think that the promotion of e-cigarettes helps in smoking control, and that the domestic public opinion towards e-cigarettes is overly harsh. They also cite excerpts from the World Health Organization's "2019 Global Tobacco Epidemic Report" indicating that the harm of e-cigarettes is lower than that of traditional cigarettes.

"This viewpoint is taken out of context," said Yin Xi, a tobacco control technical officer at the World Health Organization, in a recent interview with People's Daily.

Yin pointed out that the World Health Organization's "2019 Global Tobacco Epidemic Report" states that based on the evidence available so far, the harmful substances released by e-cigarettes may be lower than those from traditional cigarettes, but there is currently no definitive evidence to quantify their risk levels. "This does not equate to e-cigarettes being less harmful to the human body. Claims that e-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes lack scientific basis."

Zhi Xiuyi, director of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center at Capital Medical University, also believes that the relevant viewpoints of e-cigarette industry personnel "are seriously misguided."

Zhi explained that when the medical community assesses the pathogenicity of tobacco, it needs to consider the number of cigarettes smoked daily and the smoking duration (in years). Currently, e-cigarettes have been on the market for a short time, with many varieties and differing additives, and existing data on the pathogenicity of e-cigarettes is insufficient. The medical community needs to collect more data to scientifically and systematically compare the harmfulness of e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes.

Wu Yiqun, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also pointed out that one cannot use the fact that e-cigarettes "do not release tar" as evidence to prove that e-cigarettes "are less harmful than traditional cigarettes." "The substances released by e-cigarettes contain toxic and even carcinogenic materials; moreover, there are hundreds of varieties of e-cigarettes on the market, with a lack of standards for nicotine content, and a wide variety of flavors and additives, making it impossible to qualitatively and quantitatively compare them with traditional cigarettes."

Yin pointed out that currently, there are some misleading behaviors in the e-cigarette industry during promotion, using phrases like "reduce harm" and "lower risk," which confuse people about whether e-cigarettes are harmful and challenge regulation.

"The World Health Organization believes that e-cigarettes are undoubtedly harmful to the human body," Yin stated, clarifying several points regarding e-cigarettes: "First, e-cigarettes themselves are harmful to the human body; second, e-cigarettes can adversely affect non-users, exposing non-smokers, minors, and pregnant women to harmful substances released by e-cigarettes; third, existing scientific evidence has not proven that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit; fourth, e-cigarettes may become a 'gateway' for young people to try traditional cigarettes, leading to more young people becoming smokers and undermining existing smoking control efforts."

Are e-cigarettes really more harmful than cigarettes? Even if no carbon dioxide and tar are produced during the use of e-cigarettes, it is still possible for other toxic and harmful substances to be generated. Consider that some smoke is produced through electronic components. Could this smoke potentially have other effects on the body? These are unknowns, so be aware.