France: A Year of Vaping Is Less Dangerous Than a Day of Smoking

On the 11th of last month, during a meeting organized by the French National Laboratory to assess the harm of e-cigarettes, Professor Bernard Dautzenberg once again expressed his views on the use of e-cigarettes. His analogy comparing e-cigarettes to cars speeding on a highway is well-known (smoking this type of cigarette is like driving at 140 km/h instead of 130), which is why pulmonologists are trying to simplify the toxicological analysis of e-cigarettes in another way. On this day, he expressed the view that "vaping for a year is less dangerous than smoking for a day." This statement by Dr. Dautzenberg was made in response to the huge controversy caused by a misinterpretation of a previous study from Japan.

The vapor emitted by e-cigarettes contains 9 to 450 times fewer toxic substances compared to regular cigarettes. To arrive at this conclusion, researchers tested the components of e-cigarettes, and chemical engineers at the French National Laboratory used an advanced "capture and separation technology" to extract different components from the vapor. The results showed that the detected toxic substances, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, or acrolein, were present in very low quantities, allowing us to determine that e-cigarettes pose significantly lower risks compared to regular tobacco. The French National Laboratory also explained that the toxic substances produced by e-cigarettes depend on the device's heating power (i.e., temperature) and the evaporation environment of the vapor.

Professor Dautzenberg stated that e-cigarettes are more beneficial to personal health than regular cigarettes, but product standardization is still needed. The French Standardization Association is currently testing products, and it is believed that e-cigarettes will soon be standardized for mass production.