Which Is More Harmful: E-Cigarettes or Traditional Cigarettes?
The answer to this question is quite clear. In terms of harm, e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than traditional cigarettes. This is also one of the main reasons why e-cigarettes were initially used to replace traditional cigarettes for addiction treatment.
So, some friends may ask, why are e-cigarettes less harmful than traditional cigarettes? The main differences between e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes in terms of harm are twofold: the differences in tobacco components and the differences in vaporization. Let's discuss this in detail.
In terms of composition, the harm of e-cigarettes is far less than that of traditional cigarettes. Tar is the most harmful component of traditional cigarette smoke, referring to the layer of brown oily substance that remains in the cigarette filter when smoking, commonly known as tobacco oil. A very intuitive change during smoking is that the color of the filter gradually darkens as you smoke, and the fingers holding the cigarette also get stained. Of course, after smoking, teeth will also be stained. This is due to tar. Tar is not just about discoloration. In fact, it is a product of incomplete combustion of organic matter under anaerobic conditions, thus containing a large number of substances, many of which are carcinogenic, such as benzo[a]pyrene, cadmium, arsenic, β-carotene, amines, nitrosamines, and phenolic compounds.
Because of this, traditional tobacco is listed as one of the carcinogenic substances by the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization. Furthermore, cigarette tar accelerates the aging of blood vessels in the human body, leading to gradual hardening and loss of elasticity, resulting in cardiovascular diseases. Many other diseases are often caused by tar. Therefore, many doctors' first recommendation for various diseases is to quit smoking. So, is there a way to solve the tar issue? The answer is basically no; there is no way to solve it. There have been instances where individuals have been criticized for reducing tar content, including hundreds of academicians who jointly wrote to the state requesting disqualification. Yang Gonghuan, director of the China Tobacco Control Office, stated that the "harm reduction" method of cigarettes is a highly effective killing scam.
Many studies at home and abroad have long shown that "low tar" does not mean "low harm"; the "harm reduction" of cigarettes is itself a false proposition, and any "results" based on this are untenable. Moreover, the consequence of low tar is that it leads to larger-scale smoking by users, ultimately increasing harm. So, do e-cigarettes contain tar? The answer is no. One of the biggest advantages of e-cigarettes is that they do not contain tar but use safe VG (vegetable glycerin) and PG (propylene glycol) as substitutes, both of which are common organic solvents. Everyone can see these two ingredients in skincare products. Both are very safe ingredients, and there is at least no sufficient evidence to prove that they are harmful.
Nicotine
Nicotine is another important component of tobacco and is a well-known tobacco ingredient. Nicotine, commonly known as nicotine, does not pose as severe physical harm as cigarette tar. However, nicotine has a troublesome issue: it becomes a problem. Addiction. Nicotine can lead to addiction, which is why smokers find it difficult to quit. At this point, both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes contain nicotine. However, there are still differences between the two. Traditional tobacco itself contains nicotine, which is a product of the growth and secretion of tobacco, making it very difficult to reduce nicotine in traditional tobacco (because tobacco is a physical processing process; nicotine cannot be eliminated without reducing the flavor of the tobacco, which would affect tobacco sales).
On the other hand, e-cigarettes can directly add nicotine, allowing for control over the nicotine ratio, even down to zero nicotine. Of course, some may argue that during this year's 315 event, CCTV mentioned that e-cigarettes exceeded formaldehyde limits. In fact, I wrote a counter-argument because CCTV compared e-cigarettes to ordinary air. What would happen if e-cigarettes were compared to tobacco? The answer is still that traditional smoke is greater. In fact, the combustion of traditional smoke itself produces high concentrations of formaldehyde, so the wolf asking the fox is quite common. Moreover, the presence of formaldehyde mainly arises from unqualified e-liquid. Of course, at present, the state has not yet issued regulations on e-cigarettes, so when purchasing, one can only choose brands recognized by more e-cigarette companies.
Combustion vs. Vaporization
We know that traditional cigarettes need to be burned before they can be smoked, and the combustion process is also a process that produces a large number of harmful substances in tobacco. It is well known that combustion is a chemical reaction process, and traditional tobacco produces many substances after burning. Due to the unevenness of tobacco combustion and the extreme temperature differences at different locations, it is equivalent to diverse chemical reaction conditions, thus producing many harmful substances, which is the main factor of tobacco harm. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, do not burn; they only heat and vaporize. Generally, the vaporization temperature of e-cigarettes is controlled between 250-350°C, and some e-cigarettes can even achieve low-temperature vaporization at 220-250°C. This temperature is far lower than the 700-800°C of traditional tobacco, which greatly reduces the harm of e-cigarettes and decreases the production of harmful substances. This is another important reason for the low harm of e-cigarettes.
In addition, the production of particulate matter is also an important factor. In recent years, the impact of smog has made us pay more attention to environmental protection and health. Everyone understands that there is a substance called suspended particles, which are highly harmful. For example, the most typical is PM2.5, with a diameter of 2.5. Particles close to μm can enter the human body and cause severe harm, such as cardiovascular diseases. The combustion of traditional tobacco produces a large amount of solid suspended particulate matter. The following figure shows the contribution of tobacco combustion to indoor particulate pollution. We can see that after smoking tobacco, a large amount of particulate matter is produced. 10 PM1.0-PM10 increases more than twice, and these solid particles are inhaled into the human body and adhere to the throat, trachea, lungs, etc. They cannot be decomposed. Over time, they can cause irreversible diseases such as throat cancer, tracheal cancer, and lung cancer.
