Knowledge Shot: Vaping versus smoking: what are the risks

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are handheld devices that recreate the feeling of smoking regular cigarettes but are widely believed to be a much safer form of tobacco.

That’s partly why there’s been a spike in e-cigarette use, or vaping, over the past few years, especially in pre-teens and teenagers.

So what are the differences between vaping and smoking, and how safe is vaping?

Let’s start with cigarette smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable deaths - killing nearly half a million people a year in the United States alone, with nearly a tenth of those deaths among non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Cigarettes are usually composed of tobacco, paper, a filter, and additives.

These additives can be any number of hundreds of things like sugars which improve the taste of the cigarette, ammonia which enhances the effects felt by nicotine, and menthol which can ease the throat irritation caused by smoking.

When the cigarette burns, it produces smoke, which is then inhaled to deliver the nicotine to the lungs.

Burning produces thousands of toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and carbon monoxide which damage the inner lining of arteries which increases the risk of cancers, heart attacks, and stroke.

In general, it’s thought that nicotine is responsible for the addictive qualities of cigarette smoke, while the toxins are responsible for the negative health consequences of smoking.

This is where e-cigarettes come in.

These devices have a mouthpiece, a heating element, a power source, and a reservoir filled with a liquid called e-liquid which contains nicotine and other chemicals.

Some of them, like the popular JUUL device, are designed to look like a USB thumb drive to be more discrete.

These devices work by heating the e-liquid to create an aerosol, called vapor, that can be inhaled and delivers a similar dose of nicotine as cigarette smoke.

Because there’s no combustion, there are 10 to 100 times lower levels of toxic chemicals in e-cigarette vapor compared to cigarette smoke.

The vapor does contain potential hazards substances, though, like ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems whether the particles are made from toxic chemicals or not; flavorings such as diacetyl which has been linked to lung disease; volatile organic compounds which can cause tissue damage and irritation; cancer causing chemicals like formaldehyde; and heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead which can cause organ damage and memory loss.

One worrying trend, however, is the rise of vaping among young people.