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Medicine Science

Vaping Can Be Addictive and May Lure Teenagers to Smoking, Science Panel Concludes (nytimes.com) 229

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
A national panel of public health experts concluded in a report released on Tuesday that vaping with e-cigarettes that contain nicotine can be addictive and that teenagers who use the devices may be put at higher risk of switching to traditional smoking. From a report: Whether teenage use of e-cigarettes may lead to conventional smoking has been intensely debated in the United States and elsewhere. While the industry argues that vaping is not a steppingstone to conventional cigarettes or addiction, some antismoking advocates contend that young people become hooked on nicotine, and are enticed to cancer-causing tobacco-based cigarettes over time. The new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is the most comprehensive analysis of existing research on e-cigarettes. It concluded the devices are safer than traditional smoking products and that they do help smokers quit, citing conclusive proof that switching can reduce smokers' exposure to deadly tar, numerous dangerous chemicals and other carcinogens.
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Vaping Can Be Addictive and May Lure Teenagers to Smoking, Science Panel Concludes More

Vaping Can Be Addictive and May Lure Teenagers to Smoking, Science Panel Concludes

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  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @11:55AM (#55986611)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Then how do you explain adults (which I'll define here as "at least 25 years old") who are smokers? Who are aware of the enormous preponderance of incontrovertible medical and scientific evidence that smoking is among the worst things you can do to your health, and smoke anyway?

      • Then how do you explain adults (which I'll define here as "at least 25 years old") who are smokers?

        They too were teens once?

        Very few people start smoking at 25.

      • Re:To be human (Score:4, Insightful)

        by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:52PM (#55987129) Homepage Journal

        Then how do you explain adults (which I'll define here as "at least 25 years old") who are smokers? Who are aware of the enormous preponderance of incontrovertible medical and scientific evidence that smoking is among the worst things you can do to your health, and smoke anyway?

        1. Because it is fun/pleasurable

        2. They may be addicted and can't stop.

        That pretty much sums it up I think.

        I quit smoking last year. I was never a heavy smoker, maybe a half to pack a week...except for the weekends. If drinking, I could almost chain smoke a pack in a night.

        That's the real time I miss smoking, it just is so much fun when drinking, especially in a bar with your friends that are smoking too.

        And frankly, the only reason I quit, is that it started to physically hurt and bother me. I would get headaches after smoking (very noticeable if not drinking too)....and it would just make my whole body feel poorly.

        It didn't used to do that..so, I quit.

        I DO miss it when out drinking....but I'm over it and it isn't worth it, so, I"m staying quit.

        The other time I miss it...was the workday smoke break. When I worked on site, it was a GREAT couple of breaks a day. If stuck on a problem, get up, down downstairs smoke one, and often I'd solve problems or have inspiration on my smoke break and run back in after.

        Smoke breaks also were VERY social....I would often rub elbows with upper management on smoke breaks, which did help in my career at times.

        Is it bad for you? Sure, but no one really thinks about that when you're young and in your teens-early 40's even. Hell, till you are about 39 you often still feel bullet proof.

        But to keep from temptation, I avoid some of the bars I used to go to, with everyone smoking inside....if I catch a buzz, I'll want to bum a couple smokes which turns into buying a pack from the bartender that sells them behind the bar...etc.

        But lung cancer just really never crosses your mind, when you're young, you're drinking a beer and chatting up a chick and you're both smoking.

      • Then how do you explain adults (which I'll define here as "at least 25 years old") who are smokers? Who are aware of the enormous preponderance of incontrovertible medical and scientific evidence that smoking is among the worst things you can do to your health, and smoke anyway?

        No, it isn't. Overeating and lack of exercise are the number one killers of both smokers and non-smokers, not cigarettes.

    • "Don't be a such a coward, Kif. Teenagers all smoke, and they seem pretty on the ball!"

  • The gateway drug theory doesn't make sense (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @11:55AM (#55986613) Homepage Journal

    We understand how people can get addicted to opiates and when the supply runs our or their money dries up, they switch to heroin as a cheaper and more widely available source of the high but with eCigarettes, that doesn't hold up.

    Vaping is CHEAPER than smoking. Vaping supplies are widely available.

    It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

    LK

    • Re:The gateway drug theory doesn't make sense (Score:4, Funny)

      by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:01PM (#55986665)

      It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

      LK

      Sorry but you failed to not apply logic. Branding, trends and popular culture all push people far away from sensible cheap alternatives, teens rarely make rational reasoned decisions - it's how it feels instead.

      That said caffeine is the real gateway drug, once I got high on that, around 6 or so, I was hooked on how good drugs can be.

      • It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

        LK

        Sorry but you failed to not apply logic. Branding, trends and popular culture all push people far away from sensible cheap alternatives, teens rarely make rational reasoned decisions - it's how it feels instead.

        On the surface, I agree with Lord Kano. If vaping is cheaper, I'm not sure why anyone would go to cigarettes. Branding, trends, and popular culture are pushing to discourage cigarettes. Vaping seems much more popular.

        That being said, it shouldn't be much of a leap to have some solid studies to see if people are in fact using vape as a stepping stone to cigs.

      • That said caffeine is the real gateway drug, once I got high on that, around 6 or so, I was hooked on how good drugs can be.

        I once heard a friend of mine say that the "Real Gateway Drug" is spinning around until you get dizzy.

        Virtually everyone has done it and those who develop a liking for it go on to try more intense sensations.

        LK

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Hadlock ( 143607 )

        Vaping is cheaper, and doesn't make your clothes reek like homeless people. I don't see why a teenager would switch to burning leaves for more money if they're trying to look cool and keep it from their parents.

        Vaping is weird and probably worse for you than breathing air, but it doesn't impact me or my freedoms, I super don't care if teens do it. Smoking leaves is a public health hazard and the smell of the smoke lingers for years, I definitely have an incentive to protect my right to life and libe

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by swb ( 14022 )

        This makes no sense.

        I'd wager 99% of never-smoker vapers use some sweet and fruity vape juice.

        It's just not logical that they would decide that the taste of a cigarette would be at all appealing vs. vaping, regardless of branding, trends, and pop culture.

        I smoked hand-rolled cigarettes for years and could barely tolerate a factory rolled cigarette when I was an active smoker. After quitting smoking, all cigarettes are super gross. Even cannabis is pretty nasty, it's only redeeming quality that you only ne

    • It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

      All that tar is tasty.

      (according to Marlboro Man)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Mashiki ( 184564 )

        All that tar is tasty.

        (according to Marlboro Man)

        Funny thing about all that tar. If you're a welder and smoker, the chances of getting lung cancer are decreased. Same thing if you worked in mines before the various safety standards came into play. Or say worked a shit job where most of your time was standing over vats of sulfuric acid used in various industry processes.

    • Re:The gateway drug theory doesn't make sense (Score:4, Informative)

      by Attila Dimedici ( 1036002 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:09PM (#55986727)
      You are overlooking an important part of this:
      • various levels of government entered into an agreement with the tobacco companies for those companies to pay them a certain percentage of their revenue each year.
      • Many of those governments issued bonds with a repayment schedule based on what those payments were projected to be.
      • Partly as a result of vaping, the tobacco company revenues are not as large as projected
      • As a result of lower than projected tobacco company revenues, payments to those government bodies is less than projected.
        • This set of facts leaves those governmental bodies with insufficient revenue to pay the bonds they issued without dipping into tax revenues. Therefore, the NYT is shilling for the tobacco companies to prop up their revenue.

      • Therefore, the NYT is shilling for the tobacco companies to prop up their revenue.

        More properly, the NYT is shilling for the government(s) to prop up their tax stream....

        • Minor quibble, the NYT is shilling for the tobacco companies in order to prop up the tax stream of the governmental bodies. I find it highly incongruous that an organization that once demonized Big Tobacco now finds itself campaigning to increase its revenue.

          It reminds me of when Mayor Bloomberg passed a large tax increase on cigarettes in order to "reduce smoking" and a ban on smoking just about every where, then was shocked that people actually smoked so much less that the tax generated massively less

    • We understand how people can get addicted to opiates and when the supply runs our or their money dries up, they switch to heroin as a cheaper and more widely available source of the high but with eCigarettes, that doesn't hold up.

      Vaping is CHEAPER than smoking. Vaping supplies are widely available.

      It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

      LK

      Every smoker I know who tried to vape as an alternative ultimately quit and went back to the original cancer sticks.

      If vaping were actually an effective alternative to nicotine addiction, we wouldn't see many people still choosing cigarettes.

      • Every smoker I know who tried to vape as an alternative ultimately quit and went back to the original cancer sticks.

        I wonder if there are any studies on that.

        Most of the smokers that I know who went to vaping either reduced or eliminated their "regular" smoking activity.

        LK

      • in my circles, 80 percent of those who switched to vaping have within 1 year quit sticks and only vape, or quit both sticks and vapes.

      • Re:The gateway drug theory doesn't make sense (Score:5, Informative)

        by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @01:29PM (#55987479)

        Tobacco contains a variety of psychoactive chemicals, mostly alkaloids and nitrosamines. Nicotine is the most well known, and tobacco plants produce a large amount of it. Several of the alkaloids would be called "antidepressants", if they were being sold by a pharmaceutical company.

        Traditional electronic cigarette juice contains none of these other chemicals. They contain nicotine has has been extracted from tobacco leaves, and then purified. Which is important, because...

        Different people react to the different chemicals in different ways. Some people develop an addiction to nicotine only, while other people also develop addiction to the other alkaloids. The people who do not get addicted to the lesser chemicals generally stop smoking permanently within a day or two after getting an electronic cigarette. It really is almost like flipping a switch in them.

        I know at least a dozen people in real life like that, and I've read hundreds of their stories online since like 2009 or 2010 (whenever I first started looking into electronic cigarettes). I've never heard of anyone in this group ever having gone back to smoking, ever, for any reason. Quite a few of them have reduced their nicotine intake to zero and a several have stopped using their electronic cigarettes entirely, but most don't see any point because nicotine isn't very harmful by itself.

        Other people, if their brains get more involved with the other alkaloids, fit on a spectrum. Some of them took months to quit smoking, others haven't quit entirely and maybe never will. For those people, things like snus can be used to fill in the missing chemicals, and work is underway to develop liquids that contain the full spectrum of tobacco-derived alkaloids.

        These other chemicals were poorly understood 10 years ago, at least by laymen. Possibly researchers in some specific fields were well aware of them, but pretty much no one else was. Today, they are fairly well understood by (at least) the enthusiast portion of the electronic cigarette community. But I haven't seen any reason to think that they've entered the general consciousness.

        No offense intended towards you, but your knowledge of the subject appears to be about on the level that a high school student would learn in health class in the 1990s. Thinking in terms of "nicotine addiction" is a dead giveaway! I encourage you to educate yourself on the subject matter if you find it likely that you will be offering your opinion to others in the future.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        That was a problem, especially with the old "cigalike" e-cigs. They just couldn;t provide enough nicotine.

        I managed to switch ans stay switched anyway.

        A big part of the issue is that cigarette smoke also contains MAOIs that potentiate nicotine's addictive properties. You have to INCREASE nicotine consumption when first switching just to maintain something like status quo. Then after getting thoroughly used to the e-cig, you can slowly back off on the nicotine.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by BlueStrat ( 756137 )

      It's nonsensical to think that people would seek alternatives to the cheaper method that they're already using.

      What the real concerns over vaping by the politicians are, are a loss of tax/licensing revenue from lost tobacco product sales, loss of government control over an aspect of people's lives, and the loss of those sweet, sweet, tobacco and healthcare industry political donations.

      The point of these sorts of "studies" and "reports" is to spread FUD around vaping in the public's mind and to try to bring public opinion around such that enacting bans or heavy regulation on vaping won't lose the politicians too much

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by arth1 ( 260657 )

      Vaping is CHEAPER than smoking.

      Not necessarily. It's not just e-liquid. The cost of vaporizers, tanks, mouth pieces, chargers and electricity isn't zero. And coils and batteries are considered consumables to be replaced.

      I'd estimate that the average vaper probably spends twice as much as the e-liquid on the hobby. Some a lot more.

      • Vaping is CHEAPER than smoking.

        Not necessarily. It's not just e-liquid. The cost of vaporizers, tanks, mouth pieces, chargers and electricity isn't zero. And coils and batteries are considered consumables to be replaced.

        I'd estimate that the average vaper probably spends twice as much as the e-liquid on the hobby. Some a lot more.

        Your estimate is off by a pretty large factor. My $160/m smoke habit (from two years ago) is now a $20/m vape habit. Of all the people I know who switched from cigarettes to vaping (+-20 or so people) none of gone back to cigarettes.

        In short, vaping is on track to costing the state quite a bundle on lost taxes.

      • They're all consumables but they have a life-cycle.

        Just a top of the head calculation...

        I used to smoke 3-4 packs per week. I'll just call it 3.5 packs per week.
        If I call it $8.00 per pack, that would be $28 per week smoking tobacco.

        I currently use an Aspire CF Sub Ohm that I paid $50 for, almost 3 years ago. In that time, I have had to replace the battery once and that battery cost me $10. That takes the cost of that unit to about $60.
        I use a Kanger Subtank Min II, which cost me about $45, 3 years ago.

        I re

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by arth1 ( 260657 )

          Thanks, that's illuminating.
          It's likely going to be slightly more than your estimate, if you add charging electricity, cleaning supplies, broken USB cables (don't tell me you got one that lasted 3 years) and other things we didn't think of, but it seems it's still cheaper than smoking for you. And probably less damaging.

          • Thanks, that's illuminating.
            It's likely going to be slightly more than your estimate, if you add charging electricity, cleaning supplies, broken USB cables (don't tell me you got one that lasted 3 years) and other things we didn't think of, but it seems it's still cheaper than smoking for you. And probably less damaging.

            Cleaning supplies are things that I'd already have. Paper towels, for example. Yes, I do have to pay for the electricity to charge it but to charge a 2200mah battery can't be that much, it would seem to be on the order of tens of cents per day. Yes, I have more than one USB charging dongle. I keep one at work and one at home so I can always charge wherever I am and there's less wear and tear. I also keep a couple of Anker chargers. One at home and one at work so that my work and personal phones can always b

    • Heroin is an opiate moron. Do you have a specific opiate in mind?

      • All of the non-fucktarded people who read my original comment understood that I was referring to people who become addicted to pharmaceutical opiates. Like any of the various pain pills that people use recreationally or after an injury.

        But by all means, be a douchebag with your query instead of just asking like a normal person.

        LK

  • Unbiased data hard to find (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xtal ( 49134 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @11:58AM (#55986641)

    Nicotine is an interesting drug with a lot of psychoactive properties. There's a reason it's popular.

    However, try to find data on health impacts from infrequent use, or infrequent smoking, or even to suggest such a thing is possible, is not very easy to do.

    Likewise, quantitative data on the beneficial effects of smoking is very difficult to find. There is evidence for increased memory performance, mood stabilizing, and possible anti-psychotic effects.

    There's no question smoking is bad for you.. but drugs have benefits and side effects, and personally, I'd like to know both.

    • Re:Unbiased data hard to find (Score:4, Informative)

      by Linux_ho ( 205887 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:05PM (#55986695) Homepage

      As someone who struggled with nicotine addiction for decades, I can testify to its addictive nature. There is also pretty compelling evidence that nicotine is bad for your heart, just like cocaine which has a similar addictive mechanism.

    • It would also be helpful to draw a distinction between pure nicotine and the other chemicals that tobacco consists of.
      Something in tobacco, not nicotine, supposedly acts as an MAOI.
      Many people are unable to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes and stick with it, and it would be good to know just what it is that's got people hooked.

  • Addiction is 21st Century Capitalism (Score:3)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @12:10PM (#55986735)

    "...public health experts concluded in a report released on Tuesday that vaping with e-cigarettes that contain nicotine can be addictive..."

    Wait, you mean nicotine-infused products are still addictive? Gee, can't imagine how that wasn't rather fucking obvious after Big Tobacco agreed to a couple hundred billion in medical settlements 20 years ago.

    Starbucks. Big Pharma. Gaming. Social Media. Addiction is nothing more than 21st Century Capitalism. If you're not making a patented/trademarked product that's physically, mentally, or psychologically addictive these days, investors will be quick to point out that you're fucking doing it wrong.

  • I vape while I browse Tinder in my Corvette.
  • I get what they're saying, but it's stupid. If you have two groups, one that doesn't smoke anything, one that vapes, the group that vapes would be more likely to try actual cigs.

    However, vaporizers themselves are pretty danged safe, and there is plenty of science showing this. Most of the problems with vaporizers are when people modify them so they being to combust the fluid rather than evaporate it.
  • That's all vaping and e-cigarettes are, been calling them that since they first appeared, and that's objectively what they are.

  • I don't buy into this "vaping is safer cause less tar" bullshit. There are numerous studies that show marijuana doesn't increase your risk of lung cancer over non-smokers. So it's not the tar/burning particulate matter that leads to cancer as people keep claiming. I mean you get mouth cancer from chewing tobacco, so nicotine is pretty bad in and of itself.

    The trouble with smoking is that the effects aren't immediate. It takes decades of use to see the results. That's one of the reasons it was so difficult t

    • No evidence has yet shown a definitive link between MJ smoking and lung cancer. But MJ smoke contains many of the same known carcinogens as tobacco smoke, or smoke from burning ANY kind of dried plant material, for that matter.

      The lack of cancer in pot smokers then would seem to come down to a few key differences:

      The amount of material being smoked. Even the heaviest pot smoker is going through a LOT less material and inhaling a LOT less smoke than your typical tobacco smoker. A pack of cigarettes is the r

    • no, there would already be statistical significance of lung cancer from vaping showing....but there just isn't.

      breathing smoke is bad for you, firemen has the increased risk of lung cancer too.

      No, I don't vape or smoke but it's clear why vaping is safer

    • I don't know anyone who could knock back a pack a day of blunts. My mom would sometimes go through two packs. She died of lung cancer at 55.
    • Flue-cured tobacco used in chewing products, dip, snuff, etc. (pretty much all of it sold in the US) contains tons of fun stuff, e.g. tobacco-specific nitrosamines (which seem to be one of the biggest chemical hazards of it). This also applies to *some* tobacco extract vape flavorings, where they haven't been specifically removed. I'm going to continue to work under the assumption that it's not likely that the nicotine is the primary cause of the cancer (though there's no reason not to assume it wouldn't ha
  • Why would they be sold if they didn't offer a chance of addiction? Otherwise the kids who buy them would try them once, realize it is a colossal waste of money, and then go back to smoking regular weed like the rest of us. The market is taking advantage of the fact that there are almost zero regulations pertaining to them right now and flooding every head shop and gas station with all kinds of random crap sold under all kinds of illogical names and claims.

    • Why would they be sold if they didn't offer a chance of addiction? Otherwise the kids who buy them would try them once, realize it is a colossal waste of money, and then go back to smoking regular weed like the rest of us.

      Going back to smoking weed in vaporizers ideally. I switched from primarily burning weed to a vaporizer years ago and it just "feels" healthier. No coughing. Still smoke joints socially, but vaporizers are becoming more and more common.

  • From personal experience, as a smoker for 15 years, smoking upwards of 2 packs a day, switching to vape HAS made a tremendous impact on my bank account and how I feel. It tastes better than cigarettes (DUH!), my lungs don't hurt, I don't wheeze anymore, my car doesn't smell like ciggarettes, and I don't have ashes everywhere. Switching to vapor has been a solid WIN for me. I have been vaping almost 4 years now and successfully quit smoking. I thought one day I would try and smoke a ciggarette and I couldn't

  • Doesn't do a body good (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @01:02PM (#55987235) Journal

    There is an enormous push by the tobacco industry to take over vaping via regulation to hinder competition. If they can press into service "useful idiots", i.e. moral busybodies, all the better.

    See also taxi services trying to tie up Uber and Lyft.

    I'm ready for my downmod, busybodies^H^H^H^H^H^H Mr. Demille!

  • Big tobacco not getting that HEETS traction... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cloud.pt ( 3412475 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @01:13PM (#55987309)

    I guess phillip morris and co aren't really getting the desired product adherence on their "heat-not-burn-definetely-not-vape" product, so they're back to old tactics of subsidizing "may" studies about vaping. I am a vaper, and I will tell you for sure: vaping IS addictive, surely a habit, and to an extent can be a social reason to transition to cigarretes, but the correlation of that transition on the young population is more likely to be out of individuals' environment for vaping already being a biased environment for smoking.

    So until we get a study that takes into account this correlation, to me this is just more propaganda from a scientific lobby that is financed by an industry that has been in steep decline, not only due to e-cigarettes but also from societal patterns changing in evolved countries. I hope vaping goes away eventually - I love it, but it is a lesser evil. And by being the lesser evil of tobacco, I hope tobacco goes away much sooner than vaping. Because I know with a high degree of certainty I am more likely to die if I have a political reason to stop vaping and going back to smoking, you know, like the government baning ecigs...

    If you really want solid science about ecigs, vaping, HEETS and real tobacco products comparison, you should lookup Doctor Konstantinos' Farsalinos work - he has been a reference in the unbiased nicotine research for the last 10 years now.

  • "can be" "may" (Score:3)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @01:16PM (#55987339)

    So no solid evidence, and breathing smoke, whether from burning building or tobacco or tree is worse for you than vaping.

    Here's an idea, outlaw cigarettes, pipe tobacco, cigars...and let vaping be unregulated. Watch the lung cancer rates plummet.

    • Watch nicotine addition sky rocket....

      • that's just fear mongering, nicotine is available now in many forms

        besides, proven that nicotine in itself, meaning not smoked, is less addictive than caffeine.

        no additional harm made by vaping mainstream product mixes, and many benefits to getting rid of smokeable tobacco products

  • I smoked when I was a teenager, quit in my twenties and went back to it a few years ago. I hung out with a few people that smoked cigars and thought I would never go back to cigarettes. After a few weeks my brain said "HELLO OLD FRIEND" to the nicotine.

    I just quit 5 weeks ago and I can tell you it isn't just nicotine that keeps you smoking. I used nicotine lozenges to quit this time, but there was still a lot of willpower needed. I ate those lozenges like they were candy but I still felt a lot of withdrawal

    • As someone who just quit smoking in favor of vaping, yes, nicotine isn't the only thing that keeps you smoking. I think its the combination of nicotine AND the activity itself. Because I've NEVER been able to quite using nicotine replacement (patches, gum, lozenges) or just trying to divert my attention to other things (fiddling with things, etc). But the combination of nicotine AND an activity has done it, and broken the smoking cycle for me.

      Right now i'm at 12mg of nicotine juice. Some friends have said "

  • So, someone assumed while smoking tobacco causes addiction to nicotine, 'smoking' pure nicotine with a vapper does not cause addiction?
    And to be sure, they even needed a study?

  • FTA:

    "The vaping industry, as well as traditional tobacco companies, are also gearing up for a lengthy fight with the F.D.A. over the campaign by the agency’s commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, to slash levels of nicotine in traditional cigarettes to nonaddictive or minimally addictive levels."

    "The panel found evidence among studies it reviewed that vaping may prompt teenagers or young adults to try regular cigarettes, putting them at higher risk for addiction..."

    "More intriguing was the report

  • As a long time smoker who switch to vaping, I think these are fantastic inventions from a harm reduction standpoint. As far as I've read, it's a far safer nicotine delivery system than inhaling burning plant products and by products, not to mention the hundreds of additives used for flavoring and to insure even burning, and I'm happy as a clam that I switched.

    That said.

    Who asked these scientists to study whether nicotine (a chemical we already know is addictive) is still addictive when inhaled as a vapor ra

  • I hate misleading titles (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Coldeagle ( 624205 ) on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @02:12PM (#55987855)

    This kind of stuff drives me nuts. The title of this article is misleading. If you read through you'll find this piece:

    "The panel found evidence among studies it reviewed that vaping may prompt teenagers or young adults to try regular cigarettes, putting them at higher risk for addiction, but that any significant linkage between e-cigarettes and long-term smoking has not been established"

    From what I read it looks like there is no significant linkage. The article also didn't give any specifics. Based on my reading it sounds like someone may have tried a cigarette after vaping. I bet if you compared those numbers to those who have tried a cigarette without vaping you would probably see a corollary. This article seems to try imply that there is a larger linkage. It feels like folks are trying to slant this towards their own agenda.

    I hate how people try to villainize vaping. Here are some facts as someone who has quit smoking by switching to vaping:

    • I quit smoking because vaping tasted better. One day (when I was alternating between smoking and vaping) I started smoking a cigarette and said to my self, "This tastes like sh** why am I doing this?" I proceeded to switch back to vaping and gave away the remainder of my cigarettes. I have had one cigarette since and it was so unappetizing that it's ridiculous. I haven't wanted another one since.
    • Vaping can be significantly less expensive than smoking. I spend about $200 a year on e juice (because I buy in bulk), I used to spend that in a month on cigarettes, now it would probably be closer to 300 because of tax increases.
    • I keep vaping because it's a habit replacement. I still use a little nicotine (3mg/ml), just enough to get a little buzz. I vape ~6 ml per day, so I'm getting ~18mg of nicotine per day. One cigarette is on average 12 mg of nicotine. I can go for hours without vaping without real issue. Smoking I couldn't go more than an hour or so without getting anxious.
    • After completely switching to vaping for a month, I was able to go up four flights of stairs without getting winded. I used to get winded going up two.
    • I don't wake up coughing everyday like I did when I smoked
    • My sense of taste and smell have improved. My overall health has improved

    Now I would like to emphasize that vaping is a habit replacement for me. Habits can be a mother f***er to break. I think it's the habit that is what makes smoking so difficult to quit. Read a great book called, "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg. It was very eye opening. It's habits that are difficult to break. The physical addiction is over fairly quickly, but coming up with a habit replacement is what really made the difference for me quitting smoking and succeeding at it. I smoked for 15 years, tried quitting at least 15 times. I have been smoke free for nearly 3 years thanks to vaping.

    Why keep vaping? Well see above. Also, the primary ingredients in most ejuice are vegetable glycerin (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). Both of which have been studied and been found to be safe. PG has been used in fog machines for years with no ill effects found.

    Also, most of the studies that find toxins and the such related to vaping are from what's called a dry hit, meaning that you're essentially burning the wicking material because it doesn't have enough liquid, thus causing a different reaction than heating. One generally doesn't like the taste of a dry hit, it's nasty and if it happens you fix the issue by adding more liquid or replacing the atomizer. You still get more carcinogenics and toxic byproducts from a cigarette puff than a dry hit.

    Not looking to start an argument, just wanted to put out what I've experienced and why articles like this tend to piss me off. As a rule I don't think anyone should start smoking. I would rather kids not vape too, it's a habit and there are risks of habit formation (even without nicotine, which creates an addiction on top of the habit); however, kids are going to want to rebel and b

  • If the government don't want people smoking then ban it. I don't have time for all of this "Ooo, it's so bad, people shouldn't do it. But we won't ban it."

    And leave vaping alone, it's safe and fun for all.

  • The fact that it is still called "vaping" by people who should know better (ie, anyone over the age of 16) doesn't help either. The alternate name helps to perpetuate the mythology of it somehow being safe, or safer than smoking. Call a spade a spade, and call electronic smoking smoking. More so, call electronic smoking unsafe.

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