The evidence against vaping is starting to build up

Vaping may still be a much better option for our health than smoking but the evidence against e-cigarettes is starting to pile up, scientists are saying.

Last month, a key study raised the prospect for the first time that vaping may potentially cause cancer, after finding e-cigarette users suffered some similar changes to their DNA as tobacco smokers who develop the disease – although researchers conceded it was still far to early to draw firm conclusions.

Read Next

Now, a major new science paper suggests that vapers are almost 20 per cent more likely to develop heart failure over a four-year period compared with people who have never used e-cigarettes – a finding that will have implications for millions of Britons.

Dr Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, a doctor in Baltimore and lead researcher on the new study, said: “More and more studies are linking e-cigarettes to harmful effects and finding that it might not be as safe as previously thought.”

There are also concerns that nicotine – found in tobacco and e-cigarettes alike – can harm the development of the adolescent brain.

This is particularly concerning given that vaping among 11 to 17-year-olds has almost doubled in the last three years to 7.6 per cent of the UK population, despite it being illegal for under-18s to vape.

Some of that rise will be teenagers replacing tobacco with e-cigarettes – with experts still in little doubt that vaping is less harmful than tobacco smoking, though more research is needed.

However, a 2020 study from the Australian National University (ANU) found “clear evidence that non-smokers who use e-cigarettes are around three times as likely to take up conventional smoking as their peers who don’t use e-cigarettes”.

With concern growing about vaping, it is crucial to minimise its uptake among teenagers. So the Government’s plan to ban disposable vapes and restrict flavours and packaging a year from now is a welcome, if perhaps belated, move.