Electronic cigarettes that heat propylene glycol and glycerol, with or without nicotine and flavours, have been found to be safe based on a new meta-analysis of studies:
An update to the Cochrane review on electronic cigarettes [DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub3] [DX] has restated the findings of the initial research, which was completed two years ago. It found that e-cigarettes are potentially a valuable smoking cessation aid, although there was not enough evidence to conclude that they helped people quit smoking confidently.
The updated review now also includes observational data from an additional 11 studies which found no serious side-effects from using e-cigs for up to two years. Aside from throat and mouth irritation, which commonly dissipated over time, the review's co-author, Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, said "in the short to medium term, we didn't find any evidence that they were associated with any serious side-effects."
Evidence from two trials found that e-cigarettes helped smokers to quit in the long term, but "the small number of trials, low event rates and wide confidence intervals around the estimates" meant that the researchers could not conclude with confidence that e-cigs helped smokers quit more than other cessation aids.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday September 16 2016, @01:03AM
Vaping some flavored nicotine water is a massive reduction in harm if smokers switch from smoking cigarettes.
Nicotine is addictive, and if you can get a smoker to switch to vaping then you have turned their bad habit into something almost as harmless as that natural function of breathing air.
Of course, that natural function will harm you anyway, unless you live far away from modern civilization:
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2013/04/10/hidden-dangers-in-the-air-we-breathe/ [lbl.gov]
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/air-pollution-what-are-we-breathing-and-how-bad-is-it-for-us-102115 [healthline.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/05/toxic-air-pollution-particles-found-in-human-brains-links-alzheimers [theguardian.com]
Just kidding, you will be harmed by breathing even if there was no air pollution:
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/25/magazine/free-radicals-the-price-we-pay-for-breathing.html?pagewanted=all [nytimes.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]