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Research Estimates Vaping is At Least 95% Less Harmful than Smoking

posted by n1 on Tuesday January 01 2019, @07:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the blowing-smoke dept.

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Public Health England (PHE) has released a new film showing the devastating harms that come from smoking, and how this can be avoided by switching to an e-cigarette or using another type of quit aid.

The film has been released as part of PHE’s Health Harms campaign, which encourages smokers to attempt to quit this January, by demonstrating the personal harm to health from every single cigarette.

The film features smoking expert Dr Lion Shahab and Dr Rosemary Leonard, visually demonstrating the high levels of cancer-causing chemicals and tar inhaled by an average smoker over a month, compared to not smoking or using an e-cigarette.

The results of the demonstration visually illustrate the stark contrast between the impacts of smoking and vaping. Research estimates that while not risk-free, vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking.

Around 2.5 million adults are using e-cigarettes in England, and they have helped thousands of people successfully quit – but many smokers (44%) either believe that vaping is as harmful as smoking (22%) or don’t know that vaping poses much lower risks to health (22%).

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @09:27PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @09:27PM (#780731)

    LOL... they are a lobbying arm of the vaping indystry, funded by Juul!!!

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by black6host on Tuesday January 01 2019, @10:39PM (2 children)

    by black6host (3827) on Tuesday January 01 2019, @10:39PM (#780765) Journal

    Actually, there's a good read in the Lancet about where the figure of 95% came from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2900042-2/fulltext [thelancet.com]

    The last two paragraphs are worth reading with care.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @11:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @11:01PM (#780769)

      Excellent catch! OP may have been kidding, but looks like it really is the case.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by SpockLogic on Wednesday January 02 2019, @01:37PM

      by SpockLogic (2762) on Wednesday January 02 2019, @01:37PM (#781006)

      I think it is worth quoting from the final paragraph of The Lancet article cited above for those who find it tl;dr.

      But the reliance by PHE on work that the authors themselves accept is methodologically weak, and which is made all the more perilous by the declared conflicts of interest surrounding its funding, raises serious questions not only about the conclusions of the PHE report, but also about the quality of the agency's peer review process. PHE claims that it protects and improves the nation's health and wellbeing. To do so, it needs to rely on the highest quality evidence. On this occasion, it has fallen short of its mission.

      As always, FOLLOW THE MONEY.

      --
      Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII

  • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @11:44PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 01 2019, @11:44PM (#780786)

    Of course. Nobody does science any more. Or rather, science has been subordinated to the marketing department. So we see big tobacco with their moral panic (ironically enough) and Juul with their equally wrong bullshit.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by GeminiDomino on Wednesday January 02 2019, @05:53AM

      by GeminiDomino (661) on Wednesday January 02 2019, @05:53AM (#780907)

      Juul with their equally wrong bullshit

      Have you read the actual study and sight some anomaly in their data or a methodology error? Or maybe a source where it was reproduced and came out with different results? Or did you only get as far as the funding disclosure before drawing that conclusion?

      Pretty much any science (except maybe deep-range astronomy, but that may just be a lack of mercantile creativity on my part) is going to have a commercial interest if you follow the money far enough.

      Dismissing it based only on who paid for it is as antithetical to "science" as made-to-order results.

      --
      "We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of our culture"