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> It may turn out that e-cigarettes are, on the balance, safer than cigarettes, however it's way too early to make that claim with any level of certainty Publi
by zethraeus 8y ago
> It may turn out that e-cigarettes are, on the balance, safer than cigarettes, however it's way too early to make that claim with any level of certainty
Public Health England, which informs NHS policy estimates vaping is 95% less bad for your health than smoking cigarettes.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733022/Ecigarettes_an_evidence_update_A_report_commissioned_by_Public_Health_England_FINAL.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
I acknowledge that this is an appeal to authority, and that there's valuable research still to be done. But, cigarettes are one of the worst possible things that people habitually do to their bodies. It's reasonable that it wouldn't be hard to do a lot better.
I think it's fair to describe the NHS's public health arm as a decently conservative organization. Public health is a conservative practice after all, and they're decent at it. I read these numbers in that light.
> 'Some flavourings and constituents in e-cigarettes may pose risks over the long term. We consider the 5% residual risk to be a cautious estimate allowing for this
uncertainty.'
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/456704/McNeill-Hajek_report_authors_note_on_evidence_for_95_estimate.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
- hopler 8y agoWhat does "5% as harmful mean" when users are comsuming 20x as much because puffing a vape is as easy as checking a text message on your watch? One vape pod is a pack of cigarettes, with no barrier to puffing. Kids can't smoke cigarettes all day long in school. They can vape all day long in school, and some do, limited only by availability of money.
- zethraeus 8y agoI don’t vape and don’t really know common vaping patterns. I will point out, though, that cigarettes aren’t really subdivisble, and humans are remis to waste. W/r/t definition, the second linked pdf makes reference to measured composition of known bads in vapour:smoke and asserts the ratio is smaller than 1:20. Also refers you to the preexisting literature. https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/360220 https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/360220 That paper defines harms as a combination of health and social factors, with a large weighting towards morbidity.