4 ms·

> Products like the Juul are orders of magnitude less harmful than real smoking Source?

Scoundreller 7y ago
Mostly the absence of the carcinogens from combustion. I don’t think there’s clear evidence that the contents of ecigs are safer (too new), but we know how terrible tobacco combustion is. We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful.
- Balgair 7y ago
  > We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful. Source?
  - tempguy9999 7y ago
    Elsewhere in this thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20536162 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20536162
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-nicotine-all-bad/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-nicotine-all-b...
    - Balgair 7y ago
      > So far the answers aren't clear. That article contains no information that clearly states that nicotine is harmless, just that using vapes and nicotinic gums are less harmful than the use of cigarettes. To be clear, it does not say that nicotine is harmful, nor does it say that it is harmless.
      - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        > We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful. I.e. not harmless, but not especially harmful. Like caffeine. Remember, humans have a 100% mortality rate.
        Balgair 7y ago
        Despite the fact that you cannot get out of life alive, the evidence seems to be unclear on if nicotine is harmful or not and what, if any, effects it may have on the quality of a life that will end or the effects on the time of death.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Yes, but that is true for a lot of substances, like again, caffeine. All we know is that we have yet to find evidence that nicotine is especially harmful, and that’s just how it works in the biological sciences. If everything required proof of no harm, we would simply die of starvation.
  - DanBC 7y ago
    US Surgeon General's report is pretty good. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/tobacco/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/... In the context of tobacco the nicotine is addictive; possibly carcinogenic; but there's a load of other stuff in tobacco which is far worse. I think it would be foolish to allow 16 year olds to have access to nicotine products unless they're already smokers.
dave7 7y ago
There are many, here is one I hope you find reputable - The Royal Collage of Physicians. https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely-substitute-smoking-says-new-rcp-report https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely... A quote: "Although it is not possible to estimate the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely, the available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5% of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure"
- Balgair 7y ago
  >... it is not possible to estimate the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely... > the possibility of some harm from long-term e-cigarette use cannot be dismissed due to inhalation of the ingredients other than nicotine > Smokers should be reassured that these products can help them quit all tobacco use forever. > This new report builds on that work and concludes that, for all the potential risks involved, harm reduction has huge potential to prevent death and disability from tobacco use, and to hasten our progress to a tobacco-free society. The report is pretty clear in that vaping is likely to be better than cigarettes on the health of the UK. Not that vaping is harm free, to be clear.

Mostly the absence of the carcinogens from combustion. I don’t think there’s clear evidence that the contents of ecigs are safer (too new), but we know how terrible tobacco combustion is. We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful.

Balgair 7y ago
> We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful. Source?
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  Elsewhere in this thread, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20536162 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20536162
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-nicotine-all-bad/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-nicotine-all-b...
  - Balgair 7y ago
    > So far the answers aren't clear. That article contains no information that clearly states that nicotine is harmless, just that using vapes and nicotinic gums are less harmful than the use of cigarettes. To be clear, it does not say that nicotine is harmful, nor does it say that it is harmless.
    - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
      > We also know that nicotine itself isn’t particularly harmful. I.e. not harmless, but not especially harmful. Like caffeine. Remember, humans have a 100% mortality rate.
      - Balgair 7y ago
        Despite the fact that you cannot get out of life alive, the evidence seems to be unclear on if nicotine is harmful or not and what, if any, effects it may have on the quality of a life that will end or the effects on the time of death.
        seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        Yes, but that is true for a lot of substances, like again, caffeine. All we know is that we have yet to find evidence that nicotine is especially harmful, and that’s just how it works in the biological sciences. If everything required proof of no harm, we would simply die of starvation.
- DanBC 7y ago
  US Surgeon General's report is pretty good. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/tobacco/index.html https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/... In the context of tobacco the nicotine is addictive; possibly carcinogenic; but there's a load of other stuff in tobacco which is far worse. I think it would be foolish to allow 16 year olds to have access to nicotine products unless they're already smokers.

dave7 7y ago

There are many, here is one I hope you find reputable - The Royal Collage of Physicians. https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely-substitute-smoking-says-new-rcp-report https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely... A quote: "Although it is not possible to estimate the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely, the available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5% of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure"

Balgair 7y ago
>... it is not possible to estimate the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely... > the possibility of some harm from long-term e-cigarette use cannot be dismissed due to inhalation of the ingredients other than nicotine > Smokers should be reassured that these products can help them quit all tobacco use forever. > This new report builds on that work and concludes that, for all the potential risks involved, harm reduction has huge potential to prevent death and disability from tobacco use, and to hasten our progress to a tobacco-free society. The report is pretty clear in that vaping is likely to be better than cigarettes on the health of the UK. Not that vaping is harm free, to be clear.