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Nicotine is a nootropic with a number of documented cognitive benefits. E-cigs appear to be largely harmless so far, excepting black market pods, so I've been h

Nicotine is a nootropic with a number of documented cognitive benefits. E-cigs appear to be largely harmless so far, excepting black market pods, so I've been happy to see that we've potentially turned a very harmful vice into one that is as dangerous or less than alcohol.

gmanley 7y ago
We don't have much research on the subject yet so we really don't know harmful they are. I'd say it's pretty fair to say they are better than cigarettes but a big step to call them largely harmless. Your still running molecules over a red hot coil and inhaling it. At the very least we know that that creates large concentrations of free radicals that can damage cells. I do agree it's probably a lesser evil but we shouldn't forget that it is still harmful.
- pochamago 7y ago
  I think it's notable that the most damning thing anti-tobacco advocates can say about it is that it's addictive, and I think it's notable that the English Public Health agency was confident enough to declare it to be at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5429/rapid-responses https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5429/rapid-responses I don't believe alcohol is 95% less harmful than cigs.
ygjb 7y ago
This claim appears so frequently but without links to data to back the assertion, so unless you have something to back that all up, people would be better served educating themselves on the lung damage and deaths caused by vaping - https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html#cdc-recommends https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/s...
- pochamago 7y ago
  The CDC has reported that the problem was black market juice. They call it "products from informal sources" https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6902e2.htm?s_cid=mm6902e2_w https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6902e2.htm?s_cid=mm...
jimbob45 7y ago
Anecdote: my high school buddy, who was always looking into supplements and health boosters, said this exact thing and started taking pure nicotine. We all had a good laugh when it made him vomit repeatedly while we were all playing video games over skype - seemed like poetic justice for ignoring everyone's parents' advice to avoid nicotine. He eventually just started smoking cigarettes and is still addicted to them today.

gmanley 7y ago

We don't have much research on the subject yet so we really don't know harmful they are. I'd say it's pretty fair to say they are better than cigarettes but a big step to call them largely harmless. Your still running molecules over a red hot coil and inhaling it. At the very least we know that that creates large concentrations of free radicals that can damage cells. I do agree it's probably a lesser evil but we shouldn't forget that it is still harmful.

pochamago 7y ago
I think it's notable that the most damning thing anti-tobacco advocates can say about it is that it's addictive, and I think it's notable that the English Public Health agency was confident enough to declare it to be at least 95% less harmful than cigarettes https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5429/rapid-responses https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5429/rapid-responses I don't believe alcohol is 95% less harmful than cigs.

ygjb 7y ago

This claim appears so frequently but without links to data to back the assertion, so unless you have something to back that all up, people would be better served educating themselves on the lung damage and deaths caused by vaping - https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html#cdc-recommends https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/s...

pochamago 7y ago
The CDC has reported that the problem was black market juice. They call it "products from informal sources" https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6902e2.htm?s_cid=mm6902e2_w https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6902e2.htm?s_cid=mm...

jimbob45 7y ago

Anecdote: my high school buddy, who was always looking into supplements and health boosters, said this exact thing and started taking pure nicotine. We all had a good laugh when it made him vomit repeatedly while we were all playing video games over skype - seemed like poetic justice for ignoring everyone's parents' advice to avoid nicotine. He eventually just started smoking cigarettes and is still addicted to them today.