Is vaping safe?
In the UK, doctors say switching from smoking to e-cigarettes will save lives; in the US, there have been deaths linked to vaping, but the evidence is mixed. How risky is it?
After deaths in the US and bans around the world, how risky are e-cigarettes? In some countries, smokeless cigarettes are all the rage. In the UK, doctors say if smokers switch from tobacco to e-cigarettes, it will save lives. But in the US, where the authorities are investigating an outbreak of lung injury linked to vaping, they’re advising vapers to consider stopping. In India, Mexico and dozens of other countries, vaping is banned altogether. It’s a confused international picture.
Vaping is still relatively new and scientists are still researching how harmful it may be in the long-term. What we do know is that every year, eight million people die worldwide as a consequence of smoking tobacco. What are the potential health risks associated with vaping? We’ll find out from our expert witnesses, who include a neuroscientist, a pulmonary critical care doctor and a professor of nicotine and tobacco studies.
(A young woman smoking an electronic cigarette at the vape shop. Credit: Getty images)
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Nicotine on the Brain
Duration: 03:34
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- Thu 24 Oct 2019 02:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 03:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service UK DAB/Freeview
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 05:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 06:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 13:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 14:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 17:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service South Asia
- Thu 24 Oct 2019 19:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa
- Sat 26 Oct 2019 16:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Sun 27 Oct 2019 01:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Mon 28 Oct 2019 00:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 28 Oct 2019 09:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & East Asia
- Sat 30 Nov 2019 17:30GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
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The Inquiry
Getting beyond the headlines to explore the forces and ideas shaping the world