The Risks of Vaping: A New Study Raises Concerns
A recent landmark study has revealed that individuals who vape are at a higher risk of developing cancer compared to those who do not. This finding challenges the perception that vaping is a safer alternative to traditional smoking. Public health experts and scientists have long expressed concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes, but early marketing efforts have positioned nicotine-based vapes as a less harmful option for smokers looking to quit.
The study, conducted by the University of NSW and released on Tuesday, suggests that these types of vapes may contribute to the development of lung or oral cancer. Researchers found that people who use nicotine-based vapes experience changes in their tissue that are indicative of cancer progression, including DNA damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation.
In addition to examining human data, the research team reviewed case studies of oral cancer among individuals who exclusively vaped and analyzed animal experiments. One such experiment involved mice exposed to aerosols from e-cigarettes, which resulted in the development of lung cancer and bladder changes consistent with cancerous growth.
“Objectively and from the totality of available literature … e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung cancer and oral cancer,” said lead researcher Bernard Stewart during a press briefing. “Not only are we concerned about cancer development, but we cannot definitively say these things are safer than smoking.”
In Australia, vapes can only be sold through pharmacies to help individuals quit smoking or manage nicotine dependence. However, the study highlights that many smokers who switch to vaping do not necessarily stop using traditional cigarettes. This “dual-use-limbo” increases their risk of developing lung cancer by four times.
As vapes have only been available in Australia since around 2008, it will take several decades for scientists to collect enough long-term data to conclusively prove that e-cigarettes cause cancer. Despite this, the study provides sufficient evidence for its authors to call for regulatory action, drawing parallels to early cigarette research.
It took approximately a century before smoking was officially recognized as a cause of lung cancer in 1964, even though reports from the 1860s had already linked tobacco to conditions like tuberculosis and emphysema. “Vapes have only been around for 20 years here, we don’t have to wait 80 years to get a response,” said co-author Freddy Sitas. “We have a very good opportunity to be proactive.”
Prof Sitas emphasized the need for large-scale, national and state-level studies to investigate the potential for early-onset cancer among young Australians. He argued that previous research has focused too much on comparing vaping to smoking, which has delayed progress in understanding the full impact of e-cigarettes.
“Being approached from the perspective of ‘is this safer than smoking’ is as crazy as saying we’ll assess the safety of knives by seeing whether they’re more or less dangerous than sub-machine guns,” said Prof Stewart. This analogy underscores the need for independent evaluation of e-cigarettes rather than relying solely on comparisons to traditional smoking.
