Unsurprised that vapes are linked to potential for cancer

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - the vaping dilemma, as Joe's film is called, shown right here with Cancer Research almost seeming to defend vapes because smoking is so incredibly dangerous.

As a country we don't seem to have properly resolved the dual problem of how to help smokers quit with vapes and save many lives, whilst also preventing them becoming a mainstream lifestyle product marketed initially to young people.

It is certain there are and will be significant harms from vapes and a precautionary approach to heavily restrict the sale and advertising of vapes essential. But the mass killing of smokers overshadows the problem.

We can't seem politically to see this as a double headed problem and do both at the same time.

Sorry paywall, but it's all in here with new research showing the unsurprising news that inhaling chemicals and metals into the lungs looks like a bad idea in the longer term (after all air pollution of various types is the biggest killer in the world, just ahead of smoking) and the response of Cancer Research UK.

"Dr Ian Walker, executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said: “This study contributes to our understanding of e-cigarettes, but it does not show that e-cigarettes cause cancer.

“Decades of research has proven the link between smoking and cancer, and studies have so far shown that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking and can help people quit.

“This paper does, however, highlight that e-cigarettes are not risk-free, and so we need additional studies to uncover their potential longer-term impacts on human health.

“Smoking tobacco causes 150 cases of cancer every single day in the UK, which is why we look forward to seeing the government’s age of sale legislation being presented in parliament. Nothing would have a bigger impact on reducing the number of preventable deaths in the UK than ending smoking, and this policy will take us one step closer to a smoke-free future.”

Of course we need 'additional studies' but we have not got decades to wait until the evidence is clear. We must learn from the past, and act now. We know this is a bad idea. How can they of all people say this?

We need stringent precautionary regulation NOW to make sure that vapes are available to smokers, perhaps on the NHS and in pharmacies, or even with plain packaging behind the counter next to cigarettes, but not as an ordinary mainstream high street product, which is still the plan after the ban of disposables.

Here is Joe's film which also explains why the figure that vaping is 95% safer than smoking its bllx, together with a conversation with a clinician at Kings Hospital explaining they are seeing lung anomalies earlier than they did with smoking.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/vaping-cancer-smoking-damage-study-xwtv32fl9