Latest Study out of UK Definitively Finds Vaping Safer Alternative to Smoking

While the FDA here in the United States doesn’t like advertising that claims vaping is healthier than smoking, the UK has undergone an extensive study at the esteemed University of London in which they found that vaping nicotine is definitively safer than smoking. Healthier? They didn’t go that far, exactly, but perhaps they alluded to the fact that vaping is healthier, masking it under the terminology of ‘safer.’ This study, conducted over a six month period, and one of the longest on record to date, has concluded that vaping is safer, albeit healthier than smoking tobacco cigarettes. Some of their findings follow.

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Clinical Analysis of Ex-Smokers after Vaping for Six Months

When reading the findings of Cancer Research UK, a group of funded scientists, they clearly state that toxins found in regular smokers were missing in those who had given up cigarettes for vaping devices. In fact, what they found may even prompt casual smokers to run to their nearest vape store.  In all, 181 participants were followed closely during the study. Some were actually still active smokers but all had tried or had been using a variety of alternatives such as NRTs and electronic cigarettes. Some had also used nicotine patches. As compared to those who continued to smoke full time, those vaping or using alternatives had 97% fewer chemical toxins in their systems by the study’s end.

It Has Long Been Known Nicotine Is Not the Carcinogen

That’s an amazing statistic and one that is undeniable because it has long been known that nicotine is not the beast. Rather, those chemicals that result from burning tobacco are the real culprits, the carcinogens, and they are what was missing in vapers. It was further noted that other toxic substances referred to as VOCs, volatile organic compounds, were also much less present in those vaping e-cigarettes. Among these substances are cyanide-releasing acrylonitrile and acrylamide that is also carcinogenic.

Senior Research Fellow at University of St. Andrews Speaks Out

In a statement given after reviewing the findings of the study, Dr. Ed Stephens said that this [study] authenticates what many experts in the field have been claiming all along. That there is now evidence that the chemicals known to be risk factors are either missing or found in far lessor concentrations. It is his contention that smoking is a safer, albeit healthier, alternative to smoking. As a long-time anti-smoking crusader, his thoughts go a very long way in the vaping community.

Looking Forward to Relaxing the Rules

Part of the reason, a large part as a matter of fact, that the FDA in the United States has forbidden manufacturers of e-cigarettes from promoting them as healthier or a cessation aid is because long term studies had yet to be conducted. With this one long term UK study being published, there is hope within the industry that the rules will be relaxed to some extent and relaxed within the foreseeable future. It is understood that the FDA is, as any federal agency would be, slow to move but this study just might light a fire under a governing body that is notoriously slow in accepting new technology or innovations within the scientific and medical communities. It can only be hoped by vapers everywhere that this is a stepping stone in the right direction.