World News

I think you make a lot of solid points, I’m still just concerned about what we don’t know: primarily the chronic long-term effects of repeated use. Hanging out by a fog machine a couple times a month for a few hours or diffuse short-term exposures as a disinfectant in a hospital hvac system isn’t the same as someone directly sucking on a vape dawn until dusk. We don’t have a full generation to look at yet. But we will. There’s a lot of money to be made but give it two generations of data and there may be some trends popping up we can’t ignore.

I add my snarky () because unforeseen consequences do happen. There may be something we’re not catching. Something we simply won’t know until we know it. I’m not advocating for smoking, I’m just saying, be careful assuming a rapidly adopted product to save an industry under attack is really as harmless as it’s touted to be. History has shown something picked up as quickly as vaping and woven into society rarely comes without unforeseen consequences.

Also, most of the studies seem to be comparisons in realms we know smoking is damaging, but what about other less studied areas like long-term cognition or auto-immune disorders? I hope I’m wrong but it’s one of those time will tell scenarios. I think it’s better to just quit smoking if that’s the issue and for young people to be aware that “at least it’s not cigarettes” shouldn’t discount the potential risks. And whatever you do for god sake don’t chew!