Are there risks associated with vaping?

For over a decade, various alternatives for consuming tobacco-related products have appeared on the market: electronic cigarettes, patches, heated tobacco, and vapes. Always one step ahead, the tobacco industry has developed products and communication strategies aimed at attracting increasingly younger customers in order to keep the industry alive.

The lack of knowledge about these new forms of consumption leads to the proliferation of some misconceptions about the level of risk associated with this consumption and its consequences, not only for the consumer but also for their immediate environment.

According to data from The European Health Report , Europe is one of the continents with the highest tobacco consumption: 25.3% of the European population are smokers (2022). Overall consumption has been decreasing slightly over the last decade, but very slowly. Smoking is responsible for 8 million deaths annually , including 1.3 million from secondhand smoke (smoke from the lit cigarette tip, exhaled smoke, and aerosols from e-cigarettes). Tobacco kills half of all smokers who choose not to quit, according to this report.

Supporting people in quitting smoking is key, but preventing it from starting in childhood and adolescence is almost more important. With the aim of sharing this knowledge with families, the Escola de Salut (School of Health) at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona organized a webinar focused on understanding the mechanisms the tobacco industry uses to target adolescent consumers. Mónica Granados , a psychologist specializing in health promotion and addictions at the Spanish Association Against Cancer , shared basic knowledge about these products in this session, as well as some guidelines on how to approach a conversation with children about this topic.

In Europe, e-cigarette use among adolescents (13-15 years old) varies considerably from country to country (between 0.7% and 23%), but a trend of higher consumption among boys has been observed, with e-cigarette use surpassing that of traditional tobacco. According to Granados, this addiction at such young ages is a combination of nicotine itself, the chemical responsible for the addictive behavior, consumption habits, and emotional dependence. More than 50% of adolescents use some type of tobacco-related product at least once a month, according to the Cancer Observatory (2024).

57.2% of teenagers think that smoking is fashionable and that quitting is easy, downplaying the risks that all these products actually involve.

The tobacco industry's strategies have focused on offering a wide range of vapes with different flavors and packaging designed to appeal to young people, including children. Faced with advertising restrictions, they have turned to promotion through social media and the entertainment industry, including collaborations with influencers followed by thousands of young people who normalize their consumption. In this regard, Granados points out that " prevention needs to start at age 10 because otherwise we're already too late, considering minors' access to social media and the existing legal loophole that allows unrestricted sales of flavored vape products."

In this regard, Granados recommends fostering a critical spirit in children regarding the impact they receive from social media. Talk about it openly, with active listening and empathy. It will be very difficult to avoid initial exposure. If our children are already smoking, offer them support to quit and, if necessary, seek professional help.

The arrival of e-cigarettes has also led to a new phenomenon: dual use . The message spread that vaping could be a "safe" substitute for quitting smoking. But it is neither safe (the aerosol contains nicotine, flavoring, toxins, and carcinogens, and has caused the emergence of a serious lung condition known as Bali disease or EVALI), nor does it replace smoking (smokers end up using both traditional tobacco and e-cigarettes, spending even more money).

Protecting citizens exposed to passive smoking

In the fight against smoking, which is a public health problem, priority has been given to measures that make smoking more difficult (increased taxes), advertising restrictions, measures to protect non-smokers (those exposed to secondhand smoke), and support for smoking cessation. These measures are aligned with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control .

In her presentation, Mónica Granados explained that secondhand smoke affects children exposed to it, increasing cases of ear infections by 50%, asthma attacks by 20%, and respiratory infections by 30%, in addition to doubling the risk of lung cancer later in life. Risks also exist from passive exposure to the aerosol exhaled by vaping users. This aerosol contains solid particles that are inhaled and become trapped in our lungs, increasing the risk of carcinogenesis, the process by which normal cells transform into cancerous cells. With all the available data and the scientific evidence that has been accumulating, Granados explained that the claim that the risk of vaping is reduced by 95% compared to traditional cigarettes is untenable, as reported by the Ministry of Health. This is a false concept that has been used as a marketing tool.