The largest study of electronic cigarette use in Europe may help alleviate fears that the devices are a gateway to smoking real cigarettes.
One of the big concerns around the use of e-cigarettes, or "vaping", is that they tempt people who don't already smoke, getting them hooked on nicotine. Although they are generally considered safer than smoking, the jury is still out on the long-term health effects of vaping. Some people also worry that e-cigarettes could renormalise smoking, and be a gateway to smoking real cigarettes – especially in young people.
Stanton Glantz at the University of California in San Francisco is convinced that e-cigarettes lead young people to smoke real cigarettes. Research he published earlier this year found that the use of e-cigarettes in US middle and high school students – aged 12 to 18 years old – was associated with a higher likelihood of also smoking real cigarettes.
But his study doesn't show whether those people already smoked before they tried e-cigarettes, which makes it impossible to say whether vaping really is a gateway to smoking.
Further reading @ http://www.newscientist.com/article...eavy-smokers-trying-to-quit.html#.U7Mq0fmSwuB
One of the big concerns around the use of e-cigarettes, or "vaping", is that they tempt people who don't already smoke, getting them hooked on nicotine. Although they are generally considered safer than smoking, the jury is still out on the long-term health effects of vaping. Some people also worry that e-cigarettes could renormalise smoking, and be a gateway to smoking real cigarettes – especially in young people.
Stanton Glantz at the University of California in San Francisco is convinced that e-cigarettes lead young people to smoke real cigarettes. Research he published earlier this year found that the use of e-cigarettes in US middle and high school students – aged 12 to 18 years old – was associated with a higher likelihood of also smoking real cigarettes.
But his study doesn't show whether those people already smoked before they tried e-cigarettes, which makes it impossible to say whether vaping really is a gateway to smoking.
Further reading @ http://www.newscientist.com/article...eavy-smokers-trying-to-quit.html#.U7Mq0fmSwuB
