Getting rid of vaping will do more harm than good. Julie Gunlock writes:
Traditional smoking—especially among teens–is going down. This is likely in part because kids who want to experiment with smoking are trying vaping instead of traditional, combustible cigarettes. And while many teens do vape, many don’t do it habitually and others vape nicotine-free vape liquid, which means they’re not vulnerable to addiction. Still, everyone wishes kids would abstain entirely from smoking anything, but if teens are going to experiment, it’s better to do so with something that’s less addictive and less harmful.
And vaping is far less harmful. E-cigarettes have been in the marketplace for more than a decade and in that time, the broad consensus is that vaping is much less harmful than traditional cigarette smoking. In 2015, Public Health England declared e-cigarettes to be 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes. Even former FDA administrator (and harsh critic of vaping) Scott Gottlieb has recognized their efficacy in helping smokers quit, saying his agency “…saw them as a less harmful alternative to cancer-causing tobacco for addicted adult smokers.”
For those who switch from cigarettes to vaping, the health outcomes are markedly positive. These positive health outcomes are so good, in fact, that the UK’s National Health Service actually encourages people to switch from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarette devices.
[Julie Gunlock, “A Vaping Ban Won’t Solve The Problem, It Will Only Make It Worse,” Townhall, September 18]
