There is much debate about the concerns about e-cigarettes

Now that more and more people are smoking e-cigarettes, e-cigarettes have become a fashion all over the world,more and more people who smoke have turned to e-cigarettes for help quitting smoking, raising questions about the benefits and risks of using these products.

E-cigarettes entered the U.S. market around 2007 and were used by nearly 4% of adults by 2014. However, current use of e-cigarettes among U.S. adults has declined in recent years. In 2018, 3.2% of U.S. adults were current e-cigarette users. About half of adults who use e-cigarettes also smoke regular cigarettes, a behavior known as “dual use.”

E-Cigarette Basics

E-cigarettes are sometimes called “e-cigs,” “vapes,” “e-hookahs,” “vape pens,” “electronic nicotine delivery systems” or “ENDS.” Using an e-cigarette is sometimes called “vaping.” Some e-cigarettes look like regular cigarettes, cigars, or pipes, while others look like everyday items, such as USB flash drives, highlighters, or pens.

Most e-cigarettes have a battery, a heating element, and a place to hold a liquid. E-cigarettes produce an aerosol by heating a liquid that usually contains nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals that help make the aerosol. This aerosol is inhaled into the lungs during use.

Health Effects of E-Cigarette Use

E-cigarettes are fairly new, and scientists are still learning about their long-term health effects. Here is what we currently know about the health effects of e-cigarettes:

E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the smoke from burned tobacco products. However, e-cigarette aerosol can contain cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that reach deep into the lungs.

Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, the highly addictive drug found in tobacco.

In youth and young adults, nicotine can harm brain development, which continues until about age 25.

Nicotine is dangerous for pregnant women and their developing babies.

Many newer types of e-cigarettes use nicotine salts (also called nic salts). Nicotine salts allow particularly high levels of nicotine to be inhaled more easily and with less throat irritation than the typical freebase nicotine found in most tobacco products, including the types of e-cigarettes that have been on the market for a longer period of time. This feature allows for more efficient nicotine delivery than previous generations of e-cigarettes, which has the potential to help adults using these products in an attempt to quit smoking. However, it could also increase the potential for initiation and dependence, particularly among youth and young adults.

For Adults Who Are Ready to Quit Smoking Cigarettes

Adult smokers who are not pregnant and who want to try quitting by using e-cigarettes should completely switch to e-cigarettes and eliminate all use of cigarettes, cigars, and other burned tobacco products. Completely switching is the only way to fully reduce smoking-related health risks. Smoking even a few cigarettes per day is still harmful to health. The use of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes (dual use) can lead to the same, or in some cases higher, exposures to harmful chemicals as cigarette smoking alone. Adults who switch to e-cigarettes should also establish a goal for quitting them, to fully eliminate health risks from any tobacco product use.

Pregnant women who smoke should talk to their doctor about counseling programs and the risks and benefits of using FDA-approved cessation medications to help them quit. Although e-cigarette aerosol generally has fewer harmful substances than cigarette smoke, e-cigarettes containing nicotine are not safe to use during pregnancy.