Electronic cigarette

► Is the electronic cigarette dangerous?

This subject has been debated for several years without an indisputable scientific consensus having been reached. Without sufficient hindsight, it is not possible to completely exclude that certain components of the electronic cigarette could have an effect on health in the more or less long term. So, it is better not to vape… unless you are a smoker.

Because specialists agree that vaping remains much less dangerous than smoking tobacco. "It is an absolutely indisputable reality." In 2015, British health authorities estimated that the electronic cigarette would be 95% less toxic than cigarettes. The problem is that this reality is difficult to pass on to the public: according to this 2017 Barometer, 40% of those questioned think that the e-cigarette is as harmful as tobacco and even 13.4% that it is more harmful .

► Does vaping promote entry to smoking?

This is a major question among young people but which, for the moment, cannot be answered scientifically by consensus. Some studies indicate that non-smokers, trying the electronic cigarette, are between 2 to 8 times more likely to try the classic cigarette afterwards. But some experts say that young people who vape before smoking are just individuals with a certain curiosity or vulnerability to experiment with risky products. And that they would have smoked anyway even if they hadn't previously vaped. "Some even believe that vaping could delay the transition to the first cigarette."