The Worst Vape Lies Pushed by the Media

1. Vaping is just as bad as smoking

This is a common myth. There are 36 million smokers in the United States and billions of people worldwide. They should not have to listen to lies about a product that could save their lives. Cigarettes contain thousands of carcinogens, along with harmful emissions that can cause heart disease.

Although we cannot confirm that vaping is 100% safe, no official scientist has proven that vaping smoke can be compared to the harmful effects of cigarettes.

“Leading the public to disregard the dangers of tobacco by comparing real to counterfeit is a huge disservice to the community and to smokers,” said Professor Michael Siegel. “There is still no formal scientific evidence that vaping is as harmful as smoking.”

2. Vape companies are seducing your kids

The FDA prohibits e-cigarette manufacturers from claiming their products are safer than regular cigarettes, a smoking cessation tool, smokeless, or contain no tobacco. Blocked from honestly advertising the real benefits of vaping, the few manufacturers that do advertise to the public have had to rely on the most conventional means: celebrities and attractive images.

And this strategy has been labeled as “using tobacco manufacturing methods” to lure minors into “a lifetime of nicotine addiction.” The only effect these ads have had is for conservative politicians to blame Big Tobacco.

So all those who don’t know anything about politics just blame it all on Big Tobacco! Who is promoting those kid-friendly flavors like Chip Chip and Cotton Candy? Big Tobacco. Who is behind the serious vape explosions? Big Tobacco. And every time a company tries to defend itself, the media says something like “they are using a strategy and advertising that is quite useful for Big Tobacco to provide.”

3. Vape smoke is filled with formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals

The formaldehyde threat came in a letter to the British Pharmaceutical Weekly from the authors of a study from the University of Portland that used cheap clearomizer coils that overheated to the point where they burned and created dry hits. The study’s conclusions were immediately refuted by hard evidence, including evidence from a recent study by Professor Konstantinos Farsalinos.

We breathe and eat chemicals every day, but most of them don’t affect us at all. There are quite a few chemicals in vape smoke, but they’re a tiny fraction. Everything we ingest on a daily basis has chemicals that are toxic in large doses. But none of us are foolish enough to take them in dangerous doses.

The Royal College of Physicians agrees. In their comprehensive review of e-cigarettes, they concluded, “When e-cigarettes are used under normal conditions, the concentrations of toxins in vape smoke are well below the limit values, and are unlikely to cause long-term harm.”

4. Big Tobacco invented cigarettes and controls the vape industry

E-cigarettes were first developed and marketed by a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik. The product arrived in the US in 2007. Five years later, in 2012, the company that produced Cig a Like Blu was acquired by the tobacco company Lorillard. This was the first time the tobacco industry intervened in the vape business.

Since then, all of the Big Tobacco companies have introduced their own e-cigarette products, and they have dominated sales at traditional cigarette retailers, primarily grocery stores and gas stations. However, according to a Wells Fargo survey, Big Tobacco accounts for less than 40% of total vape sales. The rest is entirely up to independent manufacturers and vape shops.

5. Vape causes popcorn lung

Some essential oils contain diacetyl or acetyl propionyl, the buttery flavor that others say may have caused popcorn lung disease among workers in popcorn factories two decades ago.

But no vaper has ever developed popcorn lung. Nor has it been heard of a smoker developing it, even though regular cigarettes contain hundreds of times more diacetyl than e-cigarettes.

6. Vaping is a gateway to cigarettes

The claim that vaping leads to smoking among teens is repeated over and over again and is unsubstantiated. The studies that do support this claim are often poorly done, relying on small sample sizes.

Clive Bates, in his guide to pathway studies, concluded, “When we look at the complete data, we see that vaping is an exit route to smoking, not an entry route.” He’s right. With the lowest number of teens and adults smoking ever recorded, even if vaping isn’t keeping kids from smoking, it’s not causing more smokers.