By Chris Kahn
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A growing number of Americans say that vaping e-cigarettes is at least as harmful as smoking traditional cigarettes, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, following reports of an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths.
The national online poll, released Tuesday, found that 63% of adults in the United States disagreed with the statement that “vaping is healthier than traditional cigarettes.” That is up 16 percentage points from a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran in the spring of 2016. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2m82D7I)
It also found that only 29% of adults think vaping is a good way to help people quit smoking, and 77% said that vaping should be regulated at least as strongly as traditional cigarettes.
The survey was conducted Sept. 17-18, shortly before U.S. health officials lifted to 530 the number of confirmed and probable cases of lung-related illnesses linked to vaping. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating what has caused the outbreak that has so far killed seven people.
Retail giant Walmart also said Friday that it would pull e-cigarettes from its shelves due to health concerns and their apparent popularity among teenagers.
“This is the natural consequence of a seemingly unending stream of misleading news stories” about e-cigarettes, said Greg Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, an advocacy group that is partially funded by e-cigarette makers.
Conley added that many of the vaping-related health issues involved people who used e-cigarettes to smoke street-bought drugs or liquids that contain ingredients from cannabis, not tobacco.
Investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have pointed to vaping oils containing marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or vaping oils with vitamin E acetate, a substance used in some THC products, as a possible cause of the illnesses. But they have not ruled out anything yet, including conventional nicotine liquids.
E-cigarettes, which operate by heating a liquid that contains nicotine, have been popular for nearly a decade in the United States. While long-term health impacts from vaping remain largely unknown, some users view e-cigarettes as a healthier alternative that can help them quit smoking.
Earlier this month, the FDA issued a warning letter to Juul Labs Inc for marketing its e-cigarettes as safer than traditional cigarettes. Juul, which has said it is reviewing the FDA letter, also faces about 30 lawsuits alleging it illegally marketed products to children and failed to issue warnings to consumers about their dangers.
Juul has denied that it marketed its products to children.
Younger adults were much more likely than older people to have used vaping products, according to the poll. About half of all 18-34 year olds said they either currently use a vaping device, or they have used one in the past – about five times the rate of usage of adults who were 55 or older.
The poll did not measure the interest in vaping among minors. While it is illegal to sell nicotine delivery products to minors, the FDA has said more than 3 million U.S. high school students used e-cigarettes in 2018.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,111 adults and has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by David Gregorio)
Auto correct kept changing e cig to a cig. Above.
People have been fed lies and misinformation about a-cigarettes for a long ttime. But now it has hit the stratatusphere! There numbers on the amount of teen capers are not accurate. They ask teens if they have vape in the past 30 days? Well someone that takes one puff is now a user to them. Really? When I smoked I smoked all day every day thus a smoker. I vape the same way. Also teen smoking rates are at an All Time Low! Same for adults, well they are very low. And and vaping e-cigarettes is popular among ex-smokers. The recent cases of severe lung illness are related to using black market THC vaping cartridges. NOT vaping or a-cigarettes in the general sense or nicotine vaping. The media has blasted these untruths at people since this started! Regular vaping has been around for at least 10 years and no lung illness! No proff it helps people quit smoking? It helped me along with million of other smokers! I am not an Anikdote! It is completely unethical what they are doing in regards to a-cigarette misinformation. Oh the Real Epidemic is 480 thousand Americans dying from smoking related illness every year! 480K Dead! I’m sorry this is much more important than teens experimenting with a-cigarettes! Another fact that FDA and others are not focused on. Vaping saves lives – Smoking kills!
Vaping is not as dangerous as smoking. I have not had a respiratory illness in the 5 years that I have been vaping. I have however had bronchitis for the 30 years that I smoked, every year twice a year like clockwork.
Apparently no one has looked into the EU where the science says something completely different. Oh, that’s right healthcare cost the government in the EU. So any chance they can better the lives of the people, the lower the overall cost of keeping them healthy is.
Here in the US, we have big tobacco in the pockets of the politicians as well as the drug companies. There is no money in a cure.
Well then why have there been so many deaths and illnesses due to vaping? Just because you haven’t had any illnesses doesn’t mean nobody will. You could just be lucky but, one day, you wont be very lucky. Please don’t assume that vaping isn’t as dangerous as smoking. There are many teenagers in the hospital who can barely breathe and coughing like crazy.
It’s amazing the results, studies, polls etc. you can get when it’s backed by money/influence.