Stay away from vaping, scientists warn non-smokers

As a major study shows big benefits for smokers who switch, experts say that e-cigarettes still have risks

NON-SMOKERS have been warned to never take up vaping, despite a major study showing heart health benefits for those who switch from tobacco.

Experts from the University of

Dundee found that within a month of a smoker making the switch, blood flow through a major artery significantly improved and was around halfway back to the function of a non-smoker.

Although researchers could not say whether the effect would continue, if it did, smokers could see their risk of heart attacks and strokes fall by more than 13 per cent.

However, they warned vaping was still harmful and claimed calculations by Public Health England (PHE) suggesting it was 95 per cent safer than smoking tobacco were too simplistic. Prof Jacob George, the cardiovascular medicine and therapeutics expert who led the trial, said: “It is crucial to emphasise e-cigarettes are not safe, just less harmful than tobacco when it comes to vascular health.

“They should not be seen as harmless devices for non-smokers and young people to try.”

More than 20,000 Britons die annually from heart and circulatory disease caused by smoking, and public health experts believe switching to vapes could save thousands of lives. However, more than one in 20 adults in Britain now vape and concern has been growing over deaths and lung problems associated with e-cigarettes.

On Thursday, it was reported that an 18-year-old Belgian died from pneumonia attributed to vaping. It follows the case of a British 16-year-old who needed life-support after developing a vaping-linked respiratory disease.

According to the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, vaping has been linked to 200 individual health cases in the UK. British healthcare officials have also filed 74 “yellow card” reports of conditions that they believe were caused by e-cigarettes.

Prof Jeremy Pearson, the associate medical director for the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, said the “95 per cent safer” claim was “produced by a group of experts who were looking at what comes out of e-cigarettes compared to cigarettes and doing a very simple calculation”.

He added: “E-cigarettes should never be taken up by people who don’t already smoke, but could be a useful tool… to stop smoking completely.

“Just because e-cigarettes may be less harmful than tobacco doesn’t mean they are completely safe.”

Dr Jamie Hartmann-boyce, a senior researcher at Oxford University, said: “Vaping is not risk free, and non-smokers should not start,” he said. “However, people who smoke should consider switching.”

The research was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.