Some are calling for surgeon general to issue a vaping report

NEW YORK >> Sixty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report that settled a longstanding public debate about the dangers of cigarettes and led to huge changes in smoking in America.

Today, some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about vaping.

Many U.S. adults believe nicotine vaping is as harmful as — or more dangerous than — cigarette smoking. That's wrong. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and most scientists agree that, based on available evidence, electronic cigarettes are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.

But that doesn't mean e-cigarettes are harmless either. And public health experts disagree about exactly how harmful, or helpful, the devices are. Clarifying information is urgently needed, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University.

“There have been so many confusing messages about vaping,” Gostin said. “A surgeon general's report could clear that all up.”

One major obstacle: Ecigarettes haven't been around long enough for scientists to see if vapers develop problems like lung cancer and heart disease.

Cigarette smoking has long been described as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the annual toll at 480,000 lives. That count should start to fall around 2030, according to a study published last year by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, thanks in part to a decline in smoking rates that began in the 1960s.

Vaping's popularity exploded in the 2010s, among both adults but and teens. In 2014, e-cigarettes surpassed combustible cigarettes as the tobacco product that youth used the most. By 2019, 28% of high schoolers were vaping.

U.S. health officials sounded alarms, fearing that kids hooked on nicotine would rediscover cigarettes. That hasn't happened. Last year, the high school smoking rate was less than 2% — far lower than the 35% rate seen about 25 years ago.