[user104658]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

What's the lessee of the two evils;?

Just to throw some research out there;

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...andmark-review

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/hea...sionals/safety

Although I can't argue that we don't know enough about them although I think it's fair to say they are LESS harmful than traditional cigarettes.

Nicotine is the addiction substance. Just because you vape it doesn't have to contain nicotine. The most harmful of chemicals is tar which you don't get with e cigarettes. Just compare the chemicals in the two, 4 or 4000.

Education plays a big role because there are certain chemicals found in eliquids such as diacytal which can cause lung damage. This is banned in the UK in e liquids, but it's good to have an awareness as there are unregulated liquids.

Vapes have always been quite colourful and more are brought to market as it's supply and demand. For a lot of people it's a hobby from buying mods, making liquids, making coils....and the vast around of liquids and adaptations you can buy.

There's even talk about them being a a smoking cessation aid

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e...in-world-first

A lot like to jump on the bandwagon with this subject, all high and mighty not having the first clue about e cigarettes. Not saying you but just generally.

It's not a straight comparison though because I'm not saying that vaping is as bad as smoking per-individual, the evidence we have thus far is that it's much safer (but worth bearing in mind that there is no data over the long term, and there won't be for several decades, because vaping is still relatively new).

If you were to say "what's worse, five 12 year olds in the year group smoking or five 12 year olds in the year group vaping?" I'd agree with you that it's better for them to be vaping every time. I also highly doubt it's a "gateway to smoking" - I imagine they'll just continue vaping. If it was a FEW more vaping then I'd even still consider that balance. But that's not what I'm observing. I'd say when I was at at the beginning of high school (age 12) there were a tiny handful of kids in the year group (of about 150 kids) smoking. My daughter is 12 now and it's more like 1/3 of her entire year group that's vaping regularly so 50+ kids.

This is imperfect science; different schools on different sides of the country and 20 years apart... perhaps her school is demographically different to how mine was... but I don't think that accounts for the massive difference in numbers. It's becoming increasingly normalised for young teens (children) to vape. There's no data at all on the health effects in children.

As above - I don't really care at all what adults do, so long as it isn't affecting the health of others and they have the facts. I'm not saying "ban them for the sake of the children!" - I'm just saying more needs to be done to tackle the increasing problem of school-age kids using them. Heavier fines/punishments for any adult found to be selling or supplying to kids, for example.