What are the harms of vaping in young people who have never smoked?

A paper titled “What are the harms of vaping in young people who have never smoked?” was recently published in the International Journal of Drug Policy. The paper, written by Dr Colin Mendelsohn and Emeritus Professor Wayne Hall, provides a summary of evidence from around the world on the impacts of vaping on young people who have never smoked tobacco. The authors provide evidence that shows it is unlikely that vaping causes subsequent tobacco smoking, but rather is more plausibly attributed to shared risk factors for both. Whilst acknowledging that the long-term effects of vaping nicotine will not be known for some time, current evidence suggests that vaping is likely to be far less harmful than tobacco smoking. The authors advocate for an approach to vaping regulation that is proportionate to the risks, in order to find the right balance between restricting uptake of vaping in young people, whilst allowing adults who smoke tobacco to benefit from the harm reduction potential of vaping.

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