No, there's still no evidence e-cigarettes are as harmful as smoking

Professor Linda Bauld unpicks recent headlines around a study looking at the impact of e-cigarette vapour on human cells, and finds little support for the claim that they're as harmful as smoking

Just under a year ago, I wrote a response to an article by a journalist who claimed there was no evidence that vaping is less harmful than smoking. Since then, many new studies have been published, including a Cochrane review showing their promise for aiding smoking cessation, and a comprehensive review for Public Health England that concluded, as previous reports have done, that e-cigarettes were significantly safer to users than continuing to smoke.

Yet the debate in the media rages on, fuelled in part by misleading press releases from journals and academics. The latest example involves a study published online in the journal Oral Oncology in November, but press released just this week, at a time when many smokers are making new year resolutions to stop smoking. The press release cited the lead author who concluded that 'based on the evidence to date, I believe that [e-cigarettes] are no better than smoking regular cigarettes'.