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Vaping instead of smoking: from the frying pan into the fire?
by Patrick Vogt
COPD: how bad is vaping for your lungs? Worse than you want to know
19.6.2025
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Launched as a less harmful alternative to cigarettes and a means of giving up smoking, e-cigarettes were almost considered a beacon of hope when they conquered the market 18 years ago. Today, we know that vaping is anything but harmless and doesn’t spare you from serious respiratory diseases.
Attitudes after the introduction of vapes were positive. They were hailed a healthier option to cigarettes, helpful for giving up nicotine and combatting the spread of serious diseases such as COPD.
Vaping isn’t better for you than smoking
Vapes are available in hundreds of different flavours and with or without nicotine. Unlike cigarettes, vaping doesn’t involve burning tobacco, but vaporising a liquid. Addiction researcher Professor Kotz emphasises that this vapour still contains harmful substances albeit in lower concentrations.
What this vapour does to our bodies has hardly been researched to date. Only a fraction of the more than 10,000 flavourings have been toxicologically tested to date. And since e-cigarettes are still relatively new – even the earliest users have only been vaping for a maximum of 18 years – real long-term studies are still a long way off. However, the current study results already paint a sobering picture:
Header image: SeventyFour/Shutterstock
Ronja Magdziak
Freie Autorin
ronja.magdziak@gmail.comFreelance writer, biologist and yoga teacher. Fascinated by nature, body and mind, I love spending time outdoors and being active. More than anything, I enjoy writing about things that make us feel good!
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