E-cigarettes produce more harm than good, a new study concludes. The researchers say the number of adults who use e-cigarettes to quit smoking is much lower than the number of teens and young adults who start smoking regular cigarettes after trying e-cigarettes. They calculated 2,070 adult smokers who used e-cigarettes in 2014 would quit smoking regular cigarettes in 2015 and remain smoke free for at least seven years, according to Consumer Reports. They also estimated 168,000 teens and young adults who tried e-cigarettes in 2014 would start smoking regular cigarettes in 2015 and eventually become daily smokers. Overall, e-cigarette use in 2014 would lead to 1.5 million years of life lost, they estimated. “If e-cigarettes are to confer a net population-level benefit in the future, the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool will need to be much higher than it currently is,” the researchers wrote in the journal PLOS...

A new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine takes a comprehensive look at evidence on the human health effects of e-cigarettes. Although the research base is limited given the relatively short time e-cigarettes have been used, the committee that conducted the study identified and examined over 800 peer-reviewed scientific studies, reaching dozens of conclusions about a range of health impacts. Evidence suggests that while e-cigarettes are not without health risks, they are likely to be far less harmful than conventional cigarettes, the report says. They contain fewer numbers and lower levels of toxic substances than conventional cigarettes, and using e-cigarettes may help adults who smoke conventional cigarettes quit smoking. However, their long-term health effects are not yet clear. Among youth -- who use e-cigarettes at higher rates than adults do -- there is substantial evidence that e-cigarette use increases the risk of transitioning to smoking...

Fewer teens are using e-cigarettes and other types of tobacco, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study found 11.3 percent of high school students used e-cigarettes in 2016, down from 16 percent the previous year, The Washington Post reports. This represents the first decline in e-cigarette use since the CDC began keeping track in 2011. Only 8 percent of high school students said they smoked cigarettes last year, and 20 percent said they used any tobacco product, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, pipes and smokeless tobacco. Those numbers are the lowest on record, the CDC reported. “While these latest numbers are encouraging, it is critical that we work to ensure this downward trend continues over the long term across all tobacco products,” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said in a news release.

Although many people think "vaping" is safer than smoking, research suggests that both e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes are tied to an increased risk for bladder cancer. "We've known traditional smoking raises bladder cancer risk, and given the surge in popularity of e-cigarettes, its imperative we uncover any potential links" between e-cigarettes and bladder cancer, Dr. Sam Chang said in an American Urological Association news release. Chang is a professor of urologic surgery at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. Most inhaled nicotine is excreted in the urine. For the study, the researchers compared the urine of people who use e-cigarettes with that of nonsmokers. The investigators looked for five chemicals known to cause bladder cancer that may be found in e-cigarette liquid. Ninety-two percent of e-cigarette users tested positive for two of the five chemicals. More research is needed to investigate the link between e-cigarettes and bladder cancer, the study authors said....

Daily users of e-cigarettes see them as about as satisfying or even more satisfying, and less harmful, than cigarettes, according to the results of a small study from the University at Buffalo. The study of 105 U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers and their partners found that those study participants who vape daily reported e-cigarettes as "at least as satisfying" as cigarettes, and that 58 percent said vaping was "much more" satisfying. According to ScienceDaily, researchers also reported that the perception of danger from e-cigarettes decreased as frequency of use increased. The paper was published online first in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports. In their paper, the researchers note that the findings regarding e-cigarette satisfaction are important because of policies that have been implemented based on the belief that e-cigarettes are fundamentally lacking in satisfaction compared to cigarettes. The concern that vaping acts as a "gateway" to cigarettes is more...

A new method for using e-cigarettes called “dripping” is becoming popular among teens. A report published in Pediatrics finds one-quarter of U.S. teens who use e-cigarettes have experimented with dripping. This method creates denser clouds of vapor, HealthDay reports. The health effects of dripping are unknown, according to the report’s authors from Yale University School of Medicine. Regular e-cigarettes produces inhalable vapor by slowly drawing liquid into a heating coil through an automatic wick. Dripping involves placing drops of e-liquid directly onto the heating coil, and inhaling the cloud of vapor that is produced. Among teens who tried dripping, 64 percent said they liked the thicker clouds of vapor it produced. Almost 40 percent said they thought it produced a better flavor, while 22 percent were simply curious to try it.

A new report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) concludes the earlier teens start using any product with nicotine, including e-cigarettes, the stronger their addiction will be and the harder it will be for them to quit, HealthDay reports. “An estimated 4 percent of kids who try to quit nicotine will succeed, compared to 5 percent of adults who try to quit. Children and adolescents also make more attempts to quit before succeeding,” the AAP notes in a news release. The report notes that e-cigarettes have been aggressively promoted as smoking cessation aids, but research studies have not been able to document their effectiveness in adults. “Recent research suggests that the use of e-cigarettes may encourage, rather than discourage, the use of conventional cigarettes among U.S. adolescents,” the report states. “Given the difficulty that adolescents have attempting to stop smoking and use of tobacco products, the need for prevention efforts...

A new study finds teens who often use e-cigarettes are more likely to become regular smokers and to smoke many cigarettes a day. The study included 3,084 Los Angeles teens who participated in surveys in the fall and spring of tenth grade, Reuters reports. They were asked whether they had tried e-cigarettes, and if so, how often. They were also asked about regular cigarette use. The researchers found more frequent vaping was associated with smoking two or more cigarettes on the days teens chose to smoke. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sales of e-cigarettes have slowed, in part due to warnings by public health experts that the devices may be dangerous. The New York Times reports a growing number of scientists and policy makers say 40 million American smokers could use the devices to help them stop smoking. “We may well have missed, or are missing, the greatest opportunity in a century,” David B. Abrams, Senior Scientist at the antismoking group Truth Initiative, told the newspaper. “The unintended consequence is more lives are going to be lost.” Some experts warn e-cigarettes can be a stepping stone to smoking regular cigarettes for young people. The full effect of using the devices will not be known for years, they warn. Others note that vaping is much less dangerous than smoking, because e-cigarettes do not contain the deadly tar found in regular cigarettes.

A new survey finds 73 percent of U.S. teens think e-cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes. The researchers say teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely, than those who do not, to go on to use traditional cigarettes, HealthDay reports. The survey, published in the journal Pediatrics, found 47 percent of teens believe e-cigarettes are less addictive than cigarettes. “Concern exists that e-cigarettes are re-normalizing smoking,” said Dr. Stephen Amrock, from the department of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “Children and parents need to understand that these products contain nicotine and are potentially harmful, both now and because they have been linked to later cigarette use.”