FEATURE
- STUDY -
E-cigarette Summit hears details of major new study into long-term
vaping effects on non-smokers
The public sphere is awash with competing studies on
controversial matters, many of them cited and defended
fi ercely for partisan reasons. Vaping has been no exception,
and a newcomer to the subject could be forgiven for getting
confused; popular media’s relationship with vaping has been
fraught with doom-saying headlines backed by single, often
misread studies.
A common thorn in the side of allies and defenders of the vape
industry has been the argument that the effects of vaping on
the body in the long term are a “known unknown” – that no
conclusive investigative studies have been conducted. All
that may be about to change. Not only has this study followed
its subjects over a long period of time, but it has dealt with a
category never analysed in detail before: vapers who have
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never smoked. Health impact of E-cigarettes: a prospective
3.5-year study of regular daily users who have never smoked
can tell us new things about the effects of e-cigarettes on the
body, and how they play out in the long term.
The study was formally unveiled by its head, Professor Ricardo
Polosa at the E-Cigarette Summit in London. It was co-authored
by Fabio Cibella, Pasquale Caponnetto, Marilena Maglia,
Umberto Prosperini, Cristina Russo and Donald Tashkin.
Professor Polosa has established himself as a formidable
advocate of e-cigarette use for smoking cessation, citing its
untapped public health potential as his main motivation. This
study is already making waves throughout the e-cigarette
industry. But how was it conducted, what does it prove, and
what does it mean?