Public health experts and scientists generally regard e-cigarettes as unsafe, although early marketing promoted nicotine-based vapes as a less harmful substitute for traditional cigarettes, claiming they could aid in quitting smoking.
The study, conducted by the University of NSW and released on Tuesday, indicates that these vapes are likely linked to lung and oral cancer.
Nicotine-based vape users exhibited tissue changes suggestive of cancer development, including DNA damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation.
Researchers also reviewed case studies of oral cancer in exclusive vapers and conducted animal experiments. In one study, mice exposed to e-cigarette aerosols developed lung cancer and bladder changes associated with cancer.
“Based on the comprehensive literature available, e-cigarettes are likely to cause lung and oral cancer,” stated lead researcher Bernard Stewart.
“We are not only concerned about cancer development, but we also cannot confirm these are safer than traditional smoking.”
In Australia, vapes can only be sold in pharmacies to assist individuals in quitting smoking or managing nicotine dependence.
The study also highlights increasing evidence that smokers who switch to vapes often continue smoking, resulting in a “dual-use-limbo” that quadruples their risk of developing lung cancer.
Given that vapes have only been available in Australia since about 2008, it will take decades to gather sufficient long-term data to definitively confirm e-cigarettes cause cancer.
Nevertheless, the study’s data is compelling enough for the authors to urge regulatory action, drawing parallels to early research on cigarettes.
It took roughly a century for smoking to be officially recognized as a cause of lung cancer in 1964, despite earlier reports linking tobacco to various diseases.
“Vapes have only been around for 20 years, so we shouldn’t wait 80 years to respond,” co-author Freddy Sitas emphasized.
“We have a prime opportunity to take proactive measures.”
According to Prof Sitas, large national and statewide studies should be funded to obtain early results on potential early-onset cancer among young Australians.
Prof Stewart noted that past studies have delayed progress on e-cigarette awareness by focusing on comparisons between vaping and smoking rather than assessing the impact of e-cigarettes alone.
“Approaching this from the standpoint of ‘is this safer than smoking’ is akin to assessing the safety of knives by comparing them to sub-machine guns,” he remarked.
