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Cancer, diabetes. Belarusian oncologist talks about the dangers of vaping
08.11.2024 09:20
Smoking electronic cigarettes (vapes) is just as dangerous in terms of health consequences as smoking regular tobacco products.
This statement was made by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Deputy Director of the N.N. Alexandrov Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Oncology and Medical Radiology Sergei Krasny.
According to him, research on tobacco smoking began in the 50s of the last century, writes Belta.
Within its framework, a large number of epidemiological analytical studies were carried out, confirming the concerns of scientists about the harmful effects of smoking on humans.
Vaping Hopes Fail
It has been proven that inhaling cigarette smoke, which contains many extremely harmful substances, leads to cancer of the lung, respiratory tract, stomach, bladder, etc.
Doctors have also proven the negative impact of tobacco on blood vessels, through which it spreads to almost all body systems.
The academic notes that smokers had “certain hopes” for electronic cigarettes.
People believed that vapes contained more purified nicotine and did not contain the tars produced by burning tobacco.
In 2018, a large-scale epidemiological study was conducted on the effects of e-cigarettes.
A total of 22,000 vapers were surveyed and the results were compared with those of non-smokers.
It turned out that the effects of electronic cigarettes are no less harmful, although somewhat different from smoking regular tobacco, Krasny noted.
Extremely dangerous
He added: vapes do indeed contain more purified nicotine, but despite this – as has been proven – smoking them significantly increases the incidence of lung, respiratory tract, and stomach cancer.
It has also been shown that smoking e-cigarettes leads to an increase in the incidence of diabetes.
The whole point is that the mixtures contain polysaccharides.
And because they contain a large amount of flavorings and ethylene glycol, there is a risk of developing obstructive pulmonary disease.
Therefore, smoking electronic cigarettes is no less harmful than smoking tobacco, and can be used, in my opinion, only as an intermediate stage in quitting smoking, the oncologist said.
He also informed about the WHO’s intention to prepare recommendations on smoking cessation and various prohibitions in the near future.
First of all, this is a ban on the sale of mixtures and electronic cigarettes to persons under 21. Because the most harmful, catastrophic consequences are for those who start smoking at 18 and earlier, the specialist explained.
