In countries where regulators and public health bodies have invested sufficient time researching and debating the science around vaping, many have concluded that vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking and therefore have an important role to play in reducing tobacco-related disease worldwide. In 2015, for example, the UK Government Agency Public Health England concluded that vaping products are 95% less harmful than smoking tobacco – a view supported by numerous other public health and tobacco-control groups, including Action on Smoking and Health UK and Cancer Research UK. Similarly, in France, the High Council on Public Health has endorsed vaping products as a cessation tool, while in Belgium the Superior Health Council has stated that vaping products are a less harmful alternative to tobacco (a position subsequently endorsed by the Health Ministry).
Other large-scale reviews of scientific literature from independent organisations have similarly concluded that vaping products are less harmful than tobacco. The 2014 and 2016 Cochrane Reviews, for instance, found that there is no health risk associated with short and medium-term use of vaping products. All these groups are moving towards a broad scientific consensus that vaping, when compared to conventional tobacco consumption, could present a critical tool in global harm reduction. Importantly, these groups are focusing on the ‘relative risk’ of vaping compared to cigarettes – a very important distinction because nearly all vapers are current or former tobacco users looking for an alternative.