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The Covid 19 pandemic of 2020 unexpectedly shot lung health back into the public eye, as people once again became fixated on taking actions to reduce lung damage risks to help protect themselves from the respiratory illness. It is well documented the risks of damage smoking poses to the lungs which can add in further complexities with Covid 19, hence this has sparked record-breaking amounts to have ditched the habit in the past year with well over 1 million UK citizens quitting for good and of which 40% citied the risk associated to Covid as the predominant factor behind their actions. In the UK vaping has been the most popular tobacco smoking quitting tool for some time now and it is well noted its significantly lower health risks overall than smoking, however the exact risk to the lung is less clear so we spoke to a highly regarded expert to see what potential damage it could be doing.
Renea Jablonski is a fully qualified pulmonologist at the University of Chicago Medicine and one of the acclaimed lung experts globally, and she already recognises that “vaping is less unhealthy than smoking in terms of risk overall” however when it comes to the lungs we have to be more cautious as on many of the key questions “it’s too early to know” which is understandable when e-cigarettes have been around for little over a decade versus the centuries tobacco smoking has been with us.
With more and more research taking place with each and every passing day we are beginning to learn about the short-term impacts of lung damage risk vaping can have, yet what tends to dominate the argument the most is the sensationalised reports of lung injuries that are reported by mainstream media and not accredited experts in the field. What’s often being reported is very far from the truth as “the injuries we’re seeing tend to relate from years of smoking”, in particular one of the much lesser known facts is a great deal of the damage is being done by smoking THC which is often mixed with tobacco hence is always going to increase all the risks involved even more especially to the lungs out of everything else.
Jablonski then goes on to talk about the higher levels of Vitamin E people who enjoy vaping have thanks to the added acetate that E-liquids contain, this vitamin is one of the most important for strengthening the bodies natural immune defences against illness and infections. Crucially this plays a fundamental role in reducing the risk of damage to the lungs and the rest of the body from all of the most common Covid 19 symptoms including, “fevers, shortness of breath, and even gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhoea” and you wouldn’t get any of the that benefit from the more traditional nicotine replacement therapies which have been found to cause an alarming number of damaging side effects risks as well.
So in conclusion we must say that with a world leading expert confirming we can so far “confidently say that e-cigarettes are safer” than smoking in terms of damage risks for both lung and overall general health, is it not time then that worldwide governments and other key stakeholders in society (including cancer charities, the mainstream media etc to just name a few) started doing more to encourage vaping as the solution to nations Covid 19 induced health crisis. We’ve already seen vaping has less risks already than it’s rival nicotine replacement therapies including pills, patches, gums and lozenges, as the longer we wait only the more damage we will do to not just UK but global health much to the real experts dismay as we should be the most progressive and aim to lead the way on this by wholeheartedly endorsing throughout the National Health Service.
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