The sight of people smoking on high streets or in local pubs is increasingly rarer. Nowadays, it is more usual to see people using e-cigarettes or vaping instead, many under the impression that it isn’t as bad for you as smoking cigarettes.
Around 5.3m over 18s (10.6%) smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – the fewest number of current smokers since records began in 2011. At the same time, around 5.4m over 16s (10%) used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally.
A leading medical researcher is raising serious concerns about vaping. He has suggested that it could actually be more harmful than traditional tobacco.
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Dr William Li, a physician from the Zoe podcast, said “Vaping is definitely a cancer risk, and it’s been well established in the lab. It’s being seen in the clinic, and arguably, the chemicals in these vaping solutions are even more irritating, even more toxic, than traditional tobacco.
“They’re different, but we think that they actually may be even more DNA-mutating. And so, you know, for those people who are like ‘Well, vaping’s a safer alternative, at least I’m not smoking, you know, you might be doing something even worse for yourself. Whether you’re talking about vaping or you’re talking about cigarettes, pipes, or cigars, you’re putting toxins into your lungs.”
And he’s not alone in that view, reports Steffan Rhys on the Mirror. Surgeon Dr Jeremy London, who holds board certifications in general, vascular, and thoracic surgery, also rates the habit as a top-tier risk to human health.
Speaking to Today, Dr London described smoking as “the single worst thing you can do for yourself” while expressing similar concerns about vaping. “Those who use these devices often struggle more with physical exertion and heart health. Although we don’t have the data like we do with cigarettes over many, many years, I’ve personally seen some tragic outcomes in young individuals who vape.”
Studies have demonstrated that adults who regularly use electronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes, show worrying changes in heart in cardiovascular function and perform considerably worse on exercise stress tests compared to those who don’t use any nicotine products.
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