Misleading review on e-cigarettes slammed

MANILA, Philippines — Health and academic experts labeled as “misleading” the inconclusive findings of a qualitative risk assessment that claims nicotine-based e-cigarettes are “likely carcinogenic to humans.”

The consensus among UK-based researchers is that evidence should be weighed with robust epidemiological data.

They said labeling e-cigarettes as likely carcinogenic risks obscuring the fact that they remain significantly less harmful alternative for current smokers.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and University College London (UCL) urged the public to view these misleading claims with caution.

UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group co-director and professor of health psychology Lion Shahab said that while e-cigarettes are not risk-free, they serve as a vital harm-reduction tool.

“This review does not offer a smoking gun that e-cigarettes cause oral or lung cancer, nor does it make an attempt at quantifying this risk, which is unsurprising because the evidence is simply not there to allow for such an estimation,” Shahab said.

He said that e-cigarettes should be used to help smokers quit and reduce their risk of disease and should not be used by non-smokers.

Queen Mary University of London Health and Lifestyle Research Unit director and professor of clinical psychology Peter Hajek said the review’s conclusions are misleading.

Hajek said that because the authors chose not to compare vapers with smokers, they were able to label the detection of any level of a suspect chemical as carcinogenic, even if the amount is negligible.

“The authors also found several case reports of vapers who got cancer, but drinkers of orange juice and cyclists get cancer too; and in addition, most of these cases were long-term smokers before they switched to vaping,” Hajek said.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (formerly Public Health England) concluded in its series of reports that vaping poses only a small fraction of the risks associated with smoking.

Their evidence indicates significantly lower exposure to harmful substances, as evidenced by biomarkers linked to cancer, respiratory issues and cardiovascular disease.

E-cigarettes, or vapes, are handheld devices that heat a liquid, typically containing nicotine and flavorings, into an inhalable vapor. Because they do not involve tobacco combustion, regulated e-cigarettes expose users to significantly lower levels of the harmful chemicals associated with traditional smoking.

UCL associate professor in medical statistics Baptiste Leurent said the article, published in Carcinogenesis, is not a new study nor a systematic review of data, but rather a narrative literature review with significant limitations.

The review includes a limited number of case reports involving e-cigarette users who developed cancer.

It also focuses on the effects of e-cigarettes in isolation instead of comparing them to traditional combustible tobacco. While the paper identifies harmful chemicals in e-vapor products, it does not mention that these substances are typically found at significantly higher levels in cigarette smoke.