Vaping?
Not sure.
Really, it's only been around since about 2003. Do we know it's absolutely safe? No we do not. But we are talking about substances that are considered very safe. Like the "base liquids" used in the e-juices. PG and VG are considered very safe and are widely, widely used. You've been exposed to them probably your entire life. They're used in tons and tons of products. Medicines included. If you've ever been around a "fog machine" you've been breathing PG vapor. It's exactly the same thing and just about exactly the same process.
The governments and regulatory bodies that are getting all wound up about "e-cigs" are not even talking about the zero nicotine version. Even
they don't seem to care about the PG or VG or the flavorings. They're fretting about the nicotine. But smokers were already getting nicotine in cigarettes (or other tobacco users by their tobacco like, oh, chewing tobacco). The problem is, we were all
also getting thousands of other chemicals, over 50 of which were known to cause cancer.
The real issue here is: "Is it
safer?"
For someone who does not smoke (nor chew nor dip nor some other tobacco use), I would not encourage them to vape. Not even zero nicotine versions. Maybe inhaling PG and VG have long term effects we don't know about yet? Who knows? Twenty years from now, maybe we'll know. If you are not leaving something worse, maybe you don't want the risk.
But for those who
are using tobacco which we
know to be extremely dangerous, the bet that this is much, much safer is worth it. I know in just a short time,
my health is improved. And I'm looking forward to continued improvement.
Nothing is ever safe or not safe. That's not the way the world works. It's levels of risk and what's more safe or less safe or what risks are worth taking or not. We don't live in Nerf world and never will. Driving on the freeways and highways is seriously
not safe. Some 3,000 or so people die every month on those things. About 100 every day. But we still drive don't we?
And speaking of cars, ever seen the list of crap that comes out of the tail pipe of those things? I remember years ago, when I lived in Los Angeles, people lecturing me about smoking and how bad it was for me. I'd point at the brown haze of smog in the sky and ask, "So when you going to do something about that?"
(It's gotten much better but in the 80s, I remember the air was actually freaking
brown. A kind of orange-brown haze all the way around the horizon. But my smoking was a killer eh? Hm.)
The studies coming in now show vaping is probably pretty safe. Very much safer than smoking. Perfectly safe? Dunno.
Then again, what is?
Also, coal plants. Once they do something about those, then they can talk to me about how safe my PV is or isn't. Almost half the electricity in the US is produced by pumping poison into the atmosphere (including radioactivity that may be worse than a nuclear power plant of all things). When they fix that, then maybe they'll have some room to talk about vaping...