How Many Smokers in US Using Vaping to Quit Smoking?

[Brewdawg1181]

My mother in law posted this on Facebook this am. When I did a quick google of popcorn lung, I realized this myth just isn't dying - there are a lot of fairly current results of sites/publications making this reference to popcorn lung. I know she thought she was sharing some important info, but of course it really bugs me. So this just made me wonder about the damage these myths do, actually costing lives.

Does anyone have a fairly reliable source for an estimate of how many smokers/ex smokers are currently using vaping to avoid cigarettes?

 

[sdennislee]

Got to love social media, gives everyone a voice regardless of how clueless they may be.

 

[Izan]

My mother in law posted this on Facebook this am. When I did a quick google of popcorn lung, I realized this myth just isn't dying - there are a lot of fairly current results of sites/publications making this reference to popcorn lung. I know she thought she was sharing some important info, but of course it really bugs me. So this just made me wonder about the damage these myths do, actually costing lives.

Does anyone have a fairly reliable source for an estimate of how many smokers/ex smokers are currently using vaping to avoid cigarettes?
View attachment 781471

Reply with the link:
Clearing up some myths around e-cigarettes - Public health matters

 

[Jebbn]

Got to love social media, gives everyone a voice regardless of how clueless they may be.

Really though, ECF is a social media.

 

[Pete M]

There was something in The Sun (unreliable UK tabloid) that had the popcorn lung myth as the headline followed by a clarification about it's higher percentage in normal cigarettes hidden at the end:
Vapers 'at risk of irreversible POPCORN LUNG' if they puff on flavoured e-cigs

On the other hand this has also been in the news recently

https://gizmodo.com/teen-vaping-may-have-led-to-less-teen-smoking-study-fi-1830562249

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Reply with the link:
Clearing up some myths around e-cigarettes - Public health matters

Yeah, this was my response. But still, I'm wondering if that number exists. Of course it'd only be an estimate, but still- seems some advocacy group would've extrapolated some kind of reasonable estimate.

 

[Eskie]

There are how many members on ECF? Granted, not all quit smoking with vaping, but let's say that 50% were/are successful. So that's still a lot of people worldwide.

Better numbers than that can he found on a random pick lottery ticket. Unless someone else knows a reliable source I'm blank. There may well be some data collected by someone, but things like total number of those who successfully stopped smoking with vaping haven't been thrown around to provide any floor to work from.

Oh, the good news. Not one case of popcorn lung resulting from vaping. Believe me, if it happened, we'd know all about it.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

There are how many members on ECF? Granted, not all quit smoking with vaping, but let's say that 50% were/are successful. So that's still a lot of people worldwide.

Better numbers than that can he found on a random pick lottery ticket. Unless someone else knows a reliable source I'm blank. There may well be some data collected by someone, but things like total number of those who successfully stopped smoking with vaping haven't been thrown around to provide any floor to work from.

Oh, the good news. Not one case of popcorn lung resulting from vaping. Believe me, if it happened, we'd know all about it.

Good question, Eskie- how many are on ECF? Is there a way to see? And yeah, just guessing from my time here, but it seems the vast majority of all "regulars" were smokers.

And yeah, not only no case of popcorn lung, but I've yet to see any illness reliably linked directly to vaping.

 

[United States]

I overheard a debate between two coworkers recently. One kept citing things he'd read on facebook. The other used info seen on CNN.

At one point I was asked "what do you think?" I responded "neither of you will like my answer". The response was "awe c'mon man, you've got to have an opinion here". I responded "both of you are being misled by 10 second soundbites meant to pursuade your opininion". "And both of you are wrong". One kept coaxing for my opinion. I finally said "look, my dad told me a long time ago to never talk about religion, politics or root beer at work so I won't start today".

Unfortunately not enough folks are curious enough to know if what they read or hear is factual. When I started posting comments on forums with my opinions that came from life experiences. When stating so-called facts I never state them unless it was knowledge learned from multiple sources. I do not want to be part of the problem of misinformation.

After being asked a number of times "don't those things cause popcorn lung?" I became curious. Yet it took several hours of research to get the correct answer in such a way I could answer "no and here's why folks like you think it does".

 

[Pete M]

There are how many members on ECF? Granted, not all quit smoking with vaping, but let's say that 50% were/are successful. So that's still a lot of people worldwide.

Better numbers than that can he found on a random pick lottery ticket. Unless someone else knows a reliable source I'm blank. There may well be some data collected by someone, but things like total number of those who successfully stopped smoking with vaping haven't been thrown around to provide any floor to work from.

Oh, the good news. Not one case of popcorn lung resulting from vaping. Believe me, if it happened, we'd know all about it.

Tbh I've never met a 'dual user', save from people in an initial transition phase (say the first few weeks of buying their own vape). The majority I know stuck with it and gave up cigarettes straight away. I know 2 people who went back to smoking and gave up on the vaping. All anecdotal evidence but to me it points very strongly to vaping at worst causing a lot of people to choose the lesser of two evils

 

[Pete M]

I overheard a debate between two coworkers recently. One kept citing things he'd read on facebook. The other used info seen on CNN.

At one point I was asked "what do you think?" I responded "neither of you will like my answer". The response was "awe c'mon man, you've got to have an opinion here". I responded "both of you are being misled by 10 second soundbites meant to pursuade your opininion". "And both of you are wrong". One kept coaxing for my opinion. I finally said "look, my dad told me a long time ago to never talk about religion, politics or root beer at work so I won't start today".

Unfortunately not enough folks are curious enough to know if what they read or hear is factual. When I started posting comments on forums with my opinions that came from life experiences. When stating so-called facts I never state them unless it was knowledge learned from multiple sources. I do not want to be part of the problem of misinformation.

After being asked a number of times "don't those things cause popcorn lung?" I became curious. Yet it took several hours of research to get the correct answer in such a way I could answer "no and here's why folks like you think it does".

I usually find Snopes a reliable and balanced mythbusting source and this is where I direct people if they ask me about popcorn lung blah blah blah FACT CHECK: Vaping Causes 'Popcorn Lung'?

 

[optsmk]

My mother in law posted this on Facebook this am. When I did a quick google of popcorn lung, I realized this myth just isn't dying - there are a lot of fairly current results of sites/publications making this reference to popcorn lung. I know she thought she was sharing some important info, but of course it really bugs me. So this just made me wonder about the damage these myths do, actually costing lives.

Does anyone have a fairly reliable source for an estimate of how many smokers/ex smokers are currently using vaping to avoid cigarettes?
View attachment 781471

Unless she is a health nut and only eats what she grows organically and raises her own cows, chickens and any other foods she eats for protein. She has no room to talk. If she knew every chemical that was used on her veggies, meats and other goods, she would be shocked. Totally shocked.

Edit: I should also add that vaping has not been around long enough for any definitive long term studies to have been done. So any claims of ecigs being a health hazard are only guesses at this point. But then again, it's the same for positive effects as well. All anyone can do is judge how they feel. If your lungs feel better, then you are probably doing better. If you have visited your Dr. and he or she says you are perfectly healty, then you are probably better off vaping than smoking.

 

[Opinionated]

I overheard a debate between two coworkers recently. One kept citing things he'd read on facebook. The other used info seen on CNN.

At one point I was asked "what do you think?" I responded "neither of you will like my answer". The response was "awe c'mon man, you've got to have an opinion here". I responded "both of you are being misled by 10 second soundbites meant to pursuade your opininion". "And both of you are wrong". One kept coaxing for my opinion. I finally said "look, my dad told me a long time ago to never talk about religion, politics or root beer at work so I won't start today".

Unfortunately not enough folks are curious enough to know if what they read or hear is factual. When I started posting comments on forums with my opinions that came from life experiences. When stating so-called facts I never state them unless it was knowledge learned from multiple sources. I do not want to be part of the problem of misinformation.

After being asked a number of times "don't those things cause popcorn lung?" I became curious. Yet it took several hours of research to get the correct answer in such a way I could answer "no and here's why folks like you think it does".

If vaping caused popcorn lung we would have vapers who had popcorn lung by now as vaping has been on the market since 2007.

 

[Opinionated]

My mother in law posted this on Facebook this am. When I did a quick google of popcorn lung, I realized this myth just isn't dying - there are a lot of fairly current results of sites/publications making this reference to popcorn lung. I know she thought she was sharing some important info, but of course it really bugs me. So this just made me wonder about the damage these myths do, actually costing lives.

Does anyone have a fairly reliable source for an estimate of how many smokers/ex smokers are currently using vaping to avoid cigarettes?
View attachment 781471

I don't believe we have exact figures, but when discussing we do know the monetary figures, so it might be better to say it's a billion dollar industry with no instances of popcorn lung in the 12 years since public use of the products.

Would be truthful ( Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) dollar sales, 2008-2017 | Statistic ) and not get you into a numbers war.

 

[Foggy Road]

It amazes me that this myth still lives. It's been 2-3 years since I last did any reading on popcorn lung.
At that time the cause of the ailment contracted by those unfortunate snack food workers had not been found! Diketones (or whatever) had only been chosen as most likely candidate. Have I missed something?

 

[Brewdawg1181]

I don't usually try to do any online arguing- especially with my mother in law. There's plenty of that out there already. And she's just an old lady keeping busy with her "internet machine," trying to help. Though in this case, I took the opportunity to counteract her misguided post with real information.

I know I, and most of us here can pretty much hold our own with knowledge about vape misinformation. So I wasn't really looking for ammunition, as it's at our fingertips.

I guess with all the vaping numbers out there, it just made me wonder if there was a feasible estimate of the number of vapers out there. Probably not - virtually all studies are related to teens, flawed in their premise, and results skewed to an agenda.

Probably not important - but it would be interesting to put a number on the actual number of adults that will suffer health consquenses in the wake of ecig regulation. Something about her post just made me wonder how many?

 

[Brewdawg1181]

It amazes me that this myth still lives. It's been 2-3 years since I last did any reading on popcorn lung.
At that time the cause of the ailment contracted by those unfortunate snack food workers had not been found! Diketones (or whatever) had only been chosen as most likely candidate. Have I missed something?

I know, right? That was my first thought: "This again?", and "will that ever die?" But it keeps getting posted as if it's new.

 

[Eskie]

If vaping caused popcorn lung we would have vapers who had popcorn lung by now as vaping has been on the market since 2007.

But how long has microwave popcorn been around for?

I don't believe we have exact figures, but when discussing we do know the monetary figures, so it might be better to say it's a billion dollar industry with no instances of popcorn lung in the 12 years since public use of the products.

Would be truthful ( Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) dollar sales, 2008-2017 | Statistic ) and not get you into a numbers war.

The billion dollar a year history isnt a great gauge of number of vapers. It can be too skewed by other factors.

I mean, just look at the shinyitis thread here. Subtract that from the figure, and assuming most people start with $30 starter kits, there can't be more than 20 or 30 other vapers worldwide to make up the difference. Nah, sales figures alone won't help us out.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

I usually find Snopes a reliable and balanced mythbusting source and this is where I direct people if they ask me about popcorn lung blah blah blah FACT CHECK: Vaping Causes 'Popcorn Lung'?

Thanks, Pete. I do think Snopes was pretty accurate and useful once upon a time, but you might want to look at them with a more jaundiced eye these days. They were great for what they did originally - debunk internet/urban legends. I won't even delve into their advertising based funding, or claims against them that they're liberal. And there are plenty of examples of when they've done a good job, and terrible ones. It's just that their due diligence and transparency before rendering their "rating" isn't always that great, or very consistent at all, even though they wield a lot of power.

 

[Eskie]

Thanks, Pete. I do think Snopes was pretty accurate and useful once upon a time, but you might want to look at them with a more jaundiced eye these days. They were great for what they did originally - debunk internet/urban legends. I won't even delve into their advertising based funding, or claims against them that they're liberal. And there are plenty of examples of when they've done a good job, and terrible ones. It's just that their due diligence and transparency before rendering their "rating" isn't always that great, or very consistent at all, even though they wield a lot of power.

Sorta like the rest of the internet. The world's repository of knowledge, commerce, and weird conspiracy theories.