Vaping is less harmful than smoking, experts say. Why don’t smokers know this?
February 23, 2026 by scienceline.org
Vaping is less harmful than smoking, experts say. Why don’t smokers know this?
In 2018, Food and Drug Administration launched a public health campaign warning about a so-called vaping epidemic, using shocking imagery to discourage e-cigarette use. Earlier in the 2010s, the FDA focused on harm reduction by encouraging smokers to switch to lower-risk nicotine products such as e-cigarettes. However, when vaping became increasingly popular among teenagers, public health messaging shifted toward discouraging vaping altogether. Anti-vaping campaigns by the government and non-profit organizations appear to have been effective, as the percentage of middle and high school students reporting vaping in the past 30 days dropped significantly from 20% in 2019 to 5.9% in 2024.
