Vaping 'worse than smoking' says cancer expert

The sight of people smoking cigarettes on our streets and in our pubs seems almost like a thing of the past. On the other hand, you'll frequently see people carrying or using an e-cigarette or vape instead. According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, around 5.3 million people aged 18 years and over (10.6%) smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2024, the lowest proportion of current smokers since records began in 2011. But around 5.4 million adults aged 16 years and over (10%) used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally in the same year. Many people who vape do so in the belief that it is not as harmful as smoking cigarettes. But a leading physician and cancer researcher begs to differ. Dr William Li , a world-leading physician and researcher who specialises in cancer and the relationship between food and health , told the Zoe podcast he believed vaping was more harmful to our health than smoking cigarettes. He 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." He added: "Whether you're talking about vaping or you're talking about cigarettes, pipes, cigars, you're putting in toxins into your lungs." Dr Li is not the only leading doctor convinced vaping seriously damages health. Dr Jeremy London , who is board-certified in general surgery, vascular surgery and thoracic surgery, and regularly posts advice on social media and in interviews, was asked how bad certain habits are on a scale of 1-10. He said vaping was a 10. "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," he said. In an interview with Today, Dr London said smoking is "the single worst thing you can do for yourself" but said he was also concerned about vaping. Research has shown that adults who regularly use electronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes, display worrisome changes in heart and blood vessel function and perform significantly worse on exercise stress testing than people who do not use any nicotine products.