Neither smoking nor vaping is beneficial to human health. Based on the available evidence, smoking appears to be more harmful than vaping. However, this does not mean that vaping is safe.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, vaping may be slightly less harmful than smoking. They note that a person who smokes inhales about 7,000 chemicals, whereas vaping likely involves a lower number of chemicals.

The AHA note that vaping liquids contain fewer contaminants than cigarettes. However, they also state that vaping is not safe due to the following reasons:

• E-cigarettes contain a large dose of nicotine, a substance known to slow the development of brains in fetuses, children, and teens.
• The liquid that creates the vapor is dangerous to adults and children if they swallow or inhale it or get it on their skin.
• Vaping also delivers several dangerous chemicals, including diacetyl, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Vaping may normalize smoking again as it becomes more popular.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, by early 2020, there had been a total of 2,807 hospitalizations or deaths from vaping.

However, the CDC also acknowledge that since the removal of vitamin E acetate from vaping products, along with other harmful ingredients, the number of symptoms that people experience from vaping has declined.

Unlike vaping, which is relatively new, there are years of research to fully back up claims that smoking is damaging to human health. According to the CDCTrusted Source, smoking causes:

• damage to every organ in the body
• more than 480,000 deaths a year in the United States
• 90% of all lung cancer deaths
• about 80% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• an increased risk of death
• an increased risk of developing health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke