Can Vaping Cause Cancer?

Jun 22, 2022Updated Sep 17, 20265 min readVape School

If you vape, you’ve probably seen headlines saying vaping causes cancer, and others saying it doesn’t. They can’t both be right, and most of them skip the part that matters: what the research actually measured.

Here’s a plain-English look at what’s known, what isn’t known yet, and how to read a vaping study for yourself. It’s general information, not medical advice. For advice about your own health, talk to your doctor.

What we know so far

Vape juice is usually a mix of propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG), flavorings and nicotine. Heating that mix creates an aerosol, and that aerosol is not just water vapor.

According to the CDC, e-cigarette aerosol can contain ultrafine particles, flavoring chemicals such as diacetyl, volatile organic compounds, cancer-causing chemicals and heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead. The amounts vary a lot from one device, setting and liquid to the next.

Heat plays a big part. When a coil runs too hot or the wick dries out, you get a harsh, burnt dry hit, and lab tests have found more unwanted byproducts under those conditions. That’s one reason a burnt taste is a signal to stop and fix the problem. Our guide to dry hits explains what causes them.

Then there’s nicotine. Most vape juice contains it, nicotine salts can deliver it at high strengths, and it is addictive. Researchers are still studying its long-term effects, including whether it plays any direct role in cancer.

Why there isn’t a clear answer yet

Cancer usually takes many years to develop. Researchers typically connect a habit to a disease by following large groups of people for a long time. E-cigarettes only arrived in the US in the late 2000s, so that kind of long-term evidence doesn’t exist yet.

A few other things make the question hard to answer:

• Many adults who vape also smoke now or smoked in the past. Separating the effects of smoking from the effects of vaping is difficult.
• The products keep changing. Today’s pods and disposables work differently from the devices of a decade ago, so older findings don’t always carry over.
• Many studies aren’t done in people. Lab and animal studies can flag a possible problem, but they can’t show what happens to people who vape for years.

Public health agencies don’t agree on every detail, and their guidance is updated as new research comes in. That’s why it’s worth checking their sites rather than relying on a headline you saw a few years ago.

How to read the study behind a scary headline

A good example is a 2018 study by New York University researchers that fueled “vaping causes cancer” headlines, along with claims about heart disease. The team exposed mice to e-cigarette aerosol and treated lab-grown human lung and bladder cells with nicotine and a nicotine-derived chemical. They reported DNA damage and reduced DNA repair.

Findings like these are worth taking seriously as an early warning, and they give other researchers questions to chase. What they can’t do is show whether, or how much, vaping raises cancer risk in people. The study didn’t follow people who vape, and exposure in animal and cell studies doesn’t always match how people actually use a device.

When a new headline comes along, ask:

• Was the study done in people, animals or cells?
• What device, liquid and settings were used?
• Was vaping compared with smoking, or with not using nicotine at all?
• Was it published in a peer-reviewed journal?
• Do the researchers’ own conclusions match the headline?

What you can control

None of these steps remove the risks of vaping, but they do help you avoid problems that don’t need to happen:

• Buy from established retailers and brands. Products from unknown or informal sources are a gamble. In 2019, the CDC linked an outbreak of serious lung injuries, known as EVALI, mainly to THC vaping products containing vitamin E acetate, many of them from informal sources.
• Don’t add anything to your e-liquid, and don’t modify a device beyond what its maker intended.
• Avoid dry hits. Keep your wick saturated, stay inside your coil’s wattage range and change your coils when they start tasting burnt.
• Know what you’re vaping. Our vaper’s blacklist covers ingredients and gear worth avoiding.
• If you don’t use nicotine, don’t start.

If you’re worried about cancer risk, whether from vaping, smoking or anything else, your doctor is the best person to talk to. They know your health history and can point you to the right screenings and support. For the latest public health guidance, visit cdc.gov and fda.gov.

Common questions

WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. For adults 21+ only.