this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The full effects of vaping are not well understood, and while they're almost certainly not as bad as cigarettes, they're also almost certainly still bad for you, and they are indeed still addictive for the same reasons as cigarettes because they still use nicotine.

Further, one main reason their risks remain as poorly understood as they do is that (again, because of the same active ingredient) people who vape often also use cigarettes. The two are closely linked, I don't think my confusion should be so easily dismissed as that.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh sorry, I was thinking nicotine supplements like gum and patches. In my mind, smoking and vaping are the same thing. "Don't inhale particulate matter of any kind" is an excellent rule of thumb for all humans in all situations

[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly my point. It always throws me for a minute when I realize people are treating them so separately.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you're against smelling flowers, too? And scented candles?

The problem is that we "inhale particulate matter" all the time. Every day of our lives.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, and it kills people.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8140409/#:~:text=The%20World%20Health%20Organization%20estimates,PM2.5)%20in%20polluted%20air.

You're not that stupid. You know the difference between inhaling concentrated particulates from a cigarette or vape and smelling a fucking flower. (Which, by the way, pollen grains are average 10-20 microns, not 2.5.)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7937385/#:~:text=Many%20studies%20have%20reported%20that,2020%3B%20Schober%20et%20al.%2C

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You’re not that stupid. You know the difference between inhaling concentrated particulates from a cigarette or vape and smelling a fucking flower

And you're not that stupid. You know that fine particulate matter in the air every breath we take is different from someone vaping sometimes. There's a reason your linked study doesn't mention vaping AND why scientists are still saying the risks of vaping are unclear.

Your second study is more useful, but it really is not intellectually defensible to take it results as saying vaping is unhealthy. Instead, its results are saying that we need to keep regulations to control air quality with regards to vaping.

I'll reiterate my original critique.

“Don’t inhale particulate matter of any kind” is an excellent rule of thumb for all humans in all situations

...is something I disagree with, like most extreme naive generalities.

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wasn't trying to link evidence that vaping is unhealthy. But we know that inhaling PM2.5 is unhealthy and those size particles are present in vape. You are free to take whatever risks you would like with your body.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

But we know that inhaling PM2.5 is unhealthy and those size particles are present in vape

This is no more true than saying "we know sunlight is unhealthy". What we know is that PM2.5 is unhealthy in large quantities for long periods of time. We know the same thing about sunlight for a lot of the same reasons. Occasional 15-minute stretches in the sun is more healthy than consistent long-term exposure.

You are free to take whatever risks you would like with your body.

As are you. I'm just talking about what is or is not science vs propaganda, here. From a different branch, I would wager that vaped medications could reach a point of being healthier for us than injected medications.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The full effects of vaping are not well understood, and while they’re almost certainly not as bad as cigarettes, they’re also almost certainly still bad for you

That used to say that about artificial sweeteners. The question shouldn't be "is it bad for you" but "is it worse for you than 99 other things you do in a day". And vaping nicotine is "almost certainly bad for you" because of the nicotine, and nicotine is a known quantity - we know how bad it is and isn't. We don't have evidence that the mechanism of vaping is bad for you, and there's no "almost certainly" on that.

And the truth is, I have problems with people who lean on "poorly understood" for vaping. Evidence shows vaping as a mechanism (for THC as it were) going back over 2000 years to ancient Egypt. Widespread use of hookahs started in the 19th century and has tons mechanically in common with modern vaporization. There are some differences, but short of a few badly-designed vapes that let air reach the lungs while superheated, it looks a lot like people are saying "not well understood" because they cannot seem to "understand" bad things and they don't want to say good things. We have TONS of research precedent around room-temperature air with vaporized herbs in it.

If I were going to imbibe nicotine (or CBD or THC for that matter), I would probably prefer to vape it. I think the stigma against vaping needs to step aside for the vaccine research considering using vapes as an alternative to needle injection.

[–] Silentiea@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hookah is pretty bad for you too, my friend. From Wikipedia, emphasis mine:

The major health risks of smoking tobacco, cannabis, opium and other drugs through a hookah include exposure to toxic chemicals, carcinogens and heavy metals that are not filtered out by the water,[3][8][9][10][11] alongside those related to the transmission of infectious diseases and pathogenic bacteria when hookahs are shared.[3][9][12][13] Hookah and waterpipe use is a global public health concern, with high rates of use in the populations of the Middle East and North Africa as well as in young people in the United States, Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia.[3][8][9][10][11]

If the best you can say is "it's pretty much a mini hookah, don't worry", then I'm going back to the best you can say for it is that it's poorly understood. Vaping doesn't burn anything, unlike a hookah, but the vaporized oils still contain toxins and novel toxins not in the smoke from cigarettes or hookah. The health consequences of that are not well understood, but are probably not as bad as cigarette smoking. That's the best we've got.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I didn't say it wasn't. I said we have a lot more context than people want to pretend about vaping in general.

And I'm not trying to say "it's a mini hookah", nor am I trying to say you should vape.

Vaping doesn’t burn anything, unlike a hookah, but the vaporized oils still contain toxins and novel toxins not in the smoke from cigarettes or hookah

If they contain toxins, we probably know quite a bit about those toxins right now. But what about pure vaporized solids? In the CBD and Cannabis community, dry herb vaporizing is the hot new thing specifically because 99% of complaints about vaping being unhealthy are irrelevant. All they do is get the herbs hot without burning it, run it through cooling, and inhale it. I laugh, but I used to do that with lavender with an aromatic herb heating unit.

The health consequences of that are not well understood, but are probably not as bad as cigarette smoking. That’s the best we’ve got.

Despite your incredulity, you really haven't shown that. The consequences are not perfectly understood, but we understand enough to start making educated opinions about vaping. Even your points about hookahs work towards that, with the worst cons being that you still get Carbon Monoxide and the intensity of Nicotine is high. The problem is that we don't want to tell people that the educated opinion is "probably better for you than that glazed donut"