I'm not sure we can say it's damn near harmless at this point. It hasn't been around long enough to measure the really long-term health impacts, especially considering there are chemicals present in vaping that aren't in traditional cigarettes. They've only seen wide use for a little more than 10 years. Do we really know what propylene glycol will do to lungs or bodies over decades? There are also some harmful chemicals that are actually
higher in e-cigs [0]
In short, while available research points towards these things being safer, we really don't know what that margin is. Even if it's, say, 10 times safer, if vaping explodes to more than 10x the current smoking population then net harm could still be increased. Or not! But that's my point: we really don't know.
Personally, I don't think they should be outlawed. I think fruit flavors should be banned just like they are in cigarettes, and I think anti-smoking education campaigns need to ramp up their message to include vaping as a "no, just don't ever even start" part of the effort, and e-cigs should be required to only be marketed as aids for quitting smoking.
[0]https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/141/4/e201735...
In short, while available research points towards these things being safer, we really don't know what that margin is. Even if it's, say, 10 times safer, if vaping explodes to more than 10x the current smoking population then net harm could still be increased. Or not! But that's my point: we really don't know.
Personally, I don't think they should be outlawed. I think fruit flavors should be banned just like they are in cigarettes, and I think anti-smoking education campaigns need to ramp up their message to include vaping as a "no, just don't ever even start" part of the effort, and e-cigs should be required to only be marketed as aids for quitting smoking.
[0]https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/141/4/e201735...