“A New Tobacco Epidemic: Experts Warn Vaping Could Cause Lasting Harm to Children’s Health”

“This epidemic is being led and organised by the nicotine industry,” one expert told Euronews Health.

Doctors worldwide are raising the alarm that vaping could be creating a new generation of nicotine addicts – with children and teenagers most at risk of long-term, irreversible harm.

Although marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, mounting scientific evidence shows that e-cigarettes and vapes are far from harmless. Studies have increasingly linked them to cardiovascular problems, chronic lung damage, weakened immune responses, and even an elevated risk of cancer.

“E-cigarettes have only been on the market for around 15 years, but already there are more than 15,000 research articles – and at least a thousand on health effects. We now know enough to conclude they are not a harmless product,” said Professor Maja-Lisa Løchen, senior cardiologist at the University Hospital of North Norway, after speaking at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Madrid this week.

She added that the rapid rise in vaping among young people should be setting off alarm bells globally.

A youth-driven epidemic

Some 22 per cent of 15- and 16-year-olds in Europe reported vaping regularly, according to a survey published last year covering 37 countries. That’s up from 14 per cent just five years earlier – a sharp surge that public health experts attribute to aggressive marketing and easy online availability.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also reported that more than 2.5 million middle and high school students used e-cigarettes in 2023, with flavoured vapes – often fruit or candy-like – dominating the market.

A major paper in the New England Journal of Medicine last year found that vaping raises the risk of stroke by nearly a third (32 per cent), while other studies have shown higher rates of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and reduced lung function among young users.

A gateway to smoking

While traditional cigarette smoking had been declining for decades, vaping appears to be reversing that trend. In Norway, Løchen said, use among young people has risen from virtually zero to around 11 per cent in just four years – despite a domestic sales ban. At the same time, cigarette smoking is ticking upward again.

“We know that starting to vape is like a bridge or a gateway to smoking real cigarettes,” she warned.
“The tobacco industry knows this – they market aggressively to children with sweet flavours, colourful packaging, and exciting designs. It’s no coincidence. This epidemic is being led and organised by the nicotine industry.”

Health risks still emerging

The full long-term consequences of vaping will not be clear for decades, but researchers already have serious concerns. Heating e-liquids releases harmful chemicals including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein – all known carcinogens. These substances can inflame blood vessels, scar lung tissue, and contribute to cardiovascular disease.

Løchen emphasised that vaping stresses the heart and circulatory system in ways strikingly similar to smoking.
“It increases blood pressure, raises heart rate, and stiffens the arteries – all of which are risk factors for heart disease later in life,” she said.

Nicotine itself – the addictive core component – is especially harmful for adolescents. The US Surgeon General has warned that it can alter the developing brain, impairing memory, attention, and learning capacity. Evidence also shows nicotine exposure in adolescence increases vulnerability to other addictions later in life.

The need for regulation and education

Responses to the vaping boom vary widely across countries. Within the European Union, regulators have limited nicotine concentrations and banned marketing targeted at minors, but enforcement remains patchy.

In Norway, sales are officially banned, yet young people easily purchase products online or across borders. Meanwhile, in the United States, despite repeated calls from public health officials for tighter restrictions, flavoured e-cigarettes remain widely available, especially in convenience stores and online marketplaces.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to treat e-cigarettes as harmful products, warning in a 2023 report that they are not an effective quitting tool compared with existing nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gums.

Beyond legislation, experts say education and awareness are key. Løchen stressed that schools, parents, and communities must work together to dispel the myth of vaping as “safe” or “clean” smoking.

“It has to be banned, but it also has to be known among the general public and among health workers that vaping is really harmful. Teachers need training, it has to be part of school curricula, and parents have to be involved,” she said.

“Right now, too many still think it’s a safe product, or even a good tool for quitting smoking – but that’s simply not true.”

A public health crossroads

Experts say the world is now at a crossroads similar to the one faced in the mid-20th century, when cigarette smoking was still considered harmless. Then, decades of denial by the tobacco industry delayed regulation – and cost millions of lives.

Today, health authorities fear history may be repeating itself. Unless action is taken soon, vaping could entrench a new global tobacco epidemic – one that targets children and locks in addiction for decades to come.

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