Health & Safety

How safe are e-cigarettes?

They're not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.

E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.

The liquid and vapour contain much lower levels of potentially harmful chemical which are found in cigarette smoke.

What about risks from nicotine?

While nicotine is a relatively harmless substance, it is addictive. 

Almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.

Are e-cigarettes safe to use in pregnancy?

Little research has been conducted into the safety of e-cigarettes in pregnancy, but they're likely to be much less harmful to a pregnant woman and her baby than cigarettes.

If you're pregnant, licensed NRT products such as patches and gum are the recommended option to help you stop smoking.

But if you find using an e-cigarette helpful for quitting and staying smokefree, it's much safer for you and your baby than continuing to smoke.

Is e-cigarette vapour harmful to others?

There's no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you.

This is in contrast to secondhand smoke from smoking, which is known to be very harmful to health.