A 19-year-old boy who took up vaping in an effort to quit smoking has warned people to stop using e-cigarettes after he suffered serious respiratory failure. Ewan Fisher was put on life support after developing hypersensitivity pneumonitis, an allergic reaction from breathing something in that results in inflammation of lung tissue.
'I was vaping for about four or five months before I got ill. I’d say I was vaping about a normal amount – maybe 10 to 15 times a day,' he told the Guardian. 'I switched to vaping because I thought it would be healthier and I was really into my boxing at the time so wanted to feel fit.'
Fisher developed a choking cough and was struggling to breathe when he arrived in hospital, where he was rushed to intensive care and put on two different forms of life support. After doctors connected him to an artificial lung that pumped oxygen into his blood and around his body, he began his slow recovery.
'There are two important lessons here,' Dr Jayesh Mahendra Bhatt, a consultant who treated Fisher, wrote in a paper for the Archives of Disease in Childhood. 'The first is always to consider a reaction to e-cigarettes in someone presenting with an atypical respiratory illness. The second is that we consider e-cigarettes as "much safer than tobacco" at our peril.'
While John Dunne, director of UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) warned that Fisher's case is 'very rare', Rosanna O'Connor, director of drugs, alcohol tobacco and justice at PHE said they will continue to review health concerns about e-cigarettes.
While not completely risk free, UK regulated e-cigarettes carry a fraction of the risk of smoked tobacco
'Our advice remains that while not completely risk free, UK regulated e-cigarettes carry a fraction of the risk of smoked tobacco,' she said. 'This view is held by many across the world, including the Royal College of Physicians, Cancer Research UK, the British Medical Association and the National Academy of Sciences in the US.'
In the UK, there have been no confirmed vaping-related deaths. In comparison to cigarette smoking, there are 80,000 deaths caused by tobacco each year. More than that, a clinical trial funded by UK National Institute Health Research found that e-cigarettes were almost twice as likely to help smokers quit cigarettes compared to alternatives - commonly nicotine patches or gum.
While there was a recent scare in the US regarding vaping-related illnesses that killed 39 people - this was largely to do with chemicals in vaping liquids that aren't used in UK products. At the time of the mysterious illness spreading, experts warned that in the UK, e-cigarette products go through more vigorous testing and regulations than the US.
E-cigarettes have been the trendiest alternative to smoking for years now – what with sheesha-esque e-cigarette bars popping up all over cities and towns across the UK (and the world) – but even when they first propped into prominence there were long debates about whether they're any good for you. In 2015, scientists seemed to lean towards the 'no' camp.
A study by the University of North Carolina revealed that the vapours used to flavour e-cigarettes pose a similar risk to tobacco, damaging lungs in the same sort of way. Testing 13 different flavours, nearly half of them (including Hot Cinnamon Candies, Banana Pudding and Menthol Tobacco) changed cell viability, cell proliferation, and calcium signalling – all similar affects to tobacco – and were shown to be toxic in higher doses.
While the study alone wasn't conclusive – it was one of many that signalled a need for a proper official investigation into the damaging effects of vaping. Another study, for example, found that e-cigarettes were harmful to lungs and could weaken the body's defence against viruses and bacteria. And another, published in Tobacco Control found that e-cigarettes contained chemicals known to be respiratory irritants, and were being ingested in high doses by vapers.
'Given the increasing popularity of flavored e-cigarettes, a better understanding of their ingredients, the potential health risks of these ingredients, and the causes of these risks is urgently needed,' said Temperance Rowell, lead author of the University of North Carolina study's research.
While there has been more research since then, perhaps with all of this in mind, it's best to try quit smoking anything for good rather than just smoking something that's could turn out as equally harmful?
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