‘Vaping is definitely a cancer risk’
The image of people smoking cigarettes in our streets and pubs sometimes feels almost like a distant memory. Instead, it’s now far more common to spot individuals carrying or puffing on an e-cigarette or vape.
According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, around 5.3 million people aged 18 years and over (10.6%) smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2024, the lowest proportion since records began in 2011. But around 5.4 million adults aged 16 years and over (10%) used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally in the same year.
Many vapers may be doing so in the belief that their habit is considerably less damaging than traditional cigarette smoking. However, one prominent physician and cancer researcher strongly challenges this assumption. Dr William Li, a globally renowned physician and researcher specialising in cancer and the connection between diet and health, shared with the Zoe podcast his conviction that vaping poses a greater health threat than smoking cigarettes.
He said: “Vaping is definitely a cancer risk and it’s been well established in the lab. It’s being seen in the clinic and arguably the chemicals in these vaping solutions are even more irritating, even more toxic, than traditional tobacco. They’re different, but we think that they actually may be even more DNA-mutating. And so, you know, for those people who are like ‘Well, vaping’s a safer alternative, at least I’m not smoking’, you know you might be doing something even worse for yourself.”
He added: “Whether you’re talking about vaping or you’re talking about cigarettes, pipes, cigars, you’re putting in toxins into your lungs.”
Dr Li isn’t the only prominent medic who believes vaping poses serious health risks, reports the Mirror. Dr Jeremy London, who holds board certification in general surgery, vascular surgery and thoracic surgery, and frequently shares guidance via social media and interviews, was asked to rate the severity of certain habits on a scale of 1-10. He rated vaping as a 10.
“Although we don’t have the data like we do with cigarettes over many, many years, I’ve personally seen some tragic outcomes in young individuals who vape,” he said.
Speaking to Today, Dr London described smoking as “the single worst thing you can do for yourself” but expressed equal concern about vaping. Studies have demonstrated that adults who routinely use electronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes, exhibit concerning alterations in cardiovascular and vascular function and perform markedly worse during exercise stress tests compared to individuals who avoid all nicotine products.
