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⚠️ Vaping Likely Causes Lung and Oral Cancer — Most Definitive Review Yet A landmark review led by UNSW Sydney has delivered the strongest verdict yet on e-cigarettes: nicotine vapes are likely to cause cancers of the lungs and oral cavity on their own — not just as a gateway to smoking. Published in Carcinogenesis, the study examined over 100 studies since 2017. Unlike earlier work that compared vaping to smoking, this review focused exclusively on whether e-cigarettes cause cancer independently. The evidence came from three converging directions: 🔹 Carcinogens identified in vape aerosols — volatile organic compounds and metals released by heating coils 🔹 Human biomarkers showing DNA damage, oxidative stress, and tissue inflammation in vapers 🔹 Mouse studies producing lung tumors from direct vape aerosol exposure 🔹 Case reports of unusually aggressive oral cancers in young, heavy vapers with no traditional risk factors The numbers are striking: dual users (vape + smoke) face a four-fold higher lung cancer risk than smokers alone. Young people who start vaping are three times more likely to become regular cigarette smokers. Important caveat: this is a review of existing evidence, not a long-term population study. Quantifying the exact cancer risk will take decades of epidemiological data. But the biological signals are already strong and consistent. The historical parallel is sobering. It took nearly a century — from the mid-1800s to the 1964 US Surgeon General's report — to prove that smoking causes lung cancer. "E-cigarettes were introduced about 20 years ago. We should not wait another 80 years to decide what to do," said co-author A/Prof. Freddy Sitas. For millions of young people who took up vaping believing it was harmless, this review changes the equation. 📄 Original paper (Carcinogenesis) · ScienceDaily #Vaping #Cancer #PublicHealth #Science #Carcinogenesis