Vol. 25 Is 'Heated Tobacco Is Safe' Correct?

"Cigarettes are bad for your health, but heated tobacco (e-cigarettes) won't cause cancer, right?"
This is a question I hear very often in the field of preventive medicine.

To this, I often give the following response. I should state first that this is not my own idea; I heard it from someone or read it somewhere, but I cannot recall where and therefore cannot cite the source. I apologize. I am noting that this is not my original thought.

"If smoking a cigarette is like jumping off a 50-story building, then using heated tobacco is like jumping off a 10-story building."

If you jump off the 50th floor of a building, you will lose your life. It is true that heated tobacco has fewer harmful substances, and the harm might be reduced to the level of jumping off the 10th floor. However, even if you jump from the 10th floor... wouldn't the result be the same?

It is a fact that heated tobacco contains fewer harmful substances. However, the point of whether this 'actually lowers the risk of cancer and heart disease' has not been scientifically proven at this time.

For one thing, it takes decades for cancer to develop. It has only been about 10 years since heated tobacco became widespread. The true risks may only become clear in 20 to 30 years. Those who are using heated tobacco now are, in a sense, subjects in a 'grand human experiment'.
Also, it is known that the risk of cancer increases significantly just by smoking 'one' cigarette. In other words, compared to the amount of harmful substances required to induce cancer, the amount of harmful substances in cigarettes is extremely high, so the theory is that whether it is halved or reduced to one-tenth, it makes no difference in terms of causing cancer.

Furthermore, harmful substances unique to heated tobacco have also been found. There have been reports of cases where substances that are rare in cigarettes are contained in high concentrations.

The WHO (World Health Organization) also does not recognize heated tobacco as 'safe'.
I understand the feeling of wanting to choose the 'slightly better' option. But if you are serious about aiming for well-being, there is the option of taking the elevator down to the ground floor (non-smoking).

Also, the harms of tobacco include carcinogens and 'nicotine,' but in many heated tobacco products, the amount of nicotine is not necessarily reduced, and there are even products that contain more nicotine than cigarettes.

Research on the health risks of heated tobacco is still accumulating, and long-term data is not yet sufficient.
There is no doubt that quitting the habit of inhaling tobacco products, including heated tobacco, is the best course of action.

Reference:
WHO "Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) information sheet" https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/tobacco-heated-tobacco-products
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare "Report of the Committee on the Health Effects of Heated Tobacco Products" https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000131723.html

*The content of this note is the author's personal view. It has no relation to the views of the medical institution to which the author belongs. I have paid close attention to the accuracy of the content, but if there is any inappropriate content, I would appreciate it if you could point it out.

#Alcohol/Tobacco #HeatedTobacco #E-cigarettes #CancerRisk