Episode description

The harms of smoking cigarettes are pretty clear. Smoking causes cancer as well as heart and lung diseases, and it’s the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

When it comes to vaping, or electronic cigarettes, the risks are a bit more tricky to parse, especially if you read media reports about them. The outbreak of Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury, also known as EVALI, in 2019 and 2020 made things even more confusing.

The founders of Juul, the company that mainstreamed vaping in the early aughts, said they wanted to help people kick their smoking habits. But can vapes really help people quit? And how bad are they for you, really? And if you’re addicted to vaping, what’s the best way to stop?

To answer those questions and more, Host Ira Flatow talks with one of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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