E-Cigs Breed More Smokers Than They Stop

While the device helps some adults quit the habit for good, research suggests nicotine vaping leads to many more tobacco users.

A smoke shop employee uses an e-cigarette.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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Electronic cigarettes have long been touted not only as a safer alternative to cigarettes but as a potential avenue by which existing smokers might quit. The industry, now worth $11.4 billion, hasn’t been hurt by this one-two pitch of safety and good public policy.

New research shows, however, that e-cigarettes are hurting a lot more than they help.