Vaping Was Called Safer Than Smoking. What Happened?

The growing use of battery-powered e-cigarettes -- the activity known as vaping -- has provoked one of the most robust debates among public-health specialists in years. The debate has intensified as some users of vaping devices, which have been thought of as safer than lit cigarettes, have come down with mysterious and serious respiratory ailments.

It’s a way to ingest nicotine, the addictive alkaloid present in tobacco, without the smoke and tar that comes from burning tobacco. The vaping device contains a battery that heats a liquid spiked with nicotine, producing a vapor the user inhales. Vaping devices such as the popular Juul come in sleek designs and are small enough that an underage vaper, say, can palm it, discreetly take a hit when a teacher or parent isn’t looking, and breathe the resulting aerosol into a sleeve or collar. Vaping refills come in tasty flavors such as mango and creme.