Everyone loves the party game/icebreaker “two truths and a lie.”

Can you identify which of the following is NOT true about E-cigarettes?

A: E-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes and can help people quit smoking.

B: There’s an epidemic of teen use of e-cigarettes.

C: The American Cancer Society recommends current smokers switch to e-cigarettes.

Let’s take these statements one at a time:

A: TRUTH! According to Public Health England, the Royal Academy of Physicians, and multiple independent studies, vaping is 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes and are very effective in helping people to quit smoking altogether. In fact, in the UK, doctors actually recommend current smokers switch to vaping in order to help them quit. This was confirmed in a January 30, 2019 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which researchers found e-cigarettes worked almost twice as well as nicotine-replacement therapies (patches and gum) at helping smokers quit regular cigarettes. This was the first large, randomized study to test whether modern e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking.

B: LIE! CDC data also shows that less than six percent of teenagers vape habitually, which according to the CDC means vaping on or more than 20 days per month. Yet the FDA downplays this more reassuring figure, instead lamenting that e-cigarette use among teens has increased 78 percent from 2017 to 2018. This increase in vaping includes teens that reported vaping only once in a 30-day period and also those vaping flavored liquid with no nicotine at all. Of course, no one wants teens experimenting with these products, but we should keep these numbers in perspective: vaping once a month does not necessarily mean the teen has developed a habit or addiction. A 5.7 percent rate of teen smoking is certainly something that should be addressed, but it does not constitute an “epidemic” worthy of FDA bans on e-cigarette products.

C: TRUTH! The American Cancer Society acknowledges that vaping is safer than traditional cigarettes and recognizes the efficacy of e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit.

Click here to read more about how e-cigarettes can help the 38 million current smokers in America quit the habit and live healthier lives.