The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plainly states on their website that e-cigarettes are less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Meanwhile, the FDA has yet to approve e-cigarettes for smoking cessation as the US Preventive Services Task Force has concluded that there is insufficient evidence at this time to recommend e-cigs for smoking cessation.
The image below is a screenshot of the CDC website in which one can clearly see the CDC’s position on e-cigarettes, which is that e-cigs are less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
Despite the FDA’s lack of approval of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, the CDC has noted that “e-cigarettes may help non-pregnant adults who smoke if used as a complete substitute for all cigarettes and other smoked tobacco products.”
The CDC pointed to scientific research that has found evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes can help adult smokers quit smoking.
While the CDC has made its stance on the matter of nicotine vaping quite clear, the FDA’s approach has proved to be quite the contrast. In 2021, the FDA issued Marketing Denial Orders for over 946,000 flavored vaping products because their applications “lacked sufficient evidence that they have a benefit to adult smokers sufficient to overcome the public health threat posed by the well-documented, alarming levels of youth use of such products.”
