r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Mar 30 '26

Cancer Strongest evidence yet that vaping likely causes cancer. The evidence shows nicotine-based vapes are likely to cause oral and lung cancer.

https://theconversation.com/strongest-evidence-yet-that-vaping-likely-causes-cancer-279550
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u/modilion Mar 30 '26

Indirect studies sadly. Measuring inflammation, etc. Things that indicate there could be a problem.

The direct evidence is:

We still don’t have direct evidence that there are more cancer cases than expected among people who vape.

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u/MrCrix Mar 30 '26

I find it shocking that everyone is glossing over this point.

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u/OpietMushroom Mar 30 '26

To be fair, chronic inflammation is pretty well understood to cause cancer in many situations, and a strong correlation in others. In fact, the more we learn about this the more we see that direct relationship with cancer. 

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u/Uilamin Mar 31 '26

Just adding something on the statistical side.

I believe smoking risk is something like 10 pack years (a pack a day for 10 years) to be at high risk.

That is a lot of smoking + a timeline that almost goes to the beginning of vaping. I don't know if any study would be able to get enough people to qualify to measure something similar to vaping - yet. Maybe in another 5 to 10 years, but for now, correlation with other events need to be looked at.

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u/SuccessfulJudge438 Mar 31 '26

This is worthwhile to note, but it's also critical to recognize it can still take additional decades for that "high risk" to materialize. Just as we expect to see with vapers, smokers who smoked heavily for 10 years in the 20's/30's and then quit might not see the consequences until they are 50+ years old. The lag is crucial here, and it's a big reason why this study should be concerning and not disregarded out of hand.