The Guardian really has a funny way with headlines sometimes - check this one:

Vaping may not be as safe as smokers think, research suggests

I was a bit alarmed when I read this because I’ve just convinced myself that there’s no way they can be anywhere near as harmful as cigarettes. The article begins:

E-cigarettes generate toxic chemicals similar to those found in tobacco and may harm the lungs and immune system, new research suggests.

Tucked away at the bottom of the piece though, is this :

E-cigarettes generated just 1% of the amount of free radicals in tobacco smoke, but this still posed a potential health risk, said the researchers.

“We were surprised by how high that number was, considering that e-cigarettes do not produce combustion products,” said Dr Sussan. “Granted, it’s 100 times lower than cigarette smoke, but it’s still a high number of free radicals that can potentially damage cells.”

So the big scary worse-than-we-thought fact about vapers is that they are, if this research is correct, potentially one hundredth as damaging as cigarettes! The Guardian thinks it is serving the public health interest by persuading people not to switch to an alternative because it’s only 100 times less harmful. WTF?