E-cigarettes may cause cancer and heart disease, says study

They are usually marketed as a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes, but a new study suggests that e-cigarettes may still pose serious harm to health.

Researchers suggest that e-cigarettes may increase the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Researchers at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City found that mice exposed to electronic cigaratte (e-cigarette) vapor experienced DNA damage in the lungs, bladder, and heart, which could increase the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Such damage was also found in cultured human lung and bladder cells that had been exposed to e-cigarette vapor for the equivalent of 10 years.
Study co-author Moon-shong Tang, of the Department of Environmental Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, and his colleagues recently reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
E-cigarettes — also known as e-cigs — have soared in popularity in recent years, particularly among teenagers and young adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 2 million middle and high school students in the United States report having used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days.
E-cigarettes are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a quit-smoking aid, after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that there is "insufficient evidence to recommend for or against [their] use for smoking cessation."
However, research has found that more than 80 percent of smokers believe that e-cigarettes could help them to quit, while more than 97 percent believe that the battery-powered devices can help to reduce the use of conventional tobacco.