No, Vapes Aren’t 95 Percent Less Harmful Than Cigarettes

Here’s how this decade-old myth took off

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It’s 2013. The Harlem Shake is on the radio and e-cigarettes are becoming a thing. A group of researchers convenes to discuss these and other products containing nicotine.

In a 2014 paper detailing the outcomes of that meeting, the authors rated “electronic nicotine delivery systems” (e-cigarettes) as having “only 4 percent” of the maximum relative harm of cigarettes.