Vapes have many chemicals in them that can harm your health including some that have been linked to cancer, heart disease and lung damage.
Vapes can make you more likely to take up cigarette smoking.
There are no rules about what goes into vapes and labels can be wrong or incomplete.
Using vapes can cause nicotine addiction, breathing problems, nausea. Long term, they may cause other illnesses, we just don't know yet.
Vapes (also called e-cigarettes, vape pens and pods) can vary in shape, size and colour, but they all work the same way. Vapes contain a liquid (also known as e liquid or e-juice) that is heated to become an aerosol, which the person then inhales.
When someone uses a vape, they can inhale over 200 harmful chemicals. Vape labels may be wrong or incomplete. Even when nicotine is not listed as an ingredient on the label many vapes contain high levels of nicotine, which is addictive1. Some vapes have been found to contain toxic chemicals that are known to harm health.
Yes. Vapes can harm our health in many ways. Most vapes contain nicotine, which is one of the most addictive drugs in the world. When young people use nicotine, it can lead to changes to brain development, memory and attention problems, mood changes and the potential to worsen stress and increase depression and anxiety. Those who vape but don’t smoke are also three times more likely to start smoking compared to those who have never vaped. Importantly, as vaping is relatively new, we don’t know the long-term health effects.
Other health effects of vaping may include:
Acknowledgement: The factsheet was co-designed with Aboriginal young people and developed in consultation with The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use.
