Vape users inhale not just harmful chemicals, but toxic metals into their lungs.

Synopsis: Every first Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

E-cigarettes or vapes can contain less chemicals than cigarettes, but did you know that the former can expose users to toxic metals? 

Is vaping safer than smoking and just how harmful is vaping? Find out these and more in the latest Health Check episode with ST senior health correspondent Joyce Teo, as she dives into the topic with two experts from Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

They are Adj Asst/Prof Clive Tan, Public Health Specialist and Senior Consultant, Department of Preventive & Population Medicine and Adj Asso/Prof Puah Ser Hon, Head and Senior Consultant from the Department of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine.

With vaping on the rise here, despite it being illegal, they also talk about the help available to a vape user who wants to quit the habit, and what can be done about the vaping problem here.

In Singapore, simply purchasing, using or owning an electronic vapouriser or vape, can attract fines of up to $2,000 per offence.

Yet, vaping is on the rise here. The purchase, use or possession of vapes jumped 58 per cent to about 7,900 cases in 2023, from about 5,000 cases in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

Highlights (click/tap above):

3:33 Are vapes safer than cigarettes?

8:17 Inhaling chemicals and toxic metals

20:35 Considering an amnesty for vape users

27:42 You can get the help that you need to quit vaping

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, and Eden Soh

Edited by: Eden Soh

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