Doctor issues warning to adults who vape but have never smoked cigarettes before

A medical expert has issued a warning to adult vape users who have never smoked a cigarette.

According to the latest stats from Action on Smoking and Health, around 11 percent of the UK population now vape, which is around 5.6 million adults.

And Dr Mike Varshavski, known online as Doctor Mike, has recently explained why vaping 'is not as harmful as cigarettes on paper', but can be for people who haven't smoked before.

In the UK, it will be illegal to sell single-use or 'disposable' vapes from 1 June, 2025 (Getty Stock Image)

Appearing on Steven Bartlett's The Diary Of A CEO podcast, he said: "Because the odour is not as offensive, it's easier to hide.

"You could do it much quicker and get a bigger dose, because it feels like it's not as harmful, many more people can get hooked on it."

Doctor Mike added: "That's the issue of it, that it gets people who maybe would have been turned off by smoking to try, and the chemicals found inside are really rewarding to the brain, nicotine being a prime example of it."

The expert says vaping is even more dangerous for children 'who have a developing frontal lobe'.

Vaping without having smoked a cigarette could be dangerous (Getty Stock Image)

"Meaning that the part of their brain that is responsible for complex decision making is not yet fully formed," Doctor Mike said.

"So they're incredibly susceptible to anything that can build a tolerance, a dependence, an addiction to, and it could change the chemistry of their brain moving forward.

"So we don't want to make it easier for them to start smoking.

"Vaping should be used as a tool, as a way of getting you off of cigarettes, not as a way of introducing you to cigarettes or nicotine at all."

Opening up about the dangers of vaping, he continued: "There's been vaping related lung injury, where that's its own diagnosis code now.

"There's been children that have been hospitalised with it.

"There's been even technical problems of the devices blowing up in people's faces."

Doctor Mike clarified: "So it's not the fact that I'm trying to fear monger here and say vaping is the devil.

"I'm here trying to explain that vaping can be problematic, because on the surface, it may not look as harmful by comparison."

In the UK, it will be illegal for businesses to sell or supply, offer to sell or supply, or have in their possession for sale or supply all single-use or 'disposable' vapes from 1 June, 2025.