Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Risk and Uncertainty
Publication Date
7-2020
ISSN
0895-5646
Page Number
259
Keywords
e-cigarettes, health risks, environmental tobacco smoke, vaping
Disciplines
Health Law and Policy | Law
Abstract
New national survey evidence on electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) risk beliefs indicates that people substantially overestimate the health risks posed by e-cigarettes, both in absolute terms and relative to conventional cigarette risk beliefs. Perceptions of the lung cancer risks and total mortality risks of conventional cigarettes function as prior risk beliefs for e-cigarettes. People believe e-cigarettes are at least 60% as risky as conventional cigarettes. Whether respondents have seen reports of vaping-related illnesses has no significant effect on risk beliefs, but there has been a modest increase in the percentage who believe that e-cigarettes are riskier than cigarettes. Accurate e-cigarette beliefs would significantly increase whether people try, currently use, or exclusively use e-cigarettes. Whereas price and taste are the principal drivers of brand choice for conventional cigarettes, use of e-cigarettes is more closely linked to smoking cessation and concern with environmental tobacco smoke.
Recommended Citation
W. Kip Viscusi,
Electronic Cigarette Risk Beliefs and Usage After the Vaping Illness Outbreak, 60 Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 259
(2020)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1538