A study by the University of York, published this summer in the journal Tobacco Control and picked up by several French media, presents vaping as a gateway to tobacco, alcohol or cannabis. However, several scientists and experts were quick to cast doubt on these conclusions.
Published on August 19 in Tobacco Control, the study "Vaping and harm in young people: umbrella review' by Golder et al."1 from the University of York, claims that vaping encourages young people to start smoking and leads to risky consumption habits such as alcohol and cannabis. These alarmist conclusions were echoed by several French media outlets234 However, a number of experts were quick to point out in Science Media Centre that the methodological limitations and misleading results were due to the low quality of the studies analyzed.
What this English study says
This English study is a synthesis of 56 systematic reviews, concluding that e-cigarette use among young people is associated with multiple health and behavioral risks.
- Young people who vapourize are 2 to 6 times more likely to go on to use cannabis.
- Their risk of alcohol consumption and binge drinking is multiplied by 4 to 6.
- The transition to smoking (gateway effect) is said to be about 3 times higher among vapers.
Review quality called into question
Several scientists were quick to express reservations. Professor Ann McNeill, a specialist in tobacco addiction at King's College London, points out that the analysis "includes 56 systematic reviews, 53 of which are of low or critical quality", which calls for "great caution before drawing conclusions".
Professor Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at the Open University, agrees: "The strength of the conclusions depends on the strength of the systematic reviews used, which in turn depend on the quality of the original studies. The authors identified only one high quality review, two medium quality reviews, and 53 low or very low quality reviews." This, he says, "calls for caution". He adds that "one of the major problems, recognized by the authors themselves, is that it is virtually impossible to demonstrate a causal relationship between vaping and the observed health or behavioral effects".
Risk predisposition rather than vape
Most of the research synthesized is cross-sectional or observational. This makes it difficult to determine whether vaping is the real cause of these behaviors or whether other factors come into play, explain these experts. They therefore put forward the "common liability" hypothesis, i.e. an individual predisposition to addiction, considering that some teenagers have a general tendency towards risky behavior, linked to biological or psychological factors, their personality or their family and social environment. They are therefore more inclined than others to experiment with alcohol, cannabis or tobacco. Vaping is therefore not a direct cause, and the strength of the conclusions concerning a possible "gateway effect" is misleading here.
Vaporization on the rise, smoking on the decline
For Dr Emma Beard, Associate Professor of Statistics at University College London, "talk of a gateway effect is excessive speculation, especially as smoking rates have fallen overall while vaping has increased. Protecting young people is essential, but this review highlights significant weaknesses in the current evidence." Professor Ann McNeill also points out: "Our research has even shown the opposite relationship: trying a tobacco cigarette is associated with subsequent vaping. Other studies show that, on a population scale, when vaping increases, smoking decreases." A trend confirmed in several countries: in the United States, where less than 2% of young people still smoke, but also in New Zealand and France, according to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT).
Proof in numbers
The latest ESPAD survey, published by OFDT, shows that in France, the proportion of 16-year-olds who smoke daily has fallen from 16% in 2015 to 3.1% in 2024, while over the same period the practice of vaping has become more widespread and has continued to grow. At the same time, compared to the rest of Europe, France is one-third of the countries with the lowest consumption of alcoholic beverages. Finally, while historically among the countries with the highest cannabis consumption, experimentation with this product in adolescence has also fallen in France, from 31% in 2015 to 8.4% in 2024. The idea that vaping is a gateway to tobacco, cannabis and alcohol is therefore more of a prejudice than a substantiated reality.
Focus on evidence and randomized studies
Today, the electronic cigarette is the most effective tool for reducing smoking, particularly among young adults. Distracting attention with alarmist generalizations based on fragile data is tantamount to confusing the public debate. It's true that it can be difficult to find one's way through the various studies - cross-sectional, longitudinal, meta-analyses or systematic reviews - and their sometimes contradictory conclusions. To help better understand the differences between these methodologies, Vaping Post has published a comprehensive article detailing their specific contribution to vaping research.
The health priority remains clear: to continue to reduce the prevalence of smoking, the leading cause of cancers and preventable diseases, and to recognize vape for what it is: a powerful risk-reduction lever, validated by convincing, quantified results.
To remember
Of the 56 systematic reviews taken into account by the University of York, only 3 were judged to be of medium to high quality, while the other 53 were judged to be of low or very low quality. The robustness of the conclusions reached by this study is therefore legitimately questionable.
In fact, most of the data analyzed comes from observational studies, making it impossible to establish definite causal relationships between vaping and related addictive behaviors.
Consumption of tobacco, alcohol or cannabis can be explained by an individual predisposition to risky behavior, without inducing a direct causal effect of vaping.
Several experts note that the study's conclusions lack nuance and solid support, leading to an exaggerated reading of the results, particularly with regard to a presumed gateway effect.
- Study links teen vaping to increased risk of smoking and health issues - https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2025/research/teen-vaping-smoking-health-issues/ ︎
- Vaping among young people, an open door to tobacco, cannabis and alcohol -
https://www.lepoint.fr/sante/le-vapotage-chez-les-jeunes-une-porte-ouverte-vers-le-tabac-le-cannabis-et-l-alcool-22-08-2025-2596795_40.php ︎ - Vaping among teens linked to higher risk of tobacco, marijuana and alcohol usehttp-: //en.euronews.com/sante/2025/08/20/le-vapotage-chez-les-ados-lie-a-risque-plus-eleve-de-consume-de-tabac-de-marijuana ︎
- Teenagers and vaping: a practice far from harmless, according to a new international study -
https://www.parents.fr/actualites/enfant/adolescents-et-vapotage-une-pratique-loin-detre-sans-danger-selon-une-nouvelle-etude-internationale-1139047 ︎