Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians state it is AT LEAST 95% safer than smoking. The Cochran Revue says this estimate is conservative. There's not a hope in flip that it's even in the same ballpark as smoking. The analogy is leaving a building: vaping has the dangers associated with climbing through a ground floor window, smoking is like jumping from the sixth floor. It's not safe, the safest thing to do is not take anything into your lungs, but it is (and I'll happily provide a ream of studies to support this) substantially safer. It works because it mimics smoking but also provides a hobby aspect. The likes of Konstantinos Farsalinos have postulated that it carries a fraction of the addictive quality of smoking too - and I can anecdotally support that. Big Pharma have done an excellent job of muddying the waters, don't believe the bullshit.