Honestly, there's probably some way inhaling anything other than air will affect your respiratory system, no matter what it is. Whether positively, negatively, or even in ways that are barely noticeable. I do feel like maybe the regulation around vapes could do with being taken more seriously, in the same way they should probably take a look at the vitamin industry. There's such a wild lack of consistency between products, because they aren't legally held to the same standards as food. They have a lot of leeway to potentially put all kinds of questionable shit in there, without listing the specifics on the package, and all the consumer can do is just trust the integrity of these companies. (At least last I checked, this was the case. Idk if the amount of regulation has changed in recent years, since this isn't something I go researching all the time)
There's also a lot of things put into peoples' bodies these days, whether legal or not, that we just have too little precise data to know about for the long-term health effects. Whether it's certain food dyes or preservatives, medications with a side effect that only kicks in for 5% of the population 60 years down the line, a vape or cigarette additive, etc. Studying how just about anything affects the body is such a complicated thing, because there's just so many factors to take into account. How much is safe? What other lifestyle factors or substances could be causing something to happen to a person? Does it only affect people who are genetically predisposed? Can you even 100% trust that a trial participant is reporting clear and accurate information to you? This is literally why there is so much controversy when it comes to whether just about anything is good for you, because correlation doesn't always equal causation. 100% of people who have drunk water will die at some point, but is water the cause?
TL;DR: I dunno, man. Could go either way, since science is complex and this shit's only been around a couple decades.
You could apply this logic to literally anything, including vaccines, and even normal medicines. Nothing (literally nothing) is 100% safe and free of any side effects. No one is claiming that with vaping or anything else really. Just that it is way better for you than other forms of respiratory nicotine consumption.
I genuinely don't get people who say "well, vaping isn't 100% healthy so it shouldn't be promoted"... what kind of dumb shit is that. It shouldn't be promoted to non-smokers... sure, but when it's over 90% safer than cigarettes, it certainly
should be promoted to smokers as a means of quitting smoking.
Chemotherapy, vaccines, diets, all kinds of medicines all have side effects, extreme in some cases... that doesn't mean they should be banned.
Even if there are serious side effects, as long as it affects under 1% of people, that still makes it an extremely valuable tool for the vast majority of people and should be encouraged.
"Decades" is enough time. Vaping has been around for at least 20 years, of which I've been a daily vaper for 10, and I know many others as well. Not a single person has faced a serious health issue that's on par with the health issues from smoking... We can't just wait 50 years for every single new technology/medical advancement that comes out. A couple of years of it working seemingly well enough is more than enough for every other type of medicine, including vaccines, and it's more than enough for vaping as well. The science of today shows that it is over 90% safer than smoking, so today we should promote it as an alternative to smoking, until later there are issues discovered, if at all.
At the end of the day, what we clearly know and understand today is that vaping is much, much safer than smoking, and so if anyone is already a smoker or 100% determined to start nicotine consumption, vaping is what I recommend and what anyone
should recommend for them. Some potential future health risk 50 years down the line that there is no evidence for is NOT and NEVER will be a reasonable deterrent for a product that does not have the KNOWN health risks of cigarette smoking for even 5 years... so who's anyone to say 2 decades isn't enough when 2 decades of vaping has produced less health risks than even 10 years of regular smoking.
Ultimately, the opinions of non-smoking non-vaping normies should completely be disregarded.
If you're considering smoking/vaping or already are, the only thing you should care about is peer-reviewed studies that are not sponsored by big tobacco (directly or indirectly), the opinions of those who have switched from smoking to vaping, and your own personal research. Nothing else should matter to you.
