Is an e-cigarette safe? Is “vaping” causing more damage to us than smoking? Is it a suitable alternative to smoking?
We’re not medical experts, but it’s clear from reports that those of us who “vape” need to err on the side of caution in some respects. Although the long-term health benefits / risks appear to have not yet been fully established, there have been numerous incidents reported of e-cigarette batteries exploding.
For the victims, there may be a way to claim for personal injury compensation.
Exploding e-cigarette batteries
A few stories have emerged of people being injured through the use of e-cigarettes. Most of the stories revolve around exploding e-cig batteries, which may come down to either customisation (which can amount to tampering), or product defects.
Images of some of the exploding e-cigarette victims have been horrendous, with serious burns suffered. If a person is injured because of a defective e-cigarette battery, or if any other part of the e-cig is defective and has caused an injury, you may have a claim for burn injury compensation.
Can a claim be made?
At the end of the day, an e-cig is like any other product, so it must be safe to use (taking aside the potential health risks). If you are injured due to a defective e-cig, perhaps from a battery explosion, you can claim against the seller and / or manufacturer of the product.
One thing to take note of, however, is that this emerging market is not too heavily-regulated.
Insurance of sellers could be an issue; i.e. do they have any?
What if they’re damaging us more than cigarettes?
We imagine, this question will be answered, in time. For now, we can but speculate and wait for the experts to do their research and announce their findings in the future.
You never know: if vaping does turn out to be dangerous, will there be waves and waves of personal injury compensation claims and class action law suits / group litigation actions?
We can’t rule it out…
