E-cigarettes are marketed as an healthy alternative to tobacco smoking, since most of the harmful material produced by the combustion of tobacco in traditional cigarettes is not present in the atomised liquid of e-cigarettes. They have also been marketed as a way to keep or curtail an addiction to nicotine.

Various toxicological studies of the electronic cigarettes have been conducted, with some concluding that electronic cigarettes are less harmful than traditional tobacco cigarettes, because they can deliver nicotine into the lungs without the carcinogens and toxicants.Nevertheless, the devices still deliver nicotine, which is linked to several harmful circulatory diseases.