Just because a food ingredient is considered safe to eat doesn’t mean it’s safe to breathe in, especially when it’s heated up in a vape pen — the safety rules for eating and breathing are totally different.

Just because a chemical is safe to eat doesn’t mean it’s safe to breathe in — things like flavorings in e-cigarettes can hurt your lungs even if they’re okay in food.

The FDA says something is safe to eat only if you’re going to swallow it — but e-cigarettes spray chemicals into your lungs, so those chemicals aren’t covered by the same safety rules as food.

Most college students in the U.S. think the FDA says e-cigarette flavors are safe to breathe in, but the FDA actually said that’s not true—they never said flavorings are safe for vaping.

Companies can decide on their own that a new food ingredient is safe to eat, without having to show proof to the government or tell the public what data they used to make that call.

Food companies can decide for themselves that a new ingredient is safe to put in food, without asking the FDA for approval or telling the public how they made that decision.