Vaping is seen by some as a safer alternative to smoking.

However, new concerns have been raised after the first vaping-related death was reported in the United States, and there have been further cases of people presenting with serious respiratory illnesses.

Dr Ray Walley joined us for our weekly medical consultation to discuss the potential dangers of vaping and whether it really is any better than smoking.

He points out that, apart from nicotine, the constituents of vapourisers and e-cigarettes are unknown, and therefore we don't really know what we're inhaling.

In the US they are overseen in the same way as supplements and are therefore not subject to the same rigorous testing as a drug would be.

Ray's advice is to visit your GP if you vape and are experiencing symptoms such as breathlessness, chest pain, diarrhoea, fatigue and weight loss.

He says that vaping is no more successful than using nicotine patches to quit smoking, and that the best method is to use the HSE quitline, which has a 50% higher success rate. Smokers should be aware that it might take more than one attempt to give up.

Listen to the interview in full by pressing the play button on this page.