Man using E Cigarette indoors.
Credit: Vaping360.com
The trend of “vaping” via E-Cigarettes has exploded over the years. A fad that has quickly spread across a variety of age groups may now be a potential health hazard. An average user of an E-Cigarette may not consider that the vapour they are inhaling is harmful to their body. It can’t possibly be toxic since it’s not real cigarette smoke, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. The lack of data linking E-Cigarettes and heath concerns has been the main reason why the general public deems they are safe and why they aren’t as strictly regulated as regular cigarettes. The way the E-Cigarette has been handled by the government regarding health concerns is quite nostalgic of how normal cigarettes were treated 60 years ago. Cigarettes were thought to be safe until many years later cases of cancer were popping up left and right. The ultimate question raised is, will these E-Cigarettes pose a serious health concern in the future?
A recent study conducted by Harvard T.H School of Public Health tested 51 E-Cigarette refill liquids for diacetyl, 2,3-pentanedione, and acetoin. Diacetyl has been linked to causing “popcorn lung“, a serious lung disease that is commonly treated by a lung transplant. Furthermore, the other 2 chemicals acetoin and 2,3-pentanedione have both been recognized as respiratory hazards in a public workplace. The researchers of the study found that 47 of the 51 liquids tested contained one of these compounds. These results don’t necessarily mean that all refill liquids possess these compounds, but a majority of them do.
Another article posted by Heather Buschman of University of California discusses a study conducted that focuses on how E-Cigarette vapour kills cells in the airway of mice and makes bacteria more virulent. In the study, two groups of mice were treated with an antibiotic-resistant bacteria with one group exposed to E-Cigarette vapour while the other group was not. The results indicated that 25% of the mice that had been exposed to the E-Cigarette vapour and the antibiotic-resistant drug had died due to the bacteria being more virulent. The researchers of the study show that E-Cigarette vapour can also potentially have negative indirect effects on subjects other than just causing lung disease, such as making bacteria more virulent and thus creating multiple concerns that weren’t present before.
Both studies mentioned have come to a conclusion one way or another that E-Cigarette vapour is not completely harmless. Hopefully in the future more research will be conducted resulting in conclusive evidence that changes the stigma of “harmless vaping”.
The video below by AsapSCIENCE compares traditional smoking and E-Cigarettes. By comparing the harms associated with both, the video explains how due to the lack of current data we won’t know the extent of the harm caused by E-Cigarettes until the future, although studies being conducted don’t indicate a bright future for these technological fads.
Credit: AsapSCIENCE
Posted by Harsh Bhatt
