E-cigarettes vaping may harm health

Vaping of e-cigarettes could be more dangerous as the chemicals used to flavor e-cigarettes are harmful. A new study led by Portland State University suggests that reveals that high levels of chemicals used to flavor some brands of e-cigarettes causes respiratory irritation. The researchers examined 30 different brands of e-cigarettes and found that certain flavoring chemicals were present in quantities beyond what may be safe for inhalation.

"The results obtained are likely to be similar to what a broad survey would have revealed, and in any case, suggest that very high levels of some flavour chemicals are undoubtedly present in a great number of the thousands of products currently available," the authors noted in the study.

Flavorings used in e-cigarette fluids are mostly the same as those used in food and candy products and often represented as safe by e-cigarette manufacturers. But as the US Flavor Extracts Manufacturers Association (FEMA) has pointed out, this safety relates to exposure through eating, and not inhalation. And the ingredients listed on the product labels for e-cigarettes rarely include the chemicals used for flavouring.

The researchers found that an e-cigarette liquid consumption rate of about 5 ml per day puts users at an exposure of twice the recommended occupational limits. “That’s probably not a good thing,” says Pankow.

The study comes from Portland State University and is being published today in BMJ's Tobacco Control.

AW: Lizitha