The short answer is we don't know.
Which should be very scary.
And makes me wonder who, if anyone, is regulating anything anymore.
The problem with measuring what a vaping e-cigarette does is that there is no standard for e-cigarettes. The amount of nicotine isn't even necessarily what's on the package. Forget about any consistent level of "tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), aldehydes, metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), flavours, solvent carriers and tobacco alkaloids"
So we've got mouse studies that may or may not be relevant. They found that "E-cig vapors... increased bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cellularity, Muc5ac production, as well as BALF and lung oxidative stress markers at least comparably and in many cases more than CS (cigarette smoke)." Now, cigarette smoke tended to build up more nastiness over time, but those e-cigs did a ton of inflammation.
Look, I realize that common sense is in short supply these days. So let me take off my doctor's cap and say this about inhaling anything. If you wouldn't drink it, or eat it, you might not want to inhale it.
The solvent that holds the flavor and nicotine in an e-cig is going to also act as a solvent in your lungs. It may not turn your lungs to jelly, but it will likely upset them. And it isn't your lungs alone that may be affected. " e-cigs aerosol affected the lipid and cholesterol homeostasis in rat brain."
It's also just not a good plan to have e-cigarette liquids around. The FDA is trying to slow down the flood of e-cigs. "According to a recent analysis
of National Poison Data System data, there were a total of 8,269 e-cigarette and liquid nicotine exposures among children younger than six between January 2012 and April 2017."
But despite the FDA's sternly worded warning letters "more than 2 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes and other ENDS in 2016, with flavor availability being one of the top reasons for use." Where on earth did these tweens and teens get their vaping devices? "Most adolescents (78.2%) owned a vaping device. The most common sources were purchasing from a store or online (31.1%), buying from another person (16.3%), or giving someone money to purchase for them (15.0%)."
It almost wants me to buy into the "your lungs will turn to jelly" bandwagon. I feel like e-cigs are just an end run around the fact that smoking is finally dropping below 20% of the population. So that made me wonder who, exactly, owns the e-cig industry. Oh, look, it's British Tobacco, RJR Reynolds and Altria (the Philip Morris rebrand). Guess what, kids? You're being hooked by the same guys that killed granpa. Those e-cigs may look bright and shiny, but they're just the same old junk in a new package.
Which should be very scary.
And makes me wonder who, if anyone, is regulating anything anymore.
The problem with measuring what a vaping e-cigarette does is that there is no standard for e-cigarettes. The amount of nicotine isn't even necessarily what's on the package. Forget about any consistent level of "tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), aldehydes, metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), flavours, solvent carriers and tobacco alkaloids"
So we've got mouse studies that may or may not be relevant. They found that "E-cig vapors... increased bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cellularity, Muc5ac production, as well as BALF and lung oxidative stress markers at least comparably and in many cases more than CS (cigarette smoke)." Now, cigarette smoke tended to build up more nastiness over time, but those e-cigs did a ton of inflammation.
Look, I realize that common sense is in short supply these days. So let me take off my doctor's cap and say this about inhaling anything. If you wouldn't drink it, or eat it, you might not want to inhale it.
The solvent that holds the flavor and nicotine in an e-cig is going to also act as a solvent in your lungs. It may not turn your lungs to jelly, but it will likely upset them. And it isn't your lungs alone that may be affected. " e-cigs aerosol affected the lipid and cholesterol homeostasis in rat brain."
It's also just not a good plan to have e-cigarette liquids around. The FDA is trying to slow down the flood of e-cigs. "According to a recent analysis
of National Poison Data System data, there were a total of 8,269 e-cigarette and liquid nicotine exposures among children younger than six between January 2012 and April 2017." But despite the FDA's sternly worded warning letters "more than 2 million middle and high school students were current users of e-cigarettes and other ENDS in 2016, with flavor availability being one of the top reasons for use." Where on earth did these tweens and teens get their vaping devices? "Most adolescents (78.2%) owned a vaping device. The most common sources were purchasing from a store or online (31.1%), buying from another person (16.3%), or giving someone money to purchase for them (15.0%)."
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| The guy on the left smoked, the guy on the right vaped. |
It almost wants me to buy into the "your lungs will turn to jelly" bandwagon. I feel like e-cigs are just an end run around the fact that smoking is finally dropping below 20% of the population. So that made me wonder who, exactly, owns the e-cig industry. Oh, look, it's British Tobacco, RJR Reynolds and Altria (the Philip Morris rebrand). Guess what, kids? You're being hooked by the same guys that killed granpa. Those e-cigs may look bright and shiny, but they're just the same old junk in a new package.
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