Electronic Cigarettes Are Unsafe and Pose Health Risks, Study Finds(2nd hand vapor)

[The Straight Story]

Electronic Cigarettes Are Unsafe and Pose Health Risks, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — Electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes), also called "electronic nicotine delivery systems," are increasingly used worldwide even though only sparse information is available on their health effects. In the United States, e-cigarettes are readily available in shopping malls in most states and on the Internet. But how safe are e-cigarettes?

To address this question, researchers at the University of California, Riverside evaluated five e-cigarette brands and found design flaws, lack of adequate labeling, and several concerns about quality control and health issues. They conclude that e-cigarettes are potentially harmful and urge regulators to consider removing e-cigarettes from the market until their safety is adequately evaluated.

Unlike conventional cigarettes, which burn tobacco, e-cigarettes vaporize nicotine, along with other compounds present in the cartridge, in the form of aerosol created by heating, but do not produce the thousands of chemicals and toxicants created by tobacco combustion. Nothing is known, however, about the chemicals present in the aerosolized vapors emanating from e-cigarettes.

"As a result, some people believe that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for conventional cigarettes," said Prue Talbot, the director of UC Riverside's Stem Cell Center, whose lab led the research. "However, there are virtually no scientific studies on e-cigarettes and their safety. Our study -- one of the first studies to evaluate e-cigarettes -- shows that this product has many flaws, which could cause serious public health problems in the future if the flaws go uncorrected."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101203141932.htm

Hopefully they will be banned and our govt can continue to save us from freedom. I just cannot handle too much freedom, I might make a mistake - so I vote to be punished if I make a choice a bunch of old, rich white dudes, in power tell me is not good for me. It ain't progress unless your ability to make choices is limited. :evilgrin:

[WolverineDG]

1. Too much of anything is bad for you

I'm so glad I'm protected from e-cigs (a product I will never ever use) & Happy Meals (likewise, as I don't have kids).

:evilgrin:

All kidding aside, while I have problems when I'm around someone using e-cigs, I realize that these things are helping folks kick the smoking habit. I saw what smoking did to my parents & if a little inconvenience for me helps someone else avoid that fate, so be it.

dg

[OregonBlue]

7. The article did not say 2nd hand smoke from them was dangerous. Apparently they did not test it.

They said it could be "potentially" dangerous. I've been around them a lot and have not experienced anything. I think this is just another bunch of moral minnies who don't want people to smoke. Until they actually do studies on what they do to the person using them and those around them, they should remail legal.

[WolverineDG]

14. Um, did you miss the part where I said I had "problems" around e-cigs?

Because I do. I didn't agree that they are "dangerous," just said I had problems, not as severe as when I'm around someone smoking real cigs, but a bit bothersome for me nonetheless. Regardless, it's something I'm willing to put up with since e-cigs help others break the smoking habit.

I didn't call for banning e-cigs, either.

Perhaps this :sarcasm: would have helped? :eyes:

dg

[OregonBlue]

20. Sorry, I actually wasn't referring to what you said at all, only what the article said. I think the

title is misleading (2nd hand smoke part). I believe you that you that you may have had some mild irritation from it but it's clear from the actual article that they didn't test the vapor so they don't know if it is harmful. I've been around it a lot and have had no problem whatsoever.

[Waiting For Everyman]

2. Trying to ban e-cigs is sheer idiocy at work.

Strange, how they can't seem to come up with ONE person who has been seriously harmed by them. But it COULD happen, they say. Wow, I'm skeerd. :scared:

Even dumber, is that most e-cig users could go underground very easily because it's a no-brainer to makes one's own liquid... which does not necessarily have to contain nicotine anyway.

They might as well try to create a scare out of asthma inhalers. And it would be easier to ban them.

Most of the "studies" done are backed by groups who would lose their reason for being if e-cigs catch on in a big way... smoke nazi activists, patch companies, gum companies, American Lung Association... their relevancy if smokers became vapors en masse, would disappear overnight.

They're all about their own money, and don't care if thousands of people die from smoking because of their self-serving interference. What "humanitarians" they are! Their "concern" is noted. :sarcasm:

(vaping my chocolate e-cig as I type) :)

[rubberducky]

3. Just pop me in a freaking bubble so nothing can harm me.

seriously, is there a way to LIVE without any risk?? I`m starting to live in terror that I way get hit by lightning, a car or a wayward comet, sleigh or whatever on my way to get my mail. What the hell are we to do??

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Same with bacon and coal generator emissions. Ban them before some...

fucking e-cigarettes a few people are using.

Or just ban tobacco.

(Or, find another way to get your next grant without talking about banning useful things.)

[Nite Owl]

5. The answer might lie in the phrase

"...are increasingly used worldwide"
Big tobacco losing a share of the market?

[nessa]

10. That was my thought..

I wonder who helped Prue Talbot fund this research.

[phleshdef]

19. Big tobacco could easily make itself relevant in the e-cig market though.

Tobacco itself can still be used to extract nicotine from and there is plenty of money to be made in creating the devices and accessories for the devices. If the big tobacco companies wanted to get in on it, they could easily do so. Part of me hopes they will, because that will guarantee that the technology flourishes to be as safe as possible and cigarrette smoking will be a thing of the past.

[MindPilot]

6. BAN CONCEPTION!!11!

Studies show that everyone who is conceived will at some point in their life, die.

[Bryn]

8. Of course! The Corporate doesn't want us to have e-cigs!

Big Pharma wants to keep selling their useless smoking cessations like patches, gums & pills and are losing money due to e-cigs. Big tobacco wants to keep selling their poison. Government doesn't want us to change over to e-cigs so they can still collect taxes on analogs. Well, when I switched over to e-cigarettes nearly 2 years ago, my coughs, snoring, allergy, acid reflex, etc. went away. Best of all, no nasty smell.

Yay for e-cigs! I am vaping bubblegum flavor as we speak. lol

[Motown_Johnny]

9. and if this study someday saves your child from developing cancer

wouldn't that make it worth doing?



From what I can see they just want more information, why is that a bad thing?

[phleshdef]

11. What a load of horse shit. Its a hand held fog machine with nicotine possibly added to it.

And its the only thing that ever helped me quit cigs. Its saving people from getting cancer.

[Supply Side Jesus]

13. then park your car

[OregonBlue]

21. This study doesn't say anything about having tested the vapor, only that the nicotine in the liquid

could be dangerous and anyone with children should be very careful not to let them come into contact with it. I think we need to wait for actual studies before we get too worried.

[phleshdef]

12. As long as real cigs are on the market, they need to just STFU.

[Abq_Sarah]

15. yet another study claiming "potential" harm

In which they don't really "study" anything. Stop claiming they "may" be toxic and do a proper study, assholes.

[Hugin]

16. Hear! Hear!

"potentially harmful"?

I call BS!

[phleshdef]

18. They pretty much have studied them, decades ago they studied fog machines.

And the chemical they use in both fog machines and ecigs was what they were actually studying. They found no reason to believe that there were human health concerns from inhaling it. Actually, if anything, its a sterilizer. Aside from that, they know all about nicotine and they know all about artificial flavorings.

I guess maybe the devices themselves could have flaws and someone could overdo the nicotine. But those kind of dangers all ready exist with other products.

[GeorgeGist]

17. It is noteworthy that an expert on Stem Cells ...

is leading research on e-cigarettes.

[Yo_Mama]

22. Seems a bit crazy to me

I don't have a dog in this fight, but nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical. It's in potatoes, tomatoes, most red peppers, most green hot peppers, eggplants, etc.

So the risk of environmental contamination seems extremely minimal.

My guess is that this is about tax revenue. Apparently some people find it very easy to quit smoking using these things, which is very definitely going to hurt tax revenue. They also sell a range of liquids with nicotine content varying from high to zip, so I guess the idea is that you slowly taper off. And apparently this method works for a lot of the people who try it.

The tragic reality is that a lot of government budgets are now dependent on tax revenues from smoking.

Among the reasons this study rings my alarm bell is this:
"Currently, there are no methods for proper disposal of e-cigarettes products and accessories, including cartridges, which could result in nicotine contamination from discarded cartridges entering water sources and soil, and adversely impacting the environment;"

Well, we sell nicotine gum and nicotine patches, and isn't there a type of lozenge? And surely the patches and gums are discarded, and I don't think there are any special regulations for their disposal, as indeed there are not for potato peelings, etc. The leaves of most plants that generate the nicotine-containing veggies contain much higher levels of nicotine than the veggies themselves, and I do not want the EPA to show up and tell me that the tomatoes and pepper plants in my garden are an environmental hazard.

I mean, really now. At some point we just have to get a grip and stop this crap. I can imagine that the makers of drugs like Chantix would have a major financial incentive to block an effective quitting means also, but I think really this is about tax revenue. No one's going to admit that the US has created a situation in which we have to keep addicted people addicted for financial reasons, but that is the truth.

[Abq_Sarah]

24. I do have a dog in this fight

Since I used ecigs to break a 30 year cigarette habit.

Nicotine is a concern for them but not for environmental reasons.

I've gotten really tired over the years of seeing people chug caffeinated beverages and chow down on refined carbohydrates by the gross while piously telling smokers they're addicts.

[Magsinok]

27. Joined to say.....

You nailed it. No one is going to admit that the US is dependant on a vast population remaining dependant....on nicotine. *ahem*

And hey, hush up about your tomatoes and potatoes containing trace amouts of nicotine, willya? For heavens sake, they're already coming after out ability to grow our own.....food. ;)

All in all, you make very valid points. I'd also like to point out that regular cigarettes create mountains of butts, that contain nicotine still, and are not disposed of in any manner other than to be tossed on the ground in a most disgusting and unattractive manner.

[frustrated_lefty]

23. Study probably funded by big tobacco.

[Better Believe It]

25. Cars, motorcycles and motor scooters are unsafe and pose health risks. Ban them!

:)

[quakerboy]

26. The chemicals in it are known

Or at least, I can get on Wikipedia and look them up, so I assume they are known. So there's no big mystery. Look through the chemicals. Scientifically determine if they are safe. If they are not, then make the manufacturers change their recipe. Problem solved.

This is no more than fear mongering. Do the actual research, let us know the results. That's the only way to deal with this responsibly.

[Yo_Mama]

28. Recanting - This Is Not Just Crazy But Knowingly Lying

I did some research. The stuff used to provide the vapor (which may have some nicotine or none at all) is either PG (propylene glycol) or VG (vegetable glycerin).

And you know what those are? Food additives. Stuff you eat. Like nicotine, actually.

Because this stuff is delivered as a water vapor and absorbed through the mouth/throat membranes, we already know the risks.

VG is also used in a lot of skin/hair products and toothpaste, as well as in some low-carb foods, due to its water-holding properties and the way it is metabolized. Ot is used to make suppositories for laxatives.

PG is used in a lot of pharmaceuticals as a solvent. Especially injectable pharmaceuticals, like, haha, one that I have to use. It is also used in toothpaste and mouthwash, and some food colorings or flavorings, for example. It is also approved for use as an environmentally friendly anti-freeze that can be discharged into the environment, and it is often used to de-ice aircraft.

[krabigirl]

29. Idiots.