E-cigarettes are more harmful than previously thought
Last reviewed: 12.03.2022
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According to Johns Hopkins University scientists, there are many unexplored chemical components in e-liquids, including chemicals of industrial origin. This is the first work in which experts have tried to identify the chemicals that make up aerosols and determine the possible risks of smokers. The results turned out to be more than alarming, because the discovered unknown components can lead to the most unpredictable health consequences.
There have been a lot of studies in the past that aimed to compare e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes: indeed, vapes benefited slightly in this regard, as they contained less polluting resins. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that in liquids for electronic analogues there are a lot of unexplored components that pose unknown and unpredictable health risks. In their new work, the scientists tried to evaluate the entire list of chemical composition in both vapor liquids and aerosols.
Specialists used the technique of chemical fingerprinting, the essence of which is liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry. This technology has previously been used to assess the chemical composition of wastewater, biological fluids and food products. The researchers tested four of the most common vaping products such as JUUL, Blu, Mi-salt and Vuse.
As a result, several thousand unidentified components and their compounds were identified, as well as substances that are usually formed during the combustion process, although they should not be during the formation of steam. Traditional cigarettes contain similar condensed toxic hydrocarbons.
“One of the alleged advantages of vaping is that the device operates at a relatively low temperature, which does not imply combustion. This should make it safer than regular smoking,” explained study co-author Dr. Mina Teherani, spokesperson for the School of Public Health. Nevertheless, experts have found more than two thousand unknown chemicals, identified six potentially dangerous components. Scientists were surprised by the detection of caffeine stimulants in aerosols, which could only be present in liquids containing coffee and chocolate flavors, but were found in half of the products studied.
The researchers note that electronic cigarettes are not as harmless as it might seem. “Users need to be aware of the mixture of chemicals that enter their respiratory system. At the same time, we have no idea what components are involved in the vast majority of cases,” said one of the leaders of the work, Dr. Carsten Prasse. It is possible that e-smoking is no less evil than traditional cigarettes.
The results of the study were published on the Chemical Research in Toxicology page .