So, I thought I would jot down some thoughts on vaping and health, now that I'm a few months into this experiment. Health is something I know a bit about, and think a lot about, though I myself am not particularly healthy. I'm obese, depressed, and I have a bad back. And, before I started vaping, I was a nonsmoker. So, just how badly am I damaging my health? Is vaping really safe, or healthy?
First, a definition of health: I define health as being in a mental and physical condition that enables a person to meet their goals and achieve their potential (within reason). Some people can never be healthy. Because of injury, or mental or physical illness, they're not able to do some of the things most of us take for granted. All of us have ways in which we're more or less health, and how much our health matters to us decpends on what we want to do.
One of the important things to take from this is that health isn't a value judgment. Being in bad health doesn't make someone a bad person, and an unhealthy habit isn't immoral. So let's dispense with the useless value judgments, shall we? That's not the point.
Another basic premise: smoking is one of the single most unhealthy things a person can do. It's a public health catastrophe. Smokers, on average, die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, and spend more of their lives sick, uncomfortable and disabled. Cancer happens much more often in smokers, and some of the most deadly cancers pretty much only happen to smokers. COPD, also known as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or "smoker's asthma" happens almost exclusively in smokers. And heart disease, the thing that kills most people, starts earlier, moves faster, and is more deadly for smokers. All that and smokers have more chronic pain, more colds and flu, more pneumonia, and recover more slowly from illnesses and injuries.
Since this is just my blog, I'm not going to provide citations to peer-reviewed articles for all the above statements, but they're all well supported and I can certainly dig up the references if anyone's interested.
All that said, smoking doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's not like some people decide to start smoking and destroy their health, and other people decide not to smoke, and it's a totally free choice. There's a lot that goes into whether people start smoking and keep smoking. People with mental illnesss are much more likely to smoke than people without. About half of people with depression smoke, and about 90% of people with schizophrenia. Nicotine, and other things in cigarette smoke, actually have a medicinal effect for people with mental illness. This is a major barrier to quitting, for people with even mild mental disorders.
People with lower incomes and less education are also more likely to smoke than people who are wealthier or better educated. And that's not because poor, uneducated folks are too stupid to know smoking is bad for them (is there anyone who *doesnt* know that these days?) It's that their day-to-day survival is more of a priority than their long-term survival, and smoking can make the day-to-day a lot more bearable. People under chronic stress from poverty are more likely to have mental health issues, and I talked about that above. Lower paid jobs are also less generous with break time, and sometimes the smoke break is the only break people get. Lower income folks are also more likely to join the military for advancement, and they're also more likely to end up in prison, and smoking is omnipresent in both places.
So more lower income, less well educated people smoke, which means they're more likely to be surrounded by other people who smoke-- friends, family, spouses, lovers, everybody. It's harder to quit if all the people around you smoke, if you'll loose your break time, or your mental health will get worse. The end result is that, for lots of people, there are many reasons to smoke and few reasons to quit.
What about vaping, though? This whole rant is supposed to be about health and vaping, right? Unfortunately there's next to no real research done into the safety of vaping. That's because, bluntly, anybody in a position do the research is either 1) tied to big pharma, 2) believe that absolute abstinence from nicotine is the only answer and/or 3) make a lot of money off of smokers and their illnesses. (This last point is particularly hard for me to say, because theree are a lot of really awesome people who are pulmonologists, cardiologists, oncologiists, etc-- and they'd mostly be out of a job if everyone quit smoking. They try to talk people into quitting every day. But the economic realities matter, and true tobacco harm reduction woul be a game changer foor the whole medical system).
We do know that pharmaceutical grade VG or PG is probably safe for inhalation, because they're used in approved medical inhalational treatments. PG may even be a respiratory antibiotic. We also know that nicotine isn't totally safe. Nicotine is part of what causes damage from cigarettes, and it's probably the main addictive component. Nicotine is a stimulant and a vasoconstrictor, so it can cause increased blood pressure, stress on the heart, and poor sleep. The vasoconstrictor effects are what makes the nicotine itself dangerous during pregnancy. But, no sensible cardiologist, or obstetrician, would tell a person with heart disease or a pregnant woman not to use nicotine replacement, if that's what it took to quit.
People are quite correct to say that, overall, nicotine isn't all that different from caffeine. But nicotine overdose is easier- the LD50 of nicotine is 0.5-1mg/kg for humans-- a dose of 100mg would be about 50% likely to kill a 220-lb person. Drinking 30mL of 24mg/mL e-juice would kill anyone. But lower level nicotine overdose is such a miserable experience, that it's next to imposible to do by accident. The only way to overdose on nicotine is to do it deliberately, or through willful ignorance.
So, deliberate overdose aside, nicotine isn't really that dangerous. Neither are PG or VG. That leaves us with two major concerns, which are totally different: the risk of flavorings, and the problem of verifying ingredients. Flavorings are less of an issue thann you would think. Most flavorings have a long track record, and anything used for food ends up getting inhaled a lot. Aside from the known issues with diacetyl (artificial butter flavor), most potential flavorings are a non-issue.
The issue of verifying ingredients is more pressing. How do we know what's in the eliquid is what the vendor says it is? Well, we don't. Transparency, people who list their ingredients, batch numbers, certify that everything they're using is safe for human consumption, are probably the best bet. But people can lie about anything. So a batch number and analysis results could be completely made up. Without any regulation or oversight, e-liquid companies are free to be as honest and honorable, or as dishonest and mercenary as they choose.
In vaping, we are essentially trusting the suppliers that they are using the ingredients they say they are, and that the ingredients are safe. And that may not be a good bet. One of the studies that was done was on some of the old Ruyan juices, and showed that the listed ingredients often *didn't* match what was actually in the juice, tested by an independent lab. I know there are some people here on ECF doing similar work, and I commend them for it. If the community can hold itself accountable, maybe we won't need anyone else to do it for us.
For myself, I try to stick with vendors who have a good reputation and ties to the community (so far, Halo, Johnson's Creek, Pharmboy, and Smokeless Image). My personal belief is that people are less likely to kill their friends. Doesn't mean that there can't be problems further up the supply chain, but at least I'm pretty sure JC isn't going to be falsifying their ingredient lists just for the hell of it.
This also means that I'm very leery of the e-cigarette industry coming under the sway of big tobacco or big pharma. Both of those industries have a proven willingness to lie, cheat, steal, and kill their own customers for a profit. And it means that I'm more willing to accept the possibility of legislation than many libertarian-minded vapers are. The more popular vaping gets, the more money is to be made, and the more likely someone will cut corners to do it. Eventually someone will die.
So do I think vaping is safe, or healthy? I definitely think it's healthier than smoking. It's probably not worse than drinking soda, which is a godawful thing to do to your body, even though most of us do it every day. And I think there are people, the ones who have good reasons to smoke, for whom vaping may be healthier than *not* smoking.
As far as my own health goes, I'm on the fence. I enjoy vaping, and I frankly enjoy the nicotine. I do notice I'm coughing more since I started, but it could also be allergy season. I have been getting nosebleeds, and nose ulcers, since starting, which I'm sure are related to the vaping. Despite the cough, my lungs are fine, and my singing voice has actually improved. I've gone from eating donughts and candy every day, and gaining weight fast, to maintaining or loosing and eating junk food occasionally. Bad days at work are a lot easier to deal with. I'm enjoying my commute more. There have been no real slips in my emotional stability since I started.
So far, it's worth it. I don't know that I'm one of those people who are better off vaping than avoiding nicotine altogether. But, for now, I say vaping is healthy enough. And that's good enough for me.
First, a definition of health: I define health as being in a mental and physical condition that enables a person to meet their goals and achieve their potential (within reason). Some people can never be healthy. Because of injury, or mental or physical illness, they're not able to do some of the things most of us take for granted. All of us have ways in which we're more or less health, and how much our health matters to us decpends on what we want to do.
One of the important things to take from this is that health isn't a value judgment. Being in bad health doesn't make someone a bad person, and an unhealthy habit isn't immoral. So let's dispense with the useless value judgments, shall we? That's not the point.
Another basic premise: smoking is one of the single most unhealthy things a person can do. It's a public health catastrophe. Smokers, on average, die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers, and spend more of their lives sick, uncomfortable and disabled. Cancer happens much more often in smokers, and some of the most deadly cancers pretty much only happen to smokers. COPD, also known as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or "smoker's asthma" happens almost exclusively in smokers. And heart disease, the thing that kills most people, starts earlier, moves faster, and is more deadly for smokers. All that and smokers have more chronic pain, more colds and flu, more pneumonia, and recover more slowly from illnesses and injuries.
Since this is just my blog, I'm not going to provide citations to peer-reviewed articles for all the above statements, but they're all well supported and I can certainly dig up the references if anyone's interested.
All that said, smoking doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's not like some people decide to start smoking and destroy their health, and other people decide not to smoke, and it's a totally free choice. There's a lot that goes into whether people start smoking and keep smoking. People with mental illnesss are much more likely to smoke than people without. About half of people with depression smoke, and about 90% of people with schizophrenia. Nicotine, and other things in cigarette smoke, actually have a medicinal effect for people with mental illness. This is a major barrier to quitting, for people with even mild mental disorders.
People with lower incomes and less education are also more likely to smoke than people who are wealthier or better educated. And that's not because poor, uneducated folks are too stupid to know smoking is bad for them (is there anyone who *doesnt* know that these days?) It's that their day-to-day survival is more of a priority than their long-term survival, and smoking can make the day-to-day a lot more bearable. People under chronic stress from poverty are more likely to have mental health issues, and I talked about that above. Lower paid jobs are also less generous with break time, and sometimes the smoke break is the only break people get. Lower income folks are also more likely to join the military for advancement, and they're also more likely to end up in prison, and smoking is omnipresent in both places.
So more lower income, less well educated people smoke, which means they're more likely to be surrounded by other people who smoke-- friends, family, spouses, lovers, everybody. It's harder to quit if all the people around you smoke, if you'll loose your break time, or your mental health will get worse. The end result is that, for lots of people, there are many reasons to smoke and few reasons to quit.
What about vaping, though? This whole rant is supposed to be about health and vaping, right? Unfortunately there's next to no real research done into the safety of vaping. That's because, bluntly, anybody in a position do the research is either 1) tied to big pharma, 2) believe that absolute abstinence from nicotine is the only answer and/or 3) make a lot of money off of smokers and their illnesses. (This last point is particularly hard for me to say, because theree are a lot of really awesome people who are pulmonologists, cardiologists, oncologiists, etc-- and they'd mostly be out of a job if everyone quit smoking. They try to talk people into quitting every day. But the economic realities matter, and true tobacco harm reduction woul be a game changer foor the whole medical system).
We do know that pharmaceutical grade VG or PG is probably safe for inhalation, because they're used in approved medical inhalational treatments. PG may even be a respiratory antibiotic. We also know that nicotine isn't totally safe. Nicotine is part of what causes damage from cigarettes, and it's probably the main addictive component. Nicotine is a stimulant and a vasoconstrictor, so it can cause increased blood pressure, stress on the heart, and poor sleep. The vasoconstrictor effects are what makes the nicotine itself dangerous during pregnancy. But, no sensible cardiologist, or obstetrician, would tell a person with heart disease or a pregnant woman not to use nicotine replacement, if that's what it took to quit.
People are quite correct to say that, overall, nicotine isn't all that different from caffeine. But nicotine overdose is easier- the LD50 of nicotine is 0.5-1mg/kg for humans-- a dose of 100mg would be about 50% likely to kill a 220-lb person. Drinking 30mL of 24mg/mL e-juice would kill anyone. But lower level nicotine overdose is such a miserable experience, that it's next to imposible to do by accident. The only way to overdose on nicotine is to do it deliberately, or through willful ignorance.
So, deliberate overdose aside, nicotine isn't really that dangerous. Neither are PG or VG. That leaves us with two major concerns, which are totally different: the risk of flavorings, and the problem of verifying ingredients. Flavorings are less of an issue thann you would think. Most flavorings have a long track record, and anything used for food ends up getting inhaled a lot. Aside from the known issues with diacetyl (artificial butter flavor), most potential flavorings are a non-issue.
The issue of verifying ingredients is more pressing. How do we know what's in the eliquid is what the vendor says it is? Well, we don't. Transparency, people who list their ingredients, batch numbers, certify that everything they're using is safe for human consumption, are probably the best bet. But people can lie about anything. So a batch number and analysis results could be completely made up. Without any regulation or oversight, e-liquid companies are free to be as honest and honorable, or as dishonest and mercenary as they choose.
In vaping, we are essentially trusting the suppliers that they are using the ingredients they say they are, and that the ingredients are safe. And that may not be a good bet. One of the studies that was done was on some of the old Ruyan juices, and showed that the listed ingredients often *didn't* match what was actually in the juice, tested by an independent lab. I know there are some people here on ECF doing similar work, and I commend them for it. If the community can hold itself accountable, maybe we won't need anyone else to do it for us.
For myself, I try to stick with vendors who have a good reputation and ties to the community (so far, Halo, Johnson's Creek, Pharmboy, and Smokeless Image). My personal belief is that people are less likely to kill their friends. Doesn't mean that there can't be problems further up the supply chain, but at least I'm pretty sure JC isn't going to be falsifying their ingredient lists just for the hell of it.
This also means that I'm very leery of the e-cigarette industry coming under the sway of big tobacco or big pharma. Both of those industries have a proven willingness to lie, cheat, steal, and kill their own customers for a profit. And it means that I'm more willing to accept the possibility of legislation than many libertarian-minded vapers are. The more popular vaping gets, the more money is to be made, and the more likely someone will cut corners to do it. Eventually someone will die.
So do I think vaping is safe, or healthy? I definitely think it's healthier than smoking. It's probably not worse than drinking soda, which is a godawful thing to do to your body, even though most of us do it every day. And I think there are people, the ones who have good reasons to smoke, for whom vaping may be healthier than *not* smoking.
As far as my own health goes, I'm on the fence. I enjoy vaping, and I frankly enjoy the nicotine. I do notice I'm coughing more since I started, but it could also be allergy season. I have been getting nosebleeds, and nose ulcers, since starting, which I'm sure are related to the vaping. Despite the cough, my lungs are fine, and my singing voice has actually improved. I've gone from eating donughts and candy every day, and gaining weight fast, to maintaining or loosing and eating junk food occasionally. Bad days at work are a lot easier to deal with. I'm enjoying my commute more. There have been no real slips in my emotional stability since I started.
So far, it's worth it. I don't know that I'm one of those people who are better off vaping than avoiding nicotine altogether. But, for now, I say vaping is healthy enough. And that's good enough for me.
