A germ-killing vapor

[NerdyCinderella]

.........So far, after many months' exposure to the vapor, the monkeys are happy and fatter than ever.....

Just got around to reading this post TB.
I think now we should keep a tally of members who:
1) experience weight gains - lol
2) experience or don't, cold or flu symptoms since they started e-smoking.

PS I'm only serious re #2

[BananaDoc]

Well Dr. Robertson was excited enough to patent an apparatus to control same...

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROL - Google Patents

However, like WindBlown, my only question is the dearth of medical research articles on his work for the past 65 years... this would seem kinda big.... Bigger than a Time article in 1942. I think the same issue may have pointed out the benefits of switching to menthol cigarettes to overcome chest congestion due to the common cold....

[TropicalBob]

Bananadoc: When I posted about this study, I had a link to the PDF of the scientific article (I edited out the link and no longer have it!). Those science articles are so boring and complex that I was delighted to find the Time article, essentially saying in plain language what the science article said in $10 words. That's why I used it.

I can't explain a dearth of research since the decade between about 1941 and 1951, but can say that many articles I wanted to read on this topic are on "pay" sites and are thus restricted to doctors. Very frustrating for lay researchers for it to be this way.

If anyone finds something saying this research is in any way untrue, please post a link. I don't think it has been refuted, but there never has been any money to be made with a PG room vaporizing device, so no one cared whether it worked or not. It yielded to ultraviolet lights in every bakery, etc.

[Mihai]

there was no money to make from this, there is no patent on PG, so who would bother. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of cheap products that can do a lot of good but who would pay for all the costs involved in clinical trials and research?

Dr Loi can tell you better, from direct experience - what he does is mostly voluntary work. He is a bit lucky that his government didn't cut completely his research funds. If they do that how long can he continue doing it?

[phylo]

TB would you PM me the link's to the pay sites.. I know a few doctors who are familiar with e-cigs and may have access to the sites.
Its definitely worth a shot.

Phil

[TropicalBob]

I can do that, but I'd have to start over. I came to this discovery via a circuitous path, as I was researching PH and its relationship to nicotine absorption by mouth and lungs. I found one link to the germicidal nature of propylene glycol. What? Then I Google-searched "propylene glycol bactericidal" and, bingo, here came a pretty good list of sites. A doctor will know which are subscription sites.

[phylo]

Ill start googling away..

Thanks
Phil

[TropicalBob]

Thanks, Phil. The more brains on these matters, the better.

[windblown]

I came across another reference to the PG as germicide in a 1944 Atlantic Monthly article. There doesn't seem to be anything new here, except that it was later confirmed in England. Can't recall if you already mentioned that TB.

This is absolutely fascinating to me, but unfortunately I have to be out of town for the next few days. Will have to leave it to you guys until I get back. Maybe by then you will have cured the common cold, bird flu and pneumonia. Keep up the good work!

Here is the link and an excerpt from the article. Again, I apologize if this has already been mentioned, but gotta pack so I don't have time to read back through the previous posts.

How Bad is the Flu?


"The theory of their action is simply that a small amount of a chemical which is known to be germicidal be finely dispersed into the atmosphere. Water was not a satisfactory solvent, partly because of its rapid evaporation, and for that reason propylene glycol, a pretty name with which everyone will probably soon be familiar, was used to carry a number of germicides, including Dakin's solution. The English, hard-pressed to improve conditions in their air-raid shelters, which sometimes, as in Bristol, were in deep caves or old tunnels, used aerosols with evident success.
By the crab-like motion which characterizes so many scientific advances, it was then found that propylene glycol alone was highly effective. As little as one part of this substance, in the form of an aerosol, was active in at least several million volumes of air. Its effectiveness against both bacteria and viruses was established in this country by Oswald II. Robertson and his associates at the University of Chicago and later confirmed in England."

[BananaDoc]

Hey Mate, You peaked my interest, so I spent a bit of time in the “virtual” stacks… Haven’t found anything vis-à-vis PG and airborne vapor bactericide in any lit after to 1950. Which is … odd.

I went to the original article and did not find that referenced a lot. Again, strange.

FYI, I have access to pretty much EVERYTHING journal article-wise. If there are things you want—email me!