Inhaling Flavouring Chemicals

[Kate]

There is at least one chemical that is GRAS (generally regarded as safe) which can cause lung disease when inhaled. When rating chemicals for GRAS they are checked for safety to eat, however, that doesn't mean they are safe to inhale. Some food industry workers have developed lung disease from breathing concentrations of particular food flavouring.

Apparently "the flavorings industry has estimated that over a thousand flavoring ingredients have the potential to be respiratory hazards due to possible volatility and irritant properties (alpha, beta-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones, aliphatic aldehydes, aliphatic carboxylic acids, aliphatic amines, and aliphatic aromatic thiols and sulfides)." NIOSH Topic: Flavorings-Related Lung Disease: Exposures to Flavoring Chemicals | CDC/NIOSH

The chemical that came to my attention is diacetyl. It gives a buttery taste to food and also "occurs naturally in alcoholic beverages". Diacetyl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Workers in some food factories have been diagnosed with lung disease because of diacetyl.

"The main respiratory symptoms experienced by workers affected by fixed airways obstruction include cough (usually without phlegm) and shortness of breath on exertion. These symptoms typically do not improve when the worker goes home at the end of the workday or on weekends or vacations. The severity of the lung symptoms can range from only a mild cough to severe cough and shortness of breath on exertion. Usually these symptoms are gradual in onset and progressive, but severe symptoms can occur suddenly. Some workers may experience fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Before arriving at a final diagnosis, doctors of affected workers initially thought that the symptoms might be due to asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, or smoking. Severe cases may not respond to medical treatment. Affected workers generally notice a gradual reduction or cessation of cough years after they are no longer exposed to flavoring vapors, but shortness of breath on exertion persists. Several with very severe disease were placed on lung transplant waiting lists. Workers exposed to flavorings may also experience eye, nose, throat, and skin irritation. In some cases, chemical eye burns have required medical treatment." NIOSH - Preventing Lung Disease in Workers Who Use or Make Flavorings - Publication No. 2004 - 110

So if you can, check what is in your eliquid, diacetyl is definately a baddie. Watch out for symptoms and be aware that there might be other chemicals that cause similar reactions.

I've emailed LorAnn about their flavourings and they say they do not use diacetyl in any of them.

[smoking gnu]

Inhaling nicotine doesn’t do your lungs any favours. Apparently nicotine paralyses the tiny hairs that help clean your lungs. This plays a big part in the damage that smoking tobacco causes. It leaves your lungs more susceptible to all the crap in tobacco smoke. Hopefully there isn’t that crap with e smoking.

[TropicalBob]

A BIG problem, Kate, is that we don't know what is used to flavor the flavored e-liquids. I have a Janty "Almond" flavor vial. What's in it? I have no idea. There is no ingredient list.

I guess -- and certainly hope -- that the chemists formulating our liquids have more knowledge than we're likely to get searching Wikipedia entries (I'm not belittling your links, but you've seen the assumptions of "knowledge" posted on this forum by some).

We have two choices: 1. Quit e-smoking; 2. Hope the manufacturers of liquids are smart enough not to kill their consumers.

I'm betting on 2.

And I'm more worried about corporate greed making ingredient substitutions than I am a faulty ingredient list to begin with. Look at China's terrible greed in just the past year. Count the dead ...

[Kate]

We have some ingredient lists for commercial eliquid on a thread here - Ingredients in cartridges or E-liquid It is by no means reliable or necessarily complete for all eliquid. Ludo spoke up for Janty so he's putting his word on the accuracy of their list and he says they have had lab tests. Pillbox has published his list as professional lab tested findings. Personally I'm most encouraged by Pillbox's efforts to secure quality of supply, the lab he commissioned issued recommendations for improvements but they didn't find any currently known hazards, apart from nicotine of course.

I mostly live in hope too, lol. I'm not giving up esmoking or advocating that anyone else should, I still think we are better off than with smoking. We mustn't get complacent with manufacturers however, not all commercial enterprises can be trusted as you say TBob. I favour those who are prepared to share information with us to make us informed consumers rather than treating us as trusting dummies.

Hope, faith and trust will not trump corporate greed, only scientific checks and regulation can win here. In the meantime we can only be vigilant and examine all possible risks.

[jimldk]

So far I have no reported cases of Diacetyl poisoning in my group of patients..everyone seems to be okay and lungs examination is normal..no events so as to say...I will keep an eye out on that...

Thanks Kate for the heads up.....all this will be helpful.....the more the info, the better will be my armour...

[Kate]

No problem Dr Loi, it's good for us all to be informed on health matters. I'm glad that you are monitoring your esmoking patients (and that you've not encountered any adverse effects), a professional overview is very valuable.

Do your patients use a certain brand of eliquid or is there a mixture of use?

[jimldk]

Originally Posted by Kate

No problem Dr Loi, it's good for us all to be informed on health matters. I'm glad that you are monitoring your esmoking patients (and that you've not encountered any adverse effects), a professional overview is very valuable.

Do your patients use a certain brand of eliquid or is there a mixture of use?

Thanks again Kate....

My patients (and me included) uses variety of liquids...I am trying to get the best type and doing blind studies as well...the experiment is in variable stages now...getting feedback and looking out for side effects but I doubt it will show any at this stage..still too early to know....

[jarvis]

Hi Doc, this is a bit off topic, but have you done any research into the dangers of the smoke produced when the little synthetic thread wick in the atomizer coil starts to burn? I've asked Ludo about this, and his lack of an answer is a bit alarming... Thanks

[jimldk]

Originally Posted by jarvis

Hi Doc, this is a bit off topic, but have you done any research into the dangers of the smoke produced when the little synthetic thread wick in the atomizer coil starts to burn? I've asked Ludo about this, and his lack of an answer is a bit alarming... Thanks

Hi Jarvis, Stan Ferou ask me the same question couple of days ago...yes, if it burns..it does poses a danger but the fact is that we still did not find any noxious or dangerous chemical ..I rather erred onto the caution side.....still need deeper insight into this matter...

[BrazilyanGuy]

Originally Posted by TropicalBob

A BIG problem, Kate, is that we don't know what is used to flavor the flavored e-liquids. I have a Janty "Almond" flavor vial. What's in it? I have no idea. There is no ingredient list.

I guess -- and certainly hope -- that the chemists formulating our liquids have more knowledge than we're likely to get searching Wikipedia entries (I'm not belittling your links, but you've seen the assumptions of "knowledge" posted on this forum by some).

We have two choices: 1. Quit e-smoking; 2. Hope the manufacturers of liquids are smart enough not to kill their consumers.

I'm betting on 2.

And I'm more worried about corporate greed making ingredient substitutions than I am a faulty ingredient list to begin with. Look at China's terrible greed in just the past year. Count the dead ...

I totally agree with you my friend. I prefer to buy e-liquid from USA.