UK E-cig study lab results.

[westcoast2]

UK Position on e-cigs

From the HOC (hansard)
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Health
e-CigarettesAll Written Answers on 21 Apr 2009
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John Leech (Manchester, Withington, Liberal Democrat) | Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued on the legality of the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public spaces.

Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour) | Hansard source

The Department has not issued any guidance on the legality of the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public spaces.

The Department has commissioned research through the local authorities coordinators of regulatory services (LACORS) to test e-cigarettes to see if they comply with the law. This scientific research has found these contain toxic levels of nicotine and that none of the products tested to date comply with product safety regulations. Local Authority Trading Standards Departments have accordingly been informed.

The four products that: have been tested so far did not contain tobacco. However, there are many different e-cigarette products on the UK market, which function in different ways and some products may contain tobacco. Therefore it cannot be assumed that all e-cigarettes can be used legally in smokefree premises.

Local authorities enforce the product safety regulations and the Government are working with them to protect the public from the dangers of e-cigarettes that contain toxic levels of nicotine.

E-cigarettes should not be sold as an aid to quitting smoking without authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

h/t nico f2c

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From reading elsewhere it seems LACORS got their calculations wrong, but they do have influence and Dawn Primandproper quotes them about the 'toxic levels'. So far it seems labeling has been the issue. She does raise the 'toxic' scare though this also seems to be countered by the recent tests on ejuices and the apparently lower levels of nicotine in the juice than LACORS suggested.

[igetcha]

i wonder if that is the reason why intellicig chose to make their juice from glycerol rather than PG?


the report is definitely good news even if it is the same as TW's. i cant help but think that in 10 years time we might have all grown an extra head or something though! lol

[Caesarea]

Thanks very much, westcoast2.



I really appreciate getting to read any UK legislative news like this.

Hope you can keep an eye on any further developments.

C.

[Tom09]

... LACORS ... countered by the recent tests on ejuices and the apparently lower levels of nicotine in the juice than LACORS suggested.

Just a note, it appears as if there might be some misunderstanding of the numbers obtained by GC-MS measurements of the liquid samples.
The presented LPD laboratory report gives qualitative data, only indicating the presence of certain chemical compounds in the analyzed liquid samples. The data is not quantitative, does not give the absolute amounts, and the tabulated values of ‘nominal area percentage’ do not correspond to actual concentrations in percentage by weight (or by volume, which would be practically be the same in our case).

Remind, therefore, that these tests results would not have much meaning in an attempt to counter LACORS’ nicotine claims. The LACORS press release (www . lacors.gov.uk/lacors/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=21233) defeats itself by its own numbers, anyway. It’s sure a bit disturbing that ‘toxic scare’ and the sloppy ‘analysis’ could represent the basis of authority’s decisions.
Good news, labeling and child-proofing issues are nothing to endanger the general availability of e-cigarettes. As it stands, UK is the master back-up for the availability of e-cigs in Europe. Thanks for that!

[Tom09]

Positive, that more chemical analyses have been done and made available. Remains to hope that such small steps may motivate the main manufacturers for product testing and actual quality monitoring.

In terms of consumer safety, however, the presented LPD toxicology report is of limited value. One of the aspects to bear in mind, is the limitation of the analytical method. The undertaken qualitativeGC-MS analyses confirmed the presence of some major chemical compounds in the analyzed fluid samples. Relatively high detection limits, however, reduced the technique's applicability to answer the ‘what is in the fluid’ question (to a certain degree). For example, the tabulated results for the sample Tobacco Flavour Light (11 mg nicicotine strength) read: 1. Propylene Glycol, 2. Nicotine, 3. Glycerin, (Sum = 100.00% Nominal Area). Only three incredients? Certainly not. Components of the flavoring essence (as well as possible by-products of the main constituents) have not been detected and are flyíng below the radar.

Keep in perspective, there is still a long way to go.

[lachesis]

Just out of curiosity... is this study on the liquid or vapor itself? I hope it's the latter - as it's not the liquid that we enhale/ingest - but the vapor form...

[Tom09]

liquid or vapor itself?

Report states liquid extracted from cartridges, syringe used in the extraction procedure.

[CalPilot89]

Congrats on 6000 posts Kate.

[playerags]

Right now is a great time to be a vaporer. It seems from the point we are at it can only go two ways. And I don't know which is worse.

Direction one- It gains approval from the FDA and government sets THEIR regulations and taxes. We then get to continue vaping at our leisure but at 5 times the price we are paying now.

Direction two- The fda sides with tobacco companies and big pharm to make e-cigs illegal. Therefore we must continue to buy our stuff online and probably at about 2 times the price. I think I would prefer the second one.

Remember, weed is illegal too.

I suppose there is a third route where it becomes legal and therefore we start manufacturing our own more reliable devices and juices here in the United States at a better, more competitive price. But that's just being naive.

[Kate]

Thanks Cal, I hadn't noticed