How valid are vaping health claims?

[Kate]

There seem to be a lot of people who claim vaping is safer or healthier in relation to smoking and even safe or healthy in absolute terms.

I am concerned that smokers are being encouraged to vape without being given full details of actual scientific, provable data about safety.

Can we justify saying this is healthy or healthier? What if we all develop lung disease in a few years ... will the healthy claims made by vested interests stand up in court?

These are some of the concerns I've heard about, some seem more risky than others. Does anyone have reliable evidence that these shouldn't be taken into account by anti-vapers looking to bust a health claim myth?


We can take in large doses of nicotine which is a toxin.
We don't know what prolonged inhaling of glycerine or PEG400 does to our bodies.
Ditto all the other additives and flavourings in eliquid.
GRAS (generally regarded as safe) chemicals may be safe to ingest but assumptions about safety to inhale are not valid - diacetyl, a food flavouring causes lung disease.
We don't know how the cocktail of chemicals we inhale interacts.
We don't know if there are chemicals given off by the atomiser coil wick as it degrades.
We don't know what type of plastics are used for storage or cartridges and if they leach chemicals.
We don't know what chemicals are given off by cartridge fillers when they are heated or burned.
We don't know about what sort of paint is used on devices, it could contain lead.
We don't know if there is a safety risk with having a battery/power supply so close to our faces.
Faulty switches, chargers or batteries could cause fires.
We don't know if standards of hygiene or purity of product are maintained effectively at manufacturing facilities because there is no regulation of production.

 

[Catanonia]

And with so much vapor condensing on my wind sheild whilst driving what is the % chance of an increase in a road traffic accident ?

Got me scared now

 

[Houdini]

That's all true. We don't know. I guess everybody just assumes its safer then regular cigarettes because there are less chemicals in vaping. Bottom line is we are all the test subjects in this e-cig "hobby".

 

[Kate]

That's what I think too, we don't know but I'm prepared to be a careful tester because the odds look good.

It's not fair for assumptions to be presented as fact though is it?

 

[Elendil]

While we do not "know" that it is safer, I think most of us are willing to roll the dice that it certainly couldn't be any worse.

Just speaking for myself, after only 10 days of being analog free, I have finally gotten rid of a persistant "cold" (or whatever it was) that I have had for about 8 months. I can feel the positive effects already. WHile 10 years from now I may sprout a 2nd head or something from vaping. I'll take the 10 years of feeling great in exchange.........

 

[Houdini]

That's what I think too, we don't know but I'm prepared to be a careful tester because the odds look good.

It's not fair for assumptions to be presented as fact though is it?

No that really isn't fair since no testing has been done. But I think it's fair to say as fact that quitting analogs and using e-cigs will make you feel better in most cases.

 

[Catanonia]

May I add, although my answer was tongue in cheek I understand the concerns posted in the questions.

Nothing in this life is safe, including consuming nico in one form or another.

But I am not going to wrap myself in cotton wool all my life and never get out of bed , just in case, never happens.

One thing i have convinced my self is that this is much safer than the old way, analogs, and the benefits are certainly out weighing the cons at the moment by a large degree.

If they do a study and it says that snorting PG all day makes your sex drive go down, then I may consider it, maybe....

 

[0ogier]

An interesting and moot point.

Yes I agree there are a lot of un knowns. However just a couple of points.


Lead in paint - RoHS certification. Yes admittedly only for those tested but that is the same as enything.

Charger safety risk / faults - CE certification.

Battery / power supply close to head - I suppose you can look at mobile phones and hearing aids.

Hygene standards . Again by certification. ( in the case of my supplierSGS GMP Codex ,food hygene) .

As to additives etc in the vapour. I suppose one could look at what we do know, of what is in a cigarette. eg Formaldehyde,hydrogen cyaninde,Carbon monoxide etc etc.)

As to the plastic leaching, Most plastics do have to pass conformity tests.

The heating of the wick - I honestly have no idea.

Forgive the truncating of your points but my typing is carp. and Im wearing out my backspace and delete keys.

But some the concerns you raise are valid.

Kindest Regards

0ogier

 

[Skad]

I only know two things for sure about vaping.

1. I feel much better now then I did when I was smoking analogs.

2. I'm sure that I've done far worse things to my body then puff on an e-cig.

 

[Doostin]

We won't know until there is some product testing. Although there are a lot of competing brands and manufaturers, there needs to be some sort of a a collaborative effort to have proper testing done in regards to all the points (if not, more) that Kate has presented.

It is expensive, and it doesn't seem that anyone is going to do it on their own, yet. Good luck getting some venture capital money to do so, the risk is too high for failure in this controversial market, as is the risk of complete loss of investment.

One market where these devices could potentially have success in is the military market. Militaries have been well known to use chemicals, agents, and medicines on their soldiers that haven't been approved. It may seem a little far fetched, but here's a product that soldiers may actually embrace in a field setting, where smoking a cigarette at night can give your location away to an enemy. Instead, they can puff on a non-LED version of an electronic nicotine inhaler.

 

[MonkeyMonk]

Kate, I completely agree on point number 3, flavorings of eJuice.

For instance several of the flavors offered in ejuice, when searched for in flavoring bottles often have one of several items that preclude our using it for DIY dilutions. Personally, I am concerned about possible dyes in the commercially available ejuice.

Here are 2 examples of flavorings where I have found no source without dyes/colorings added. The below is copied and pasted from LorAnn's:

Peach Flavor
Product Number:0450-0100
Kosher Certified. Contains: Propylene Glycol, Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Red 40. Soluble in water. Appropriate for use in chocolates and coatings.

Cherry Flavor
Product Number:0150-0100
Kosher Certified. Contains: Artificial Flavor, Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Red 40, Blue 1. Soluble in water. Appropriate for use in chocolates and coatings. Not eligible to ship by air.

My question or concern is relative to the peach or cherry or other ejuices that are offered, we have no idea what their source of flavoring is and what substances are contained in those flavorings.

(This part is just a BTW, because it comes from an FDA publication relative to food dyes, but one can extrapolate this statement to e-cigarettes and the challanges now faced by them:

"Since absolute safety of any substance can never be proven, decisions about the safety of color additives or other food ingredients are made on the best scientific evidence available. Because scientific knowledge is constantly evolving, federal officials often review earlier decisions to assure that the safety assessment of a food substance remains up-to-date. Any change made in previous clearances should be recognized as an assurance that the latest and best scientific knowledge is being applied to enhance the safety of the food supply."

FDA/CFSAN Food Color Facts )

 

[SkyMonkey]

Kate..you keep mentioning "diacetyl, a food flavouring causes lung disease"

Has there ever been any record or test that shows this is even in e-cigs?

 

[SkyMonkey]

Sorry Kate.I just feel it may be VERY irresponsible to link e-cigs to diacetyl on a baseless thought.

 

[Kate]

Yes Sky, there is scientific evidence. The disease caused by diacetyl is sometimes called 'popcorn workers lung' because it was found in people who work in popcorn factories. Inhaling flavourings and other chemicals

 

[SkyMonkey]

Kate, thank, I know what diacetyl is.

But the question is ........Has there ever been any record or test that shows this is even in e-cigs????

 

[Kate]

Check the link Sky.

 

[SkyMonkey]

I scoured the link you showed.....but there was no diacetyl listed in any of the ingredients.

 

[Kate]

I'm not sure what you were looking at. If you read the thread I linked to you'll find that I've been trying to find out about certain brands and diacetyl. Diy mixers frequently use Bickford flavourings and some of them apparently contain diacetyl. Bickford also say they provide flavourings to an eliquid manufacturer.

 

[cleo]

here is a link for you sky from kate thread,enjoy

NIOSH Topic: Flavorings-Related Lung Disease: Exposures to Flavoring Chemicals | CDC/NIOSH

 

[SkyMonkey]

Well..thanks for the info Kate.
This diacetyl possibility is enough for me to go back to regular cigs.
At first I thought you were just being paranoid but now I see there is a noble cause behind the concerns.

It apparently only took 3 months of exposure in rats to begin the deadly lung disease caused by diacetyl.

Is there any info on some specific eliquid that does not contain diacetyl?

Cause now im thinkin about stopping after only 5 days and $200 spent!