The "dangers" of silica wicks

tenshi;8677742 said:

Don't believe everything in wiki. Everyone knows how wiki information is gathered. As a scientist, if I quoted wiki in one of my control test procedures or method development, I'd be fired hehe. They do know what causes silicosis (the topic of this thread), and it is crystalline silica dust which our ejuice before, during and after vaping does not contain.

There is such a thing as particle pollution. No matter what the size, particles can be harmful to your health. Who are the main people at risk? The ones that live where particle pollution levels are high (can look at levels in your state).

So some of these at home studies I've seen here and there in the threads (e.g. the disappearing wick) does not prove that e-cig vapor may cause silicosis. For the sake of argument, lets say they do see 'silica' fragments, they would still have to prove they are crystalline silica dust in order to cause silicosis. There are mainly 3 methods used to determine the difference between crystalline silica dust and amorphous silica since they both are SiO2, and they can not be done at home but in a well equipped lab. Specifically by X-ray defraction or Infra-red spectroscopy only (and advanced chemical bonding methods)... So looking at particles through a microscope tells us nothing.

While it's true that there maybe some possible dangers in vaping, and further studies are in definite need.... If one is so worried about it, then don't vape until valid scientific reports are released. If you feel based on the scientific evidence so far that vaping is safer than analogs as I do, then vape... But assuming something is unhealthy without the scientific proof can deter some people who seriously need to quit smoking analogs and cause them to have unreasonable apprehension to try e-cigs. Up to date, there is absolutely, without a doubt scientific proof that smoking analogs are dangerous to ones health with over 4K chemicals.

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