How many tests would suffice for one vendor? One? One per flavor? But, if one test per flavor would suffice to keep you satisfied and feeling safe, you would also then have to take the vendor's word that they did not change up their recipes, or you would have to take their word from the word of their supplier that absolutely nothing had been tweaked or mishandled in the making of the primary ingredients. My point? My point is that the only way for these tests to be conducted and to be valid would be to test per flavor/per batch. Now I ask you, go to any one site, consider how many batches and flavors are being made and then consider the logistics of that. What about your customizeable made-to-order liquids? Not going to work in that system. In an actual made-to-order system, each bottle would be a batch. Do the math on those numbers, the turnaround and cost of testing, and then admit that the system that is being proposed will eviscerate the options that makes vaping capable of being tailored to the individual.
If you don't want to have any chance of consuming absolutely avoidable risks, DIY won't be your answer unless you DIY unflavored PG/VG/nic; the second you introduce any flavor, you just added the possibility of unknown and unnecessary risks for vaping -- no matter how minimal. You may say, "it clearly states on the flavor supplier's site it is DA/AP free," but those are the same words that the vendors initially took and adopted. [As far as I know, no flavoring manufacturer has readily available testing done on every single flavor/batch, and even if they did, what is their testing method? What is their LOD and LOQ? Would you even know how to read those test results?] And Dr.F's study showed us (and the part that changed my position on how little I do care about it) is that this is not an issue solely with "butter," "cream," "custards," but possible with myriad flavors. So don't think that you know how, necessarily, to avoid those risks just off of some product description.
Right now the concern is DA/AP, but there are staggering numbers of untested compounds for inhalation in flavors, so the real battle should be waged on flavor -- and I am not going to fight against flavors! Are you? Testing is great, but there aren't too many vendors that would be able to keep up with that type of rigidity and not too many customers that will pay markedly higher prices on liquids that were never meant to be high-end. This conversation may be more sober if those that want full-scale testing on every finished-product could wake up to what they are really proposing. Everyone has the right to desire what they wish, but you ought not be blind to the ramifications of what you are proposing.
I have no qualms with wanting to see test results from those that claim to have them, wanting bold disclaimers taken down from sites when there is no proof, and even a little more transparency from vendors. But, I am not for industry-wide requirements unless I want an industry so small that I no longer desire to be a part of it. For those that want to vape but want to be 100% free of these avoidable risks, you currently have an option: vape unflavored . There, done! You get what you want. If you want to vape flavors, you are an avoidable-risk taker. Accept it. If the unknown costs are too high for you to accept, you know what your available option is.
