Is second-hand vapor completely harmless?

[rbd_rm21]

My wife is a bit concerned about the makeup of second-hand vapor. While she has a few general concerns, she's most specifically worried about any nicotine that it might contain and I can't really fault her for that. If I weren't an addict, I wouldn't want to expose myself to any of these chemicals either.

I've tried to assure her that it's totally safe and there's no reason for alarm; however, honestly... I don't know that for sure. I given her the "it's safer than cigs" explanation; she reminds me that her question was "is it safe", not "is it safer".

I've been vaping for around six weeks and have spent hours every day on ECF over the last month. I've noticed a few chemists/scientists during that time and I'm reaching out to you now. Is there any information regarding the safety/makeup of second-hand vapor? Are there any causes for concern?

Is second-hand vapor (as far as the scientific community knows for now) completely safe?

 

[Stormee]

I would like to know the answer to that myself, just out of curiousity.

My dog had severe allergies for two years. We tried everything from changing his diet to vet prescribed meds and nothing worked. We quit analogs and wham...he is better! So my opinion is that second-hand vapor is not dangerous or he would still be itching...unless it was just the smoke itself he was allergic to, or maybe the tar but not the nicotine. Either way, I'm happy that he is healthy again!

 

[Blooper]

i remember a good discussion about this topic. Basically from what I remember is that the amount of nicotine that is absorbed from vaping is not the full amount and much less than analogs. There is nicotine in the 2nd hand vapor but it basically has the same amount absorbed by 2nd handing vaping as eating tomato or other things that have nic in them. Someone more knowledgeable will probably answer it is a better way.

 

[Scottbee]

Nobody in the right mind (or who knows what they are talking about) will ever say that second-hand vapor is 100% completely harmless.

Plain-old exhaled breath isn't 100% completely harmless......

 

[Madness008]

im pretty sure the new zealand study said 98% of the nicotine in vapor you inhale is absorbed, whereas in real cigarettes the majority of the nicotine is lost from the smoke on the burning end of the cigarette between drags. Theres a link to tht report somewhere on here.

 

[miketr]

I think all we can do is speculate. There have been no controlled research studies of this. I agree that no one can say it is completely, 100% harmless- nothing is.
So is it reasonably safe? Well, I'm going to give my opinion, and that is all it is- one opinion.
It depends on the contents of the eFluid, but most eFluid is made of relatively harmless (as far as is known) constituent ingredients. When you exhale the vapor, it quickly dissipates as we can see, so that means its concentration falls off very rapidly, which would lessen any harmful effects significantly.
And it has only a miniscule fraction of the carcinogens that analog smoke has, for example, so I would think from that perspective it would be less harmful.
A secondhand smoke breather can smell the cigarette smoke distinctly, and it hangs visibly in the air. Neither of these is the case with vapor, which would lend creedence to the idea that there just is not much secondhand vapor in the surrounding air to cause problems anyway.
If someone had a known sensitivity or allergy to nicotine or any other of the components of an eLiquid, of course I think no one should vape near them. But my opinion is that it's very unlikely that there is any significant safety risk from secondhand vapor based on the points I have noted.
Thanks!

 

[MickiO]

im pretty sure the new zealand study said 98% of the nicotine in vapor you inhale is absorbed, whereas in real cigarettes the majority of the nicotine is lost from the smoke on the burning end of the cigarette between drags. Theres a link to tht report somewhere on here.

Actually, I read a report on that too, but it said just the opposite, who knows...

 

[beckah54]

You might check out these videos from Dr. David Baron, M.D. to answer part of your questions. He speaks on a lot of different aspects of the e-cig.

Dr. David Baron M.D. on E-Cigarettes | Smoking 2.0

 

[DC2]

My opinion, which is all it is, after much reading and research is...

If there is any nicotine that is exhaled, it is dispersed fairly quickly.
And whatever may not be dispersed quickly enough, and be inhaled by someone else, is negligible.

And that which is negligible, which is inhaled, is probably good for the person.
But most likely they aren't getting enough for any effect, either positive or negative.

And no matter what, it is probably better than walking down a street that has cars driving by.

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

The issue with second hand smoke is the carcinigens and poisons created by burning tobacco and the chemicals BT adds. Nicotine is destroyed by heat, oxygen and uv. I've never seen in any of the anti-smoking propaganda a concern of the actual nicotine in second hand smoke, though, I might have missed that. As a child raised around smokers in smokey homes with smokey friends, I never had a nicotine craving until I actually started smoking. As far any other adverse effects with second hand nicotine ONLY, I'm not aware of any. Besides, Mom said that third eye I have growing in the middle of my forehead was inherited from a distant uncle. My thought is to just respect the environment of other as I did while smoking analogs. That way it won't be a issue. My thoughts.