I am in no way an expert in the field, I just have some experience in reading scientific papers…
Article itself is here: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/advpub/2015/12/ehp.1510185.acco.pdf
Short version:
Again, I am not an expert in methods of measurements which were used, so let’s for now accept results.
Bad news:
One of the cigalikes tested in the study provided 528 um (microgram) of diacetyl (D). For one real cigarette high amount of D is equal to 433 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4137810/]
One cigalike contains about 1 ml of juice (correct me if I am wrong). So, 1 ml of that juice is equal to 1 cigarette in terms of amount of diacetyl. It means that if a vaper is vaping 20 ml of this juice a day[*], vaper gets as much D as from 1 pack of cigarettes with high amount of D. So, yes, vaping with specially selected juices can provide as much diacetyl as smoking.
* I mean not 20 cigalikes a day, but 20 ml of juice with the same flavorings but lower nic.
Good news:
Just two juices were really bad, close to cigarettes (both of the same company). Couple of other juices were somewhat bad, and about 34 (of 51 tested) juices were at least 100 times better than the worst one.
Authors attitude:
Authors stretched their method a lot to get barely detectable amounts of D. Their agenda was very visible: to show as much bad things about vaping as possible. But anyway we should be thankful for results they gave us – we should know what we vape. Not a lot of measurements (with whatever agenda) were made to date.
Some details.
It looks like authors have not much knowledge of e-cigs. They made measurements on cigalikes never explicitly stating it.
Method of obtaining vapor: they imitated 8 seconds draws whith 15-30 seconds resting time between draws. Looks OK, but they continued test to the full exhaustion of cartruges, determined by the lack of visible emissions in the chamber. So dry hit for the last draw (at least for one draw). Good they did not measure formaldehyde…
Measurements, especially of lower quantities, are quite questionable. Authors were too eager to measure things they cannot reliably measure. Some juices were measured multiple times and results were disastrous in low D concentration range. For example 4 measurements of the same cigalikes gave results 27.0, 1.6, 0, 0. Authors try to explain these variations by non-consistent manufacturing process, but much more probable their method is not suited for low concentration measurements.
Disclaimer: I have no personal interest in knowing of levels of diacetyl in flavorings. I DIY and use just 0.5-2% of flavorings (instead of usual 20%). I consider myself safe with diacetyl. Anyway, diacetyl is potential risk factor (not really well established) and everybody should decide for himself what is acceptable and what is not. To decide we should know how much (if any) of diacetyl is in juice/flavor.
Article itself is here: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/advpub/2015/12/ehp.1510185.acco.pdf
Short version:
Again, I am not an expert in methods of measurements which were used, so let’s for now accept results.
Bad news:
One of the cigalikes tested in the study provided 528 um (microgram) of diacetyl (D). For one real cigarette high amount of D is equal to 433 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4137810/]
One cigalike contains about 1 ml of juice (correct me if I am wrong). So, 1 ml of that juice is equal to 1 cigarette in terms of amount of diacetyl. It means that if a vaper is vaping 20 ml of this juice a day[*], vaper gets as much D as from 1 pack of cigarettes with high amount of D. So, yes, vaping with specially selected juices can provide as much diacetyl as smoking.
* I mean not 20 cigalikes a day, but 20 ml of juice with the same flavorings but lower nic.
Good news:
Just two juices were really bad, close to cigarettes (both of the same company). Couple of other juices were somewhat bad, and about 34 (of 51 tested) juices were at least 100 times better than the worst one.
Authors attitude:
Authors stretched their method a lot to get barely detectable amounts of D. Their agenda was very visible: to show as much bad things about vaping as possible. But anyway we should be thankful for results they gave us – we should know what we vape. Not a lot of measurements (with whatever agenda) were made to date.
Some details.
It looks like authors have not much knowledge of e-cigs. They made measurements on cigalikes never explicitly stating it.
Method of obtaining vapor: they imitated 8 seconds draws whith 15-30 seconds resting time between draws. Looks OK, but they continued test to the full exhaustion of cartruges, determined by the lack of visible emissions in the chamber. So dry hit for the last draw (at least for one draw). Good they did not measure formaldehyde…
Measurements, especially of lower quantities, are quite questionable. Authors were too eager to measure things they cannot reliably measure. Some juices were measured multiple times and results were disastrous in low D concentration range. For example 4 measurements of the same cigalikes gave results 27.0, 1.6, 0, 0. Authors try to explain these variations by non-consistent manufacturing process, but much more probable their method is not suited for low concentration measurements.
Disclaimer: I have no personal interest in knowing of levels of diacetyl in flavorings. I DIY and use just 0.5-2% of flavorings (instead of usual 20%). I consider myself safe with diacetyl. Anyway, diacetyl is potential risk factor (not really well established) and everybody should decide for himself what is acceptable and what is not. To decide we should know how much (if any) of diacetyl is in juice/flavor.
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