Propylene Glycol - I'm worried! (link)

[Temporal Fugitive]

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp189.pdf

Some of the things in this toxicological profile might be troubling, but after talking to some fellow ECFers about this, I realized there are a couple things to consider. Not worried as much anymore, but I can't edit the title. Here's some food for thought:

- Propylene Glycol has been shown to be safe in moderate amounts and it is used in inhalers as well as a variety of other medical applications. It can also be found in many foods.
- The amounts of PG used in the studies (constant exposure to 50 ppm - 1000 ppm) quoted in the profile seem to exceed the amounts of PG even a heavy vaper gets (1000 ppm when inhaling, but even the most extreme vapers shouldn't get more than 40 ppm when you factor in the time we spend not breathing in pg (the number of normal breathes we take) as well as the time we spend sleeping, eating, showering, working, etc.). The studies show that any and all adverse effects are directly correlated to the level of PG exposure.
- There are many vapers out there that have been vaping for well over a year and have not had any adverse effects. Current user reports are uniform in that they all point to improved health, and medical professionals have generally confirmed this.

I'd like to encourage everyone to share their thoughts on this. That's what a forum is for, after all

 

[BardicDruid]

Yeah and Berkley University discovered that apple pie caused cancer in rats, if they ate about 6 tons a day. PG has been used in inhalers for over 40 years, if there were problems with it it would have shown up by now.

 

[kinabaloo]

The inhale from a VP is around 1000 ppm PG/VG.

The amount in a typical sized room where someone vapes would be in the 1-10 ppm range.

These are my own calculations and might be a bit off but a reasonable ball park i think.

The Materials Data Sheets are aimed at workers who deal with substance in bulk. VG and PG are not in themselves toxic to inhale but might be (mild) irritants (or cause sensitivity, which could be beyond mild).

 

[telsie]

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp189.pdf

Some of the things in this toxicological profile might be troubling, but after talking to some fellow ECFers about this, I realized there are a couple things to consider. Not worried as much anymore, but I can't edit the title. Here's some food for thought:

- Propylene Glycol has been shown to be safe in moderate amounts and it is used in inhalers as well as a variety of other medical applications. It can also be found in many foods.
- The amounts of PG used in the studies (50 ppm - 1000 ppm) quoted in the profile by far exceed the amounts of PG even a heavy vaper gets (~1 ppm). The studies show that any and all adverse effects are directly correlated to the level of PG exposure.
- There are many vapers out there that have been vaping for well over a year and have not had any adverse effects. Current user reports are uniform in that they all point to improved health, and medical professionals have generally confirmed this.

I'd like to encourage everyone to share their thoughts on this. That's what a forum is for, after all

Here's some more info you might find helpful about propylene glycol:

Propylene Glycol : All about propylene glycol

^ That's by the maker of it, but even if you assume that might be biased towards presenting PG as safer than it is, some of info they present speaks for itself...

- It's been in use for over 50 years in medicines, foods and cosmetic products.
- It's bio-degradable in the environment.
- It converts to lactic acid in the body.
- It's listed as GRAS (generally regarded as safe) by the US FDA
- It's NOT listed negatively in any country of the EU.

I think the only risk with pharmaceutical PG is that it can be an irritant (usually only mildly so and often that's temporary) to people who are individually sensitive to it. And from personal experience, I've been vaping PG based liquid for over two years now with no problems.

 

[rolygate]

It's used in the nebulizers given to lung transplant patients. That probably means that any short term effects are insignificant.

Vapers have been using it for several years and there are no reports of morbidity. You can find some 3 year vapers on ECF, and there are many 2 year vapers.

It's got 70 years of data and no one has ever been killed by it unless they fell in a tank and drowned.

It can be injected into the bloodstream as it is all but inert, and is used for this purpose as the liquid base for drugs such as diazepam that are immiscible (do not dissolve in water).

The main safety issue was thought to be contamination as the industrial process used to make it is subject to variations in quality. In practice it appears that PEG400 is more likely to be the culprit when samples test out bad, as the PEG production and transport process is more vulnerable to contamination.

 

[nopatch]

The inhale from a VP is around 1000 ppm PG/VG :


1000 ppm i.e. 0.1% should be extremely safe.Wonder if there is any basis for this figure.

Based on a rough estimation that 1 ml liquid gets consumed in around 200 puffs of 35 ml volume i reckon there is no way PG/VG concentration can be less than 10%.