Teens using e-cigarettes show evidence of same toxic chemicals as smokers: Study

[Eugene]

Source: ABC News

Teens using e-cigarettes show evidence of same toxic chemicals as smokers: Study

By DR. NAJIBAH REHMAN and ANN REYNOLDS • Mar 5, 2018, 7:06 PM ET

Using e-cigarettes has been promoted as a way to help adult smokers cut back or quit smoking, or at least to minimize the health damage that smoking causes. Teens, even middle schoolers, have taken up e-cigarettes as well. But as researchers continue to study their safety, a new report in Pediatrics shows vaping could lead to the presence of concerning levels of toxic chemicals.

Almost 100 teens from the San Francisco Bay area were examined in the University of California-San Francisco study: 67 teens used e-cigarettes only, 16 used both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes and 20 didn't smoke or vape at all.

Urine and salivary gland testing looked for breakdown products of toxic chemicals that have been associated with cancer -- and found them in both smokers and vapers -- but not those who didn’t smoke at all.

Those who smoked cigarettes and used e-cigarettes had urine samples that indicated a higher presence of benzene, ethylene oxide, acrylonitrile, acrolein and acrylamide (all associated with higher risks of cancer). Levels were three times as high as those who used just e-cigarettes.

-snip-

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/teens-cigarettes-show-evidence-toxic-chemicals-smokers-study/story?id=53537714

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Related: Adolescent Exposure to Toxic Volatile Organic Chemicals From E-Cigarettes (Pediatrics)

[mr_lebowski]

1. Not sure how much I 'buy' as relevant here ...

Last edited Tue Mar 6, 2018, 04:55 AM - Edit history (3)

Edited after reading the full excerpt ...

Users of only E-Cigs shouldn't have 1/3 the amount of carcinogens in them that smokers of real cigarettes have. If they do, then these particular chemicals were likely intentionally chosen as a tiny smidgen of the 1000's of known toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke ... because the researchers know that Nicotine + 90% Vegetable Glycerin (which you can literally drink and enema with safely) + 10% Propylene Glycol (used in asthma inhalers and to purify the air in hospitals) + heat is likely to produce slightly elevated levels of these SPECIFIC compounds. But do these elevated levels represent ACTUAL danger? That's never discussed or pondered.

I'd be very curious to hear ... were there ANY vapers with much, much less of any or all those chemicals in their blood, like 1/6 or 1/10 perhaps? If so, what were they vaping, in terms of Nic Concentration, VG/PG ratio, and what flavoring source? IMHO it's way past time to really start figuring out how to reduce harm even further through vaping. What are the proper/most safe ratios of PG/VG? Nic Concentration? Are certain flavors safer than others? Etc.

But even if '1/3 the amount of these hand-picked cancerous chemicals' is typical no matter what one vapes, that's still a hugely significant harm-reduction factor vs actual smoking ... not to mention, no 'tars' or 'particulates' to clog up lung passages.

After reading it all, it's not a total junk study or anything, and it does raise some concerns, but ... let me just add this from the footnotes:

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Dr Benowitz is a consultant to several pharmaceutical companies that market medications to aid smoking cessation and has served as a paid expert witness in litigation against tobacco companies. Drs Ramo and Rubinstein have consulted for Carrot Inc, which makes a tobacco cessation device; and Dr Delucchi has indicated he has no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.


I guess 1 out of 4 ain't bad ...