Question by : Electronic Cigarettes – studies, safety, habit forming?
I bought a packet of electronic cigarettes, not sure if I can give name/brand etc..
Anyway the device is a cigarette designed packet that charges via a usb socket. It consists of an electronic white tube that, that screws into capsules that look like cigarette filters. So for all intensive purposes it looks like a cigarette, it vaporizes nicotine contained within these metal filters. To produce a nicotine vapor that is inhaled like regular cigarettes. The active ingredients are:
NICOTINE 2.4% per ml, Propylene Glycol, Glycerol and Flavorings
Any studies done on this, anyone have any ideas of the physical effects of using said product?
How does the negative health, and addiction effects of smoking compare in relation to this?
any general medical or carcinogenic issues arising from using the product?
Thanks
Best answer:
Answer by a
Research on e-cigarettes is extremely limited since it is relatively new. But I can tell you about the ingredients listed
Nicotine generally considered non-carcinogenic. However, according to “Nicotine stimulates angiogenesis and promotes tumor growth and atherosclerosis” by JP Cooke et al nicotine does inhibit apoptosis, or programmed cell death in cells which are defective and can lead to cancer. As well, the paper shows that it stimulates angiogenesis, or production of new blood vessels which supply blood to the cancer.
Another health problem concern with nicotine use is high blood pressure. Nicotine acts as a vasoconstrictor, causing the blood vessels to narrow and raising blood pressure. This can be dangerous for people with pre-existing high blood pressure or heart disease.
The FDA only recently started to regulate e-cigarrettes as a tobacco product. Therefore what actually is in the e-cigarette is not strictly monitored like a drug. So the label you see may not actually be true.
Furthermore, nicotine is highly addictive and extremely hard to break. E-cigarettes probably much safer than other tobacco products because they lack the MAOIs present in tobacco smoke as well as many other toxic carcinogens. However, I still would not recommend smoking them.
As for the other ingredients listed. Propylene glycol is used to solublize the nicotine, prevent bacterial growth, and as a sweetner. It is 100% safe and is used in many other food applications. Glycerol essentially is used for the same reasons. The flavorings are self-explanatory.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Here are some other Electronic Cigarette resources you may find of value and interest:
HealthPop – Page 3 – CBS News
Margot Fonteyn & Roberto Arias : People.com
The Safe-T-Lite car… – Lighting up made easy – latimes.com
Featured Articles about Peanuts – Page 4 – CNN
Star Scientific and Reynolds American Poised to Benefit from E …
Smokeless Cigarettes Free Trial – Try Electronic Cigarette! – YouTube
Propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin as it is also called, are food grade ingredients, used in MANY places of our food chain, in meds, in kids toys, and fogging machines. They can be purchased at the drug store, over the counter.
The flavorings used are typically the same ones in the rest of the food chain. A lot of home makers use things like LorAnn oil flavorings, the common ones you see at walmart for making hard candies.
Nicotine is a poison, chemically addictive, But, its consumption this way is generally safer than in the tobacco.
There is no fire, so there is no chemical reaction rearanging all the molecules to create nasty chemicals in the smoke. All you are doing is breathing the steam as it is sort of boiled.
The most dangerous issues with ecigs are choosing one with shoddy electronics from a no name maker from china, or not understanding how the nicotine is dosed, especially if you are mixing your own ejuice.
Some of the message forums devoted to this have a lot more detailed information with links to studies, stories about the fda’s involvment, known issues with certain units, mods, etc.