E-cigarettes: How they work, risks, and research
Instead of bathing lung tissue with a therapeutic mist, just as a nebulizer does, vaping coats lungs with potentially harmful chemicals. E-liquid concoctions usually include some mix of flavorings, aromatic additives and nicotine or THC (the chemical in marijuana that causes psychological effects), dissolved in an oily liquid base. "We think that some of the vaporized elements of the oil are getting deep down into the lungs and causing an inflammatory response," explains Broderick.
The inhaled vapor may contain nicotine (the addictive drug in tobacco), flavorings, and toxins—including ones that cause cancer. People who have already switched completely from smoking to e-cigarettes should not switch back to smoking (either solely or along with e-cigarettes), which could expose them to potentially devastating health effects. It's important to know the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that sometimes e-cigarette products are changed or modified and can have possibly harmful or illegal substances from unknown sources. Get regular updates on the health effects of tobacco, public health educational resources, and highlights on current tobacco issues and regulations.
Nicotine yields for different e-cigarette brands have been reported from 2 to 313 µg puff−1 while for conventional cigarettes smoke the values ranged from 170 to 232 µg puff−16,31,36,48,64. Nicotine poisoning refers to the toxic effects of consuming nicotine, a chemical in all tobacco products. A recent increase in poisonings is due to liquid nicotine, a product in the popular e-cigarette. Symptoms include vomiting, rapid heart rate, unsteadiness and increased salivation. The comprehensive review of the evidence finds that almost all of the 2.6 million adults using e-cigarettes in Great Britain are current or ex-smokers, most of whom are using the devices to help them quit smoking or to prevent them going back to cigarettes. It also provides reassurance that very few adults and young people who have never smoked are becoming regular e-cigarette users (less than 1% in each group).
In January, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners passed a new ordinance that prevents new vape shops from opening within 1,000 feet of a school to address youth nicotine consumption. On the rare occasions I partake, instead of filling my nostrils with the taste of a warm crème brûlée, my mouth tastes like a street gutter for an hour. I like the nicotine, but everything else about the experience is viscerally revolting. About 43% of the study participants were LGBTQ+ adolescents, for instance, and research suggests that LGBTQ+ young people smoke and vape at a higher prevalence than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. The new study included a diverse group of adolescents, indicating how the text message program could be helpful for marginalized communities, said Dr. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. "Text messaging is a scalable and cost-efficient approach to delivering vaping cessation treatment on a population basis," the researchers wrote in the study.
Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your health — smoking harms nearly every organ in your body, including your heart. Nearly one-third of deaths from heart disease are the result of smoking and secondhand smoke. The Food and Drug Administration has not found any e-cigarette to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit. If smokers are ready to quit smoking for good, they should call QUITNOW or talk with their doctor about finding the best way to quit using proven methods and FDA-approved treatments and counseling. Mass media campaigns such as truth ® have been highly effective in helping to reduce youth smoking. Truth has prevented millions of young people from becoming smokers, including 2.5 million between 2015 and 2018 alone.
To our knowledge, no studies in Europe have examined susceptibility to e-cigarette (S-EC) use and snus use (S-SN). Glyoxal and methylglyoxal are formed by thermal degradation or oxidation of PG and VG87. Glyoxal is considered mutagenic, while the related compound methylglyoxal has been identified as a metabolite during glycolysis and is thus naturally present in the body. Methylglyoxal is also present in foods and drinks such as honey and coffee.
"If there was good evidence that people were using e-cigarettes just to quit smoking, there would be wide support," Benowitz says. "The problem is most of the e-cigarette use in the U.S. is dual use with cigarettes." People use e-cigs in places or situations where they can't smoke, like in a restaurant, but continue lighting up when they can, he explains. "My reading of the evidence is that it is quite convincing that e-cigarettes are helping some people quit smoking." Many young e-cigarette users reported throwing away, improperly recycling, or littering the devices. Only 15% of young e-cigarette users reported disposing of empty pods or disposable vapes by dropping them off or sending them for electronic recycling.
These findings can reflect general openness to nicotine use, indicated by a previous study showing considerable overlap between susceptibility types [24]. Several school-level factors have a role in both youth tobacco use and educational pathways. These include school rules and policies, physical environment, curriculum, discipline, school health services, school social and learning environment, student commitment to learning and school community as well as parents and the broader community [26]. Further, school influence partly occurs through the perceptions of smoking behaviour in the social network (descriptive norms) and perceptions of social network beliefs (injunctive norms), which both predict smoking initiation among youth [27].
Again assuming a worst-case exposure of 300 puffs day–1 spread over 8 h, the levels of glyoxal exposure to a consumer would still be more than 40 times lower than the occupational exposure limit of 0.10 mg m–377,94,95. The high standard deviation for glyoxal and methylglyoxal observed in BB18 e-cigarette emissions is probably related to an analytical sample matrix effect and/or batch variability83,96,97. Despite the high standard deviation, the percentage reduction of glyoxal and methylglyoxal in both e-cigarette emissions relative to cigarette smoke was ≥ 97.0% and ≥ 94.5%, respectively (Table 3).
In 2021 "other" flavored devices made up 71 percent of all disposable devices sold or given away, with the most-popular subcategories being fruit-flavored and fruit & menthol/mint flavored products. These two subcategories alone made up more than half of all disposable e-cigarette devices sold or given away in 2021. Researchers said that the study’s prospective observational design allows them to infer, but not conclusively determine, a causal relationship between e-cigarette use and heart failure. However, with its large sample size and detailed data on substance use and health information, Bene-Alhasan said the study is one of the most comprehensive studies to assess this relationship to date. This guide is intended to provide general information about the California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax and registration, collection, filing, and payment responsibilities of retailers of electronic cigarettes containing or sold with nicotine. When the liquid is used up or the battery dies, the user throws the device away.
Smoking may also contribute to fertility issues and lower sex hormone levels in males and females, leading to decreased sexual desire. Smoking is an environmental risk factor for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, though researchers do not yet understand the mechanism behind the connection. The actual policy is below, and it looks like a lot of hoop jumping is involved - age verification upon delivery? Not sure how you would even do this unless sent some sort of signed restricted delivery.
VaporFi fluids use highly pure ingredients, with no diacetyl, vitamin E acetate, or acetyl propionyl. This gives you much more flexibility to switch between different flavors and substances. Again, this isn't necessarily a safety issue, but some users may find it makes for a rougher puff. Some people aren't looking for energy from their vapes — they're more interested in getting a daily dose of vitamins. The LUVV Air VITA supplies vitamins A, B12, C, and D3, helping to make up for some of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the U.S.
A Foundation-led study presented at the 2024 Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco annual meeting found that monthly e-cigarette sales in California declined by 41% after statewide restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products took effect. However, the report also noted that the tobacco industry continues to market products to offset these declines, including non-menthol cigarettes that contain other cooling chemicals. Continuing to monitor flavored tobacco product sales is key to assessing policies like these and informing further policy development and implementation. Toxicity is not the only factor in considering risk to an individual or a population from exposure to ENDS emissions.
However, 87% of people who reported using e‑cigarettes with nicotine had obtained them without prescriptions. "This relatively small study showed that e-cigarettes have the potential to decrease heart muscle blood supply, not just under the stress of exercise like traditional cigarettes but even at rest," he says. The authors of a 2019 review point out that e-liquid aerosols contain particulates, oxidizing agents, aldehydes, and nicotine. When inhaled, these aerosols most likely affect the heart and circulatory system. Of note, another study indicated that although RANTES/CCL5 and CCR1 mRNA were upregulated in flavour/nicotine-containing e-cigarette users, vaping flavour and nicotine-less e-cigarettes did not significantly dysregulate cytokine and inflammasome activation [43].
Altria Group chief executive William Gifford told analysts during a second-quarter conference call that makers of unregulated e-cigarettes are responding to consumers’ switching to nicotine pouches. According to the latest Nielsen convenience store report released Wednesday, Zyn sales have jumped 74.6% year-over-year with total annual sales now in the $2 billion range. Tobacco industry executives and analysts are sounding alarms about a surge of unregulated nicotine pouches entering the U.S. that is chipping away at regulated products.
Many grants on this topic are funded through the Tobacco Regulatory Science Program, an NIH partnership with FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products to fund research to inform FDA’s tobacco regulatory activities. Interestingly, most of these reports linking COVID-19 harmful effects with smoking or vaping, are based on their capability of increasing the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the lung. It is well known that ACE2 is the gate for SARS-CoV-2 entrance to the airways [106] and it is mainly expressed in type 2 alveolar epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages [107]. To date, most of the studies in this field indicate that current smokers have higher expression of ACE2 in the airways (reviewed by [108]) than healthy non-smokers [109, 110]. While tobacco products have been a long-standing public health issue, e-cigarette (aka e-cigs, vape pens, vapes) use has continued to gain popularity throughout the last decade. Poison centers began receiving calls about e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine products in 2010, which overlaps with the initial period where these products reached the U.S. market.
The last wave analyzed took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in March to November 2021 and was administered via audio computer-assisted self-interviews and telephone interviews. The study featured 1,985 participants; 49.4% were male and the average age was 40. The patient population was 80.7% white, 11.4% Black, 9.2% Hispanic, and 8% of another race. You can get health news and information from The Science of Health blog delivered right to your inbox every month.
A lack of data has led to classification of methylgloxal as a Group 3 carcinogen (carcinogenicity to humans not classifiable) by IARC. Both compounds have been previously detected in e-cigarette emissions at concentrations of 0.07–0.94 and 0.09–33 µg puff–1, respectively86,88. In our study, glyoxal was present at lower levels (BB57 and BB18, 0.02 and 0.05 µg puff–1, respectively), while methylglyoxal was at concentrations of 0.13 and 0.19 µg puff–1 in BB57 and BB18, respectively (Table 3). Glyoxal was detected in the method air blank and therefore the actual levels in the e-cigarette emissions are potentially lower than reported in Table 3.
A growing body of research indicates that truth campaigns to prevent young people from vaping are poised to move in the same direction as the organization’s successful smoking prevention campaigns. See " Quitting Tobacco " for more information on quitting tobacco products. Let's say you love the feel and flavor you get from puffing on a vape — but you can't quite bring yourself to trust that it's safe. It uses a puff of pressurized, flavored air to simulate the "throat hit" of a vape, with no heating element whatsoever.
"This is Our Watch" is a voluntary education program with resources to help tobacco retailers better understand and comply with FDA tobacco regulations. Tobacco retailers play a direct role in protecting kids from nicotine addiction and the deadly effects of tobacco use. Learn what tobacco retailers need to do to comply with the rules designed to prevent our nation's youth from becoming the next generation of Americans to die prematurely from tobacco-related disease.
Many people believe electronic cigarettes (also called e-cigarettes or vapes) are a safe alternative to traditional cigarettes. But with a recent report from the U.S. surgeon general calling e-cigarette use "a major public health concern," this may not be the case. The FDA reports an alarming 900% rise in e-cigarette use among high school students from 2011 to 2015 and the number of high school students using them increased 78% in 2018 alone. Vaping doesn’t create second-hand smoke.Breathing in second-hand smoke is a health risk for people who are around cigarette smokers, including vapers. In addition, third-hand smoke on clothes and furniture is smelly and can be dangerous for people with respiratory conditions. Vaping doesn’t produce the same smelly fumes as cigarettes, but the secondhand vapor contains chemicals and compounds that pollute the indoor air.
Short-acting nicotine replacement therapies — such as nicotine gum, lozenges, nasal sprays or inhalers — can help you overcome intense cravings. These short-acting therapies are usually safe to use along with long-acting nicotine patches or one of the non-nicotine stop-smoking drugs. Mothers Against Vaping told Mint that they fear for their teenage children.
Krishnan-Sarin points to progress that has been made—finally—in recent years to reduce regular cigarette smoking rates among young adults. In her opinion, the significant decline is due to the success of large-scale public health campaigns and a general awareness among youth that cigarettes are harmful to health. The liquid they contain also has many monikers—it might be called e-juice, e-liquid, cartridges, pods, or oil.
Adjusted analyses revealed that the type of e-cigarette device used played no role in the rates of cigarette discontinuation. Data were taken from the nationally representative Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study (PATH), which assessed participants through audio-based, computer-assisted self-interviews in English or Spanish. Interviews were conducted in "waves" -- October 2014 to October 2015, October 2015 to October 2016, December 2016 to January 2018, and December 2018 to November 2019.
But they may also contain other compounds including artificial flavors, nicotine, THC, and cannabinoid (CBD) oil. E-cigarettes are known by many different names, including e-cigs, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS), e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, vaporizers, vapes, and tank systems. We know nicotine and other ingredients in e-liquids can hurt your body and we still don’t know what long-term health problems vaping could cause. There are online resources, texting and phone services and apps that connect you with real people to help you on your journey to kick the habit. E-cigarettes, aka JUULs and vape pens, use a battery to heat up a special liquid into an aerosol that users inhale.
Despite being marketed as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes contain numerous harmful substances such as formaldehyde, heavy metals, and carcinogens, he added. Part of the difficulty in curbing youth e-cigarette use has been the intensity of the industry’s marketing towards kids, particularly through social media influencers, said Bianco. In the 2021 Youth National Tobacco Survey, 73.5% of youth that use social media reported seeing e-cigarette–related content.
He encourages people committed to quitting to try non-inhaled methods such as the nicotine replacement patch or another FDA-approved smoking cessation product, as well as counseling. E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that convert liquid into aerosol, which is inhaled into the user’s lungs. Typically, the liquid contains addictive nicotine, as well as flavors. More than 10 million adults in the United States use e-cigarettes, and vaping has become especially popular among teenagers.
Freebase nicotine products can be used in refill liquids or in cartridges for closed systems. Because the brain experiences significant development during adolescence, nicotine use during this critical time can rewire the brain which can make it easier for youth to get addicted to other substances due to issues with impulse control. Together, these three categories accounted for almost two thirds of expenditures in 2021. If you or someone you know has had a safety issue with an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette or vape), please report the problem to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the FDA Safety Reporting Portal (hhs.gov). For adults looking to talk to teens about vaping, Live Vape Free is an online program that provides tips, tools, and one-on-one support.
And studies show that brands claiming to be "nicotine-free" may still have trace amounts. Developing teenage brains are especially sensitive to nicotine's addictive properties. Urgent action is needed to control e-cigarettes to protect children, as well as non-smokers and minimize health harms to the population. E-cigarettes as consumer products are not shown to be effective for quitting tobacco use at the population level. Instead, alarming evidence has emerged on adverse population health effects. Without urgent and effective public health action, e-cigarettes will lead to a new generation of nicotine-addicted individuals.
Many are already working on efforts to combat this crisis, and we now ask for redoubled efforts and increased coordination. Below are recommended actions that different groups can take to address this issue. Cross-tabulations and Pearson χ2-tests were conducted with IBM SPSS 27.0, and multilevel logistic regression analyses with MlwiN 3.05. The associations between the student- and school-level independent variables and S-SM, S-EC, and S-SN were tested with two-level logistic regression models, with students on level one and schools on level two. The estimation procedure in the random intercept models was second-order predictive quasi-likelihood (PQL2). Analyses were stratified by gender due to significant interactions between gender and educational aspirations for all three outcomes in the unadjusted analyses.
The success of all these enterprises hinges on the claim that e-cigarettes are healthier than traditional cigarettes. Companies like to paint a black-and-white picture of a new era of safe smoking. "Cigarettes, you've met your match," NJOY proudly proclaims in its Super Bowl ads. E-cigarettes and vaping are part of a trend going back at least nine years in the U.S. First publicized as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco, vaping caught on because it didn’t contain the carcinogens or tars found in most smoking tobacco products. Also, vaping was supposed to eliminate the dangers of secondhand smoke to those nearby.
Indeed, one of the limitations of the study was that human cells are not exposed to e-liquids per se, but rather to the aerosols where the concentrations are lower [86]. In this line, the maximum concentration tested (1000 µM) would correspond to approximately 80 to 150 ppm, which is far higher than the levels found in aerosols of some of these compounds [84]. Moreover, on a day-to-day basis, lungs of e-cigarette users are not constantly exposed to these chemicals for 24 h at these concentrations. Similar limitations were found when five of seven flavourings were found to cause cytotoxicity in human bronchial epithelial cells [87]. It is well known that nicotine is extremely addictive and has a multitude of harmful effects. Nicotine has significant biologic activity and adversely affects several physiological systems including the cardiovascular, respiratory, immunological and reproductive systems, and can also compromise lung and kidney function [41].
Any smoking is harmful and you will only get the full benefits of vaping if you stop smoking completely. Some people manage to make a full switch very quickly, while for others it can take a bit longer. The NFHS Learning Center offers a 3-level national coaching credential that helps you gain knowledge you can use to provide a fun, educational, and a safer environment for your students.
You can turn to our smoking cessation resource center, which has tips for how to stop smoking, information on smoking cessation therapies, and more. Doctors may also recommend prescription and nonprescription medications to help you quit. For people with vaginas, it can result in sexual dissatisfaction by decreasing lubrication and the ability to reach orgasm. Babies may be born with underdeveloped lungs if the pregnant person smokes during pregnancy. Smoking damages the airways, air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs, and cilia, which are tiny hair-like structures that prevent dirt and mucus from entering your lungs.
Parents and anti-tobacco groups immediately criticized the decision, which follows years of advocacy efforts to keep menthol and other flavors that can appeal to teens off the market. The FDA said it authorized four menthol e-cigarettes from Njoy, the vaping brand recently acquired by tobacco giant Altria, which also sells Marlboro cigarettes. This is in contrast to passive smoking (secondhand smoke), which is known to be very harmful to health.
In smoking and school disengagement (e.g. truancy), students often choose to affiliate with similar peers [28, 29]. Smoking prevalence has been lower in schools where educational attainment and attendance are better than predicted based on student socio-demographic factors, indicating the importance of positive school ethos [30]. Yet, other school-level factors than school connectedness [22] have rarely been studied in connection with susceptibility. Youth use of e-cigarettes has surpassed youth use of regular combustible cigarettes in Delaware. Approximately 38 percent of Delaware high school students reported ever trying an electronic vapor product. Finally, the researchers compared the levels of nicotine in the blood serum of people after they had vaped e-cigarettes with the levels in people who smoked traditional cigarettes.
Vaping has exploded into a national crisis, and tobacco companies are helping to fuel it by targeting kids with flavors such as gummy bear and cotton candy. E-cigarette companies have promoted unsubstantiated health claims about their products as healthier than traditional cigarettes, when, in fact, e-cigarettes are uniquely dangerous for kids due to nicotine’s impact on their developing brains. Since being introduced to the U.S. market in 2007, e-cigarette use among youth has increased to epidemic levels (Surgeon General's Advisory on E-cigarette Use Among Youth, 2018). The availability of flavored e-cigarettes is one of the most commonly cited reasons for e-cigarette use among youth (Tsai et al., 2018). Given the importance of flavors contributing to use of e-cigarettes among youth, these data briefs build on this previously published article, providing an update on trends in unit sales of e-cigarettes in the U.S. by product and flavor type.
The Lung Association remains extremely troubled about the rapid increase of youth using these products and has repeatedly called upon the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to increase their oversight and scrutiny of these products to protect kids. This is Quitting is a free and anonymous text messaging program from Truth Initiative designed to help young people quit vaping. The first-of-its-kind quit program has helped over 700,000 youth and young adults quit vaping by incorporating messages from other young people like them who have attempted to, or successfully quit, e-cigarettes. Truth Initiative is America's largest nonprofit public health organization committed to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all.
E-cigarettes are available in flavors like cherry, bubble gum, and cotton candy, and are allowed to be advertised on TV, which may increase their appeal for children and teens. As of July 31, 2024, Poison Centers have managed 4,955 e-cigarette and liquid nicotine related exposure cases. For more information about the health effects of e-cigarettes, visit CardioSmart.org/StopSmoking. People who use e-cigarettes are significantly more likely to develop heart failure compared with those who have never used them, according to one of the largest prospective studies to date investigating possible links between vaping and heart failure. The findings are being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session.
"Vaping products containing nicotine are subject to federal laws that prohibit sales to people under the age of 21," said study co-author Sairam V. Jabba, D.V.M., Ph.D., a senior research scientist at Duke University School of Medicine. Previous studies of such policies have mostly examined local or temporary post-2019 state policies. The Yale study was the first to assess how flavor restrictions across most of the United States influence sales of both vapes and cigarettes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) "The Real Cost" campaign seeks to prevent susceptible youth from trying tobacco or becoming regular users.
Once discarded into the environment, the filters create a large waste problem. Synthetic particulate filters may remove some of the tar before it reaches the smoker. The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to the privacy of individuals that participated in the study.
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, include e-pens, e-pipes, e-hookah, and e-cigars are known collectively as ENDS— electronic nicotine delivery systems. According to the FDA, e-cigarettes are devices that allow users to inhale an aerosol containing nicotine or other substances. Other studies show that newer e-cigarettes deliver higher doses of nicotine more efficiently, which could be a reason why these findings were observed. The authors acknowledge that more frequent use of e-cigarettes may also reflect greater determination to quit smoking combustible cigarettes and that their study did not evaluate risks of youth e-cigarette use. Over the next few years, the optimism over e-cigarettes waned as their popularity skyrocketed. Juul’s sales increased over 600 percent each year to become the best selling device on the market while I inhaled an atmosphere’s worth of vanilla vapor into my lungs.
Another potential risk posed by vaping indoors is allergic reactions, especially among children. According to research, roughly 8% of kids in the United States have food allergies. Nuts (a common food allergy) are sometimes used to make added flavors in vaping fluids.
Nicotine use can have an impact on learning, memory and attention and increase the likelihood of addiction to other drugs in the future. While some people have reported that using e-cigarettes has helped them quit smoking, there are other proven, safe and effective options that should be explored first. It's important to help protect children and teens from using or being exposed to the harmful vapor from e-cigarettes. Talk with your pediatrician for more information about these products and keeping your child safe and healthy. Your regional Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) also have staff who can also talk with you about environmental toxins.
The most consistent predictors have been descriptive norms of parents’ and close friends’ smoking, indicating that addressing close network members might be the most effective in interventions [27]. In our study, parental smoking reported by adolescents increased all types of susceptibility when analysed independently. In the multivariate models, it did not have clear associations with S-SN and S-EC among girls.
The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website. The products available in Australia are often made up of many parts, from all over the world, which makes it difficult to assess the safety of the overall product. Most e-cigarettes available in retail stores have not been tested or approved by the TGA, which means their safety cannot be guaranteed. Children are exposed to e-cigarette advertising online and on TV, in magazines and billboards. Although it is illegal for e-cigarettes to be sold to youth under age 21, they can be ordered online. While flavors were nationally banned in 2019, this ban excludes mint and menthol flavors.
I can go for six months at a time without catching a nasty, lingering cough. My clothing doesn’t reek of smoke all of the time and my car actually smells nice. So, though they are far from perfect, I am enjoying the changes that not smoking cigarettes has brought to my life. "Since there is no safe tobacco product, eventual abstinence from all tobacco products is the end goal," says Dr. Hyland, who is senior author on the new work. Adults in the U.S. who used e-cigarettes daily and also smoked combustible cigarettes were more likely to quit smoking than those who smoked but used e-cigarettes less frequently. Justice announced the task force that they say will address the illegal domestic distribution and sale of electronic cigarettes.
In December 2019, the legislation was included in the federal year-end legislative package and passed by both houses of Congress. President Trump signed the bill into law on December 20, 2019 and it immediately took effect. This legislation, which applies to all states, raises the minimum age of sale for all tobacco products— including e-cigarette—to 21. We provide the facts about smoking, vaping, nicotine, and the tobacco industry. We engage individuals and groups to make change in their communities, innovate ways to end nicotine addiction, and join forces with collaborators committed to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all. That's hard to say — the potential health risks of vaping CBD are still hotly debated.
However, when they looked at other scenarios, such as bar settings where many people were vaping, the researchers found that the concentration of toxins in the air was generally much higher than in residential settings. The more people were vaping and the higher voltages were used, the worse the air quality. In some scenarios, levels of both formaldehyde and acrolein were above OEHHA safety standards for bar employees. This article explains the toxins found in vaping aerosol, the factors affecting secondhand vaping, and potential health effects. MARIE — The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan has partnered with Truth Initiative to offer a first-of-its-kind free and anonymous text message quit vaping program through the This is Quitting for teens and young adults.
Separate studies have shown that newer e-cigarettes may deliver higher doses of nicotine more efficiently, which could explain the recent findings. The investigators acknowledged that more frequent use of e-cigarettes may also reflect greater determination to quit smoking combustible cigarettes. They noted that their study did not evaluate the risks of youth e-cigarette use. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used commercial tobacco product among youth,1 so it is critical that public health officials and the general public understand the potential risks of using them.
All this evidence would suggest that e-cigarettes are potentially less harmful than conventional cigarettes (Fig. 2) [11, 14, 22, 24, 27,28,29]. Importantly, however, most of these studies have investigated only short-term effects [10, 14, 15, 22, 27,28,29, 31, 32], and the long-term effects of e-cigarette consumption on human health are still unclear and require further study. Vapes come in colorful, fun, and unique product designs, along with many flavors, all of which come together as part of the attraction for youth who believe that these products are not addictive and are safe to use. Many users believe vaping will reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.
It raises your blood pressure and spikes your adrenaline, which increases your heart rate and the likelihood of having a heart attack. E-cigarettes, Vapes and JUULs - What Schools Should Know Information on e-cigarettes, "vapes" and JUULs for schools to learn more about what they are, why kids use them and health risks. The Impact of E-Cigarettes on the Lung There's evolving evidence about the health risks and impact of e-cigarettes on the lungs. The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine concluded there is "substantial evidence" that if a youth or young adult uses an e-cigarette, they are at increased risk of using traditional cigarettes.
As with all rechargeable electrical devices, the correct charger should be used and the device should not be left charging unattended or overnight. There have been instances of e-cigarettes exploding or catching fire. A worldwide technology outage is causing disruption to some State of Illinois online systems.
Despite the general decline in smoking, it remains more prevalent among youth with lower socio-economic position (SEP). This has been observed with family-level SEP indicators, including parental education [3, 4] and family affluence [5]as well as individual-level indicators of adulthood SEP such as academic performance [4, 5] and vocational education [6–8]. For smokeless tobacco (snus) use and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, the associations with SEP have been mixed [7, 9, 10]. The scientists investigated the effect of the e-liquids on cells called endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels.
To be clear, I never even used to smoke during the day when I was using cigarettes. But if a project is particularly stressful (or just slightly vexatious, any excuse will do), my sleek little e-cig is just sitting in my bag at my feet. Like a never-ending pipe, you don’t know when you’ve had enough, when you’ve had a cigarette’s worth of nicotine. One quick puff to slay your stress can turn into one puff every few minutes, then whenever I get the slightest urge.
The main danger with a closed-system vape comes from the lithium-ion battery. If you try to charge it using an incompatible device, there's a small but real chance of a fire or explosion. If you're new to vaping, we'd suggest starting out with a disposable vape pen. Because these devices are pre-assembled and standardized, there's no need to worry about making a dangerous mistake with the power supply that causes overheating. There's no e-liquid at all in this device, just natural, food-grade flavor extracts. And third-party testing has confirmed that the E-Z contains no allergens, carcinogens, or toxins of any kind.
Fortunately, there has been a substantial drop in cases since they peaked in August and September of 2020. What’s more, researchers have also identified vitamin E acetate, a chemical added to some THC-containing vaping products, as the main—but possibly not the only—cause of the illness. The outbreak of EVALI cases emerged against a backdrop of an ongoing vaping epidemic among youth.
Among girls, only a higher proportion of never-users in the school remained protective for S-SM and S-EC. Among boys, the same was observed for S-EC, whereas a higher proportion of students with positive attitudes towards snus use in one’s age group increased S-SN. Interestingly, a higher proportion of students planning for general upper secondary education had lowered S-EC and S-SN in the univariate analyses but increased S-SM and S-SN in the multivariate models. This may reflect, for instance, more complex interactions between individual- and school-level factors influencing susceptibility among boys. In general, students with positive attitude towards product use in one’s age group and current use of some other tobacco or nicotine product had consistently higher susceptibility regardless of product type.
Read this paper by NCI’s Dr. Ned Sharpless and CRUK’s Dr. Iain Foulkes. Drug forums and e-liquid vendors were monitored by the researchers for e-liquids that "purportedly contained alternative pharmaceuticals." A clue in searching for e-liquids that contain illicit drugs is cost, the scientists said. Most nicotine e-liquids range from $5 to $10, while alternative drug e-liquids go for five to twenty times as much. In comparison to the general population, support for these measures varied greatly among people who currently used e‑cigarettes. The most supported measure was prohibiting the sale of e‑cigarettes to people under 18 years of age (67%), while the least supported measure was banning all additives in e‑cigarettes, to make them less attractive to young people (33%) (Figure 7).
With millions of teens and young adults using e-cigarettes, a new generation could become addicted to nicotine and face other health risks. For some adult smokers, e-cigarettes may offer a less harmful substitute for traditional cigarettes. However, long-term effects on users, second-hand exposure, and environmental effects are not yet fully known. The e-liquid typically contains humectants and flavourings, with or without nicotine; once vapourised by the atomiser, the aerosol (vapour) provides a sensation similar to tobacco smoking, but purportedly without harmful effects [3].
When studying tobacco cigarettes, researchers rely on smoking machines that simulate how frequently a typical smoker takes a puff and how much smoke is inhaled with each breath. No one has yet determined how much e-cig vapor the typical user breathes in, so different studies assume different amounts of vapor as their standard, making it difficult to compare their results. Tracing what happens to that vapor once it is inhaled is equally problematic.
Some products claiming to be nicotine-free (ENNDS) have been found to contain nicotine. Your doctor will begin his or her diagnosis by asking you about your use of e-cigarettes within the past three months and whether you vaped a product containing nicotine, THC, or both. During the physical exam, your doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to your lungs, check your heartrate, and measure your blood oxygen saturation using a pulse oximeter. A chest X-ray or computed tomography (CT) scan is usually necessary for diagnosis and will show hazy looking spots (called opacities) in the lungs. Your doctor may also order bloodwork to rule out other possible causes of your illness.
It can damage your heart, arteries, and lungs, increasing the risk for heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease. E-cigarettes recently surpassed conventional cigarettes as the most commonly used tobacco product among youth.1 It is critical that public health officials and the general public understand the potential risks of using them. The FDA recently approved its first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers. In contrast to the clear evidence that flavored products fueled the youth e-cigarette epidemic, every major U.S. public health authority – including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the CDC and even the FDA itself – has found there is inadequate evidence to conclude that e-cigarettes are effective at helping smokers quit. E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices used for a type of smoking called vaping.
Children and adults can develop nicotine poisoning from swallowing, breathing, or absorbing e-liquid through their skin or eyes. E-cigarette use can also result in serious injury due to defective batteries that have caused fires and explosions. Vaping and smoking both involve inhaling nicotine and other substances into the lungs. While cigarettes burn tobacco that produces smoke, e-cigarettes heat liquid to make an aerosol that often contains nicotine, various chemicals, heavy metals (nickel, tin, and lead) and small particles that can be inhaled deeply into the lungs.
E-cigarettes have become the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. and Iowa youth, and their popularity has risen dramatically over the past several years. According to the Iowa Youth Survey (IYS), Iowa 11th-graders were far more likely to use e-cigarettes compared to traditional cigarettes. They also reported increased likelihood in trying e-cigarettes and decreased quit success when compared to cigarettes.
But e-cigarettes haven't proved to be safer or more effective than nicotine-replacement medications in helping people stop smoking. He was a founding member of the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research. As a public health researcher, he has studied numerous issues related to nicotine use and policy, with some recent work focused on cigarette and e-cigarette use among adolescents and young adults. Lynn T. Kozlowski is an internationally recognized expert on tobacco use, e-cigarettes and nicotine policy. He can speak to the media about these issues, including trends in both smoking and vaping (including Juuling). Fears that e-cigarettes have made smoking seem normal again or even led to people taking up tobacco smoking are not so far being realised based on the evidence assessed by this important independent review.
This mixture is typically made up of propylene glycol and/or glycerol (vegetable glycerin) and other chemicals. Flavouring ingredients include chemicals and blends of chemicals used to make different flavours. Disposable e-cigarettes are not covered by the flavor restrictions imposed by the Food and Drug Administration.
Public health experts and tobacco researchers are trying to find out. Recycle your used vapes and pods for free with New Zealand’s first vape recycling programme. We have an exclusive range of our own brand e-liquids ideal for vapers to use all day, every day.
If you are not sure whether disposables are for you, these kits would be a great place to start. The leading disposable vape kits are Elf Bars, Lost Mary and Crystal Bar. Both come in a wide range of tastes to suit anyone looking to switch from smoking but also work well as a cheap back up kit for existing vapers. The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey shows a steep rise in e-cigarette use among students. This study was supported by funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the NIH and the FDA Center for Tobacco Products.
As with high school students, e-cigarette use was much more common than cigarette use. E-cigarettes come in many shapes and sizes and can also be called e-cigs, e-hookahs, vapes, vape pens, personal diffusers or diffuser sticks. But one vape can contain the equivalent of 50 cigarettes of nicotine in the one product. They also contain a complex combination of chemicals including nicotine, nickel, tin, arsenic, chlorine and lead. These substances can be harmful to the body, with different flavourings helping to mask these poisons when they are taken into the body. An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) is a battery-operated device that heats liquid nicotine, flavoring, and other additives to create an aerosol.
A 2018 study assessed the lung function of 10 people who had never smoked cigarettes immediately after vaping fluids, either with or without nicotine. However, the researchers concluded that, overall, vaping is thought to be less harmful to the heart than smoking cigarettes. However, they found that people who smoked conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes were more likely to have heart disease. In a recently published randomised trial of 886 subjects who were willing to quit smoking [100], the abstinence rate was found to be twice as high in the e-cigarette group than in the nicotine-replacement group (18.0% vs. 9.9%) after 1 year.
The FDA does not currently require testing of all the substances in e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe. It's also hard to know exactly what chemicals are in an e-cigarette because most products do not list all of the harmful or potentially harmful substances contained in them. E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, but many of them contain nicotine, which comes from tobacco. Because of this, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies them as "tobacco products." For adults who smoke, switching completely from cigarettes to e-cigarettes may reduce exposure to many harmful chemicals present in cigarettes. However, it is important that they switch completely from cigarettes to e-cigarettes to get the full health benefit.
One of the first studies in humans involved the analysis of 9 volunteers that consumed e-cigarettes, with or without nicotine, in a ventilated room for 2 h [8]. Pollutants in indoor air, exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and urinary metabolite profiles were analysed. The results of this acute experiment revealed that e-cigarettes are not emission-free, and ultrafine particles formed from propylene glycol (PG) could be detected in the lungs. In line with these observations, dysregulation of lung homeostasis has been documented in non-smokers subjected to acute inhalation of e-cigarette aerosols [10]. Globally, there is an ongoing debate about whether e-cigarettes are a threat or an opportunity to public health.
If you’re having trouble quitting e-cigarettes on your own, get help from your doctor or from other support services, such as your state quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) or the American Cancer Society (1-800-ACS-2345). Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are sometimes called e-cigs, vapes, vape pens, and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). Get the facts about e-cigarettes, their health effects, and the risks of vaping.
In fact, they are widely used as alimentary and pharmaceutical products [2]. In an analysis of 54 commercially available e-liquids, PG and glycerol were detected in almost all samples at concentrations ranging from 0.4% to 98% (average 57%) and from 0.3% to 95% (average 37%), respectively [35]. According to a 2018 study examining infrequent cannabis smoking in adults, vaping THC produced stronger mind-altering effects than smoking a similar amount of weed. However, nicotine alone is relatively harmless, and switching from daily tobacco smoking to daily e-cigarette use can be an important step for people to stop smoking completely. However, researchers found that only daily e-cigarette use had a statistically significant effect on smoking cessation rates. Research generally accepts that while vaping can harm the lungs and other bodily systems, its impact is much less than tobacco smoking.
"Vaping products containing nicotine are subject to federal laws that prohibit sales to people under the age of 21," said study co-author Sairam V. Jabba, D.V.M., Ph.D., a senior research scientist at Duke University School of Medicine. "Even with the current relatively low use of e-cigarettes among adults – 3.7 percent – health care costs are already substantial, and likely to increase in the future if youth continue to use this product," said Max. "Vaping products containing nicotine are subject to federal laws that prohibit sales to people under the age of 21," said study co-author Sairam V. Jabba, D.V.M., Ph.D., a senior research scientist at Duke University School of Medicine. The 2022–2023 NDSHS had a series of questions regarding policy measures designed to address e‑cigarette use. Support increased for all e‑cigarette policy options among the Australian population (Figure 6).
A 2016 report indicated that many vape fluids contain flavoring agents at concentrations that may pose risks to users. It carries the same health risks as vaping with any other e-cigarette brand. There’s limited evidence to date of the long-term effects of vaping because we know the lung effects of vaping will take decades to develop.
Most factory-made cigarettes are equipped with a filter; those who roll their own can buy them separately. Filters can reduce some substances from smoke but do not make cigarettes any safer to smoke. A recipe-specified combination of brightleaf, burley-leaf, and oriental-leaf tobacco is mixed with various additives to improve its flavors. Most commercially available cigarettes today contain tobacco that is treated with sugar to counter the harshness of the smoke. At the start of the 20th century, the per capita annual consumption in the U.S. was 54 cigarettes (with fewer than 0.5% of the population smoking more than 100 cigarettes per year), and consumption there peaked at 4,259 per capita in 1965. The authors wish to thank all adolescents and schools that participated in the SHP study in 2017, and the SHP study coordinators from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare who prepared the initial data and provided practical support with it.
Children 13–15-years old are using e-cigarettes at rates higher than adults in all WHO regions. In Canada, the rates of e-cigarette use among 16–19-year-olds has doubled between 2017–2022, and in England (the United Kingdom) the number of young users has tripled in the past three years. The Alabama Tobacco Quitline is a free telephone and online coaching service for any Alabamian who is ready to quit tobacco or e-cigarette use. A PDF is a digital representation of the print book, so while it can be loaded into most e-reader programs, it doesn't allow for resizable text or advanced, interactive functionality. The eBook is optimized for e-reader devices and apps, which means that it offers a much better digital reading experience than a PDF, including resizable text and interactive features (when available).
It can also reduce fertility, increase the chance of developing type 2 diabetes, and contribute to bone loss. Even people who "smoke but don’t inhale" face an increased risk of mouth cancer. By Robyn Correll, MPHCorrell holds a master of public health degree and has over a decade of experience working in the prevention of infectious diseases. Researchers spent decades studying the health consequences of secondhand smoke. It might be a while before we have a clear picture of how secondhand vaping can impact a person’s long-term health, especially for young children.
Experimenting with different ways of using vaping materials may be additionally risky. In addition, nicotine use can affect areas of a young person’s brain that are responsible for attention and learning. Primary spontaneous pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, occurs when there’s a hole in the lung through which oxygen escapes.
That’s about twice as many people as those who used other methods to quit smoking. Of people who used other methods, 91% kicked nicotine products altogether. People usually think vaping isn’t as bad as cigarette smoking, but the mist you breathe in still has nicotine and other harmful chemicals in it. Vaping isn’t safe and can cause health problems, including life-threatening lung injuries.
In 2019, four years after JUUL introduced a new nicotine delivery system coupled with a relentless online, youth-focused marketing campaign, more than a quarter (27.5%) of high school students reported using e-cigarettes. Short-term studies haven't found evidence that exposure to secondhand aerosol from e-cigarettes hurts lung function, with one notable exception. Researchers found that people who were around vaping aerosol showed increases in serum cotinine, which is a marker that someone was exposed to nicotine (an ingredient often found in e-cigarettes). Given the long list of health risks posed by nicotine, more research needs to be done on how this exposure could affect someone’s lungs long-term like it can with secondhand smoke. The significant reductions in smoking rates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and other countries that implemented strong tobacco control programs[according to whom?
Others can be refilled with liquid, recharged, and used over and over. Our Board of Health is a leader in protecting people from the dangers of e-cigarettes and vapor products. Vapes contain nicotine and other substances like THC that negatively affect brain development in youth. Nicotine is also highly addictive and can lead to smoking later in life. Vapes are electronic devices designed to deliver vapourised liquids into your lungs when you breathe in.
That figure is controversial and might be a little high, says Kenneth Warner, a tobacco policy researcher at the University of Michigan. But, he adds, "The worst critics of e-cigarettes would probably argue they're a half to two-thirds less dangerous. But from a practical view, they're probably on the order of 80% to 85% less dangerous, at least." A 2015 expert review from Public Health England estimated e-cigs are 95% less harmful than the real thing.
There are different types of e-cigarette, including vape pens, vape bars, pod devices, mods, and cigalikes. Strong decisive action is needed to prevent the uptake of e-cigarettes based on the growing body of evidence of use by children and adolescents and health harms. How a country approaches ENDS will depend on factors particular to its situation. In others they are regulated as consumer products, as pharmaceutical products, as tobacco products, in other categories or totally unregulated. Nicotine exposure in pregnant women can adversely affect the development of the fetus. Further, the consumption of nicotine in children and adolescents has negative impacts on brain development, leading to long-term consequences for brain development and potentially leading to learning and anxiety disorders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court took up an e-cigarette case Tuesday, weighing Food and Drug Administration decisions blocking the marketing of sweet flavored products amid a surge in vaping by young people. Despite not authorizing a single synthetic nicotine product, it has allowed these products – including e-cigarettes in kid-friendly flavors – to stay on the market well past the July 13 deadline. There is little research on the safety of vaping in pregnancy, but it's likely to be substantially less harmful for you and your baby than smoking. Unlike cigarettes, vapes do not produce carbon monoxide, which is very harmful to a developing baby in the womb. They also cause other serious illnesses, including lung disease, heart disease and stroke.
The flavored vape juice inside contains only vegetable glycerine and organic fruit extracts. That means it's free from all the harmful chemicals we mentioned above. It's a stripped-down, vegan-friendly, nicotine-free vaping experience. When I smoked cigarettes, I dealt with inconveniences due to my addiction. I would be forced to leave the company of my friends and family to go stand outdoors, like an outcast or lesser human, so that I could prevent myself from having a withdrawal meltdown.
When the human body breaks down a foreign substance, one can typically find chemical by-products in hair or urine that provide clues about how it has interacted with cells. This is true for nicotine, but in the case of propylene glycol, no one has established what the relevant by-product is or how to best detect it. Boston, MA – Diacetyl, a flavoring chemical linked to cases of severe respiratory disease, was found in more than 75% of flavored electronic cigarettes and refill liquids tested by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Two other potentially harmful related compounds were also found in many of the tested flavors, which included varieties with potential appeal to young people such as Cotton Candy, Fruit Squirts, and Cupcake. In conclusion, the prevalence of susceptibility among adolescents differs by product type. Liking school and academically oriented educational aspirations appear as consistent protective factors, while the use of other tobacco or nicotine products and positive attitudes towards product use in one’s age group appear as risk factors.
More research needs to be done to understand the long-term health effects of secondhand exposure to e-cigarette vapor. Secondhand exposure to e-cigarette vapor is said to be less toxic than secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke. However, secondhand vapor is still a form of air pollution that probably poses health risks. N.L.B. serves as a consultant to pharmaceutical companies that market or are developing smoking cessation medications, and has provided expert testimony in litigation against tobacco companies. N.A.R. consults with and has received a research grant from Achieve Life Sciences for development of a smoking cessation medication, and receives royalties from UpToDate (an online medical textbook) as author of sections on e-cigarettes.
These retail sales data briefs are intended to provide information about population trends in sales for participating retailers; they do not include online sales or vape store sales and cannot be used to make conclusions about subgroup purchasing or behaviors. These estimates are based on the information available at the time of publication and may be subject to updates as more information becomes available. The nicotine in e-liquids is readily absorbed from the lungs into the bloodstream when a person vapes an e-cigarette.
Truth Initiative forcefully rejects, however, the notion that this requires the further development of a huge commercial market in addictive nicotine products focused on growth and the acquisition of new users, most of whom are youth and young adults. Because the youth e-cigarette crisis in the United States and the youth appeal of flavored e-cigarettes go hand in hand, Truth Initiative strongly supports removing all flavored e-cigarettes from the market, regardless of device type. Based on the evidence already collected, the question shouldn’t be whether e-cigarettes are less dangerous than cigarettes, Christiani says, but whether vaping can be very harmful to health too. "To protect public health, I discourage the use of vaping—even to quit smoking," he stresses.
In addition, the VITA only heats its vape liquid to about 240 degrees Fahrenheit. That's much lower than many other kinds of vapes, so it won't be as rough on your lungs. LUVV also says their products are tested to "safeguard against" harmful byproducts of heating metal and vape fluid. They don't provide much detail to support this claim, though, so take it with a grain of salt. Like HELO, LUVV vapes are free of diacetyl, vitamin E acetate, and nicotine.
In the case of the enzymatic reaction, the two substrates (reactants) are again acetic ester and H2O, the two products of the reaction are alcohol and acetate. Once the acetate group is removed from the cellulose chain, the polymer can be readily degraded by cellulase, which is another enzyme found in fungi, bacteria, and protozoans. Cellulases break down the cellulose molecule into monosaccharides ("simple sugars") such as beta-glucose, or shorter polysaccharides and oligosaccharides. Discarded cigarette filters usually end up in the water system through drainage ditches and are transported by rivers and other waterways to the ocean.
Probably the worst thing
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