MONDAY, Feb. 26, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- If you think that "vaping" is a safe alternative to smoking, new research suggests you might be inadvertently inhaling unsafe levels of toxic metals.
Are heavy metals in vapes bad for You?
No. Heavy Metals in Vapes?! No. Have you been listening to the media lately and have concerns over heavy metals in your vape? Well you should be! We should all be concerned about things related to our health. This is why we wanted to show you some of the information the media is not giving you because it doesn’t drive traffic their way.
Do vaping coils leach toxic metals into eliquid?
You may have read, sometime last week, about vaping coils leaching toxic metals into eliquid. It was pretty big news in certain circles, and everyone from The Sun to Mashable decided to run with the story. And why wouldn’t they? It’s an easy story to write and it’s ostensibly for the public good.
Can we measure metals in vape tanks?
The authors were aware of previous studies that measured metals in closed system, cigalike-style products, and wanted to instead test for metals in vape tanks, which are the most common products used by regular vapers.
Is it safe to vape with a heating coil?
MRI scans show that her lungs still contain signs of scarring, the researchers reported. It would be "very difficult" to create a safe e-cigarette if the heating coil proves to be the culprit, Rutland said. "If you're going to use a metal coil to heat up the liquid, it would be tough to make a safe vaping device," Rutland said.
Do you inhale metals when you vape?
Further, the metal levels in the aerosols that users inhale tend to be higher than those in the liquids. Studies of samples from users, including blood and urine, showed that e-cigarettes are a source of exposure to a large list of metals, including lead and arsenic.
What do you inhale when you vape?
E-cigarettes, aka JUULs and vape pens, use a battery to heat up a special liquid into an aerosol that users inhale. It's not just harmless water vapor. The "e-juice" that fills the cartridges usually contains nicotine (which is extracted from tobacco), propylene glycol, flavorings and other chemicals.
How does vaping make you inhale metal?
Vaporisers use heating coils made of metals such as titanium, nickel, kanthal (iron-chromium-aluminium), nichrome (nickel-chromium with trace iron, copper, titanium, aluminum and others) and stainless steel. When the coil is heated, some metal is released into the surrounding e-liquid and then into the aerosol.
Does vape contain heavy metals?
In addition to various doses of nicotine and heavy metals, vaping liquid can also contain flavorants such as ethyl maltol, an artificial sweetener that tastes like cotton candy.
What are 5 negative effects of vaping?
The most commonly-reported adverse effects were throat/mouth irritation, headache, cough, and nausea, which tended to dissipate with continued use....Coughing, dry throat, headachescoughing.dry mouth and throat.shortness of breath.mouth and throat irritation.headaches.
Can your lungs heal from vaping?
Breathing in the harmful chemicals from vaping products can cause irreversible (cannot be cured) lung damage, lung disease and, in some cases, death. Some chemicals in vaping products can also cause cardiovascular disease and biological changes that are associated with cancer development.
Which is worse vaping or smoking?
1: Vaping is less harmful than smoking, but it's still not safe. E-cigarettes heat nicotine (extracted from tobacco), flavorings and other chemicals to create an aerosol that you inhale. Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic.
Can vaping cause metal toxicity?
The Dangers of Vaping. Smoking e-cigarettes has been proven to be equally as detrimental as traditional cigarettes, if not even more dangerous. Vaping can lead to heavy metal poisoning and similar issues found in cigarette smokers.
How safe is vaping?
Other health risks of vaping Nicotine is highly addictive and can affect the developing brain, potentially harming teens and young adults. Even some "nicotine-free" e-cigarettes have been found to contain nicotine. Some substances found in e-cigarette vapor have been linked to an increased risk of cancer.
What toxins are in vape?
Besides nicotine, e-cigarettes can contain harmful and potentially harmful ingredients, including:ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs.flavorants such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to serious lung disease.volatile organic compounds.heavy metals, such as nickel, tin, and lead.
What metals are in vape juice?
Continued. The team found that e-liquid exposed to heating coils produced a vapor containing significant amounts of chromium, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc.
What happens when you mix vape liquids?
A study published this week found unexpected new chemical combinations in vape liquids that appear to activate cellular irritant receptors. "Once the components are mixed there are chemical reactions happening that form new compounds with completely unknown toxicity," said Sven Jordt, a biochemist at Duke University School of Medicine. ...
Do e-cigarettes contain aldehydes?
Some of the e-cigarette flavours can contain aldehydes. That interested Jordt's team, because aldehydes are one of the main irritants in smoke, causing coughing and inflammation. In their study, they looked at vanilla, cherry and cinnamon flavours.
Is big vape coming to Canada?
Big Vape comes to Canada and the effects won't be known for decades. With the popularity of Juul and other trendy vaping products, researchers are becoming more interested in the effects of long-term exposure to the more than 7,000 flavouring chemicals used in vaping liquids on young lungs. "There is a big wave of users now coming up ...
What metals are in e-cigarettes?
Studies of samples from users, including blood and urine, showed that e-cigarettes are a source of exposure to a large list of metals, including lead and arsenic. With the exception of cadmium, e-cigarette users had more of all metals studied in their bodily fluids than smokers did.
Is a coil a metal?
The coil itself is a metal source; so are solders inside the liquid reservoir. Several of the studies show that total metal levels rise after the liquid in these devices gets heated, lending support to the theory that the heating process is what releases the elements.
Is vaping harmful?
Credit: Shutterstock. E-cigarette liquids and vapors contain metals and metalloids at levels likely to be harmful to people’s health, and people who vape have higher levels of these elements in their blood and other bodily fluids than cigarette and cigar smokers do, ...
What did they find? And what did they say they found?
The authors were aware of previous studies that measured metals in closed system, cigalike-style products, and wanted to instead test for metals in vape tanks, which are the most common products used by regular vapers.
Why would vapers help with this study?
How did they find vapers willing to help with their research? Simple.
What is the coil used for when vaping?
Dr. Cedric Rutland, a national spokesman for the American Lung Association, believes this second explanation is more likely. "When you're vaping, you're using a coil to heat up a liquid to make it become a vapor," Rutland said. "That coil is usually metal.
What is the disease called when you inhale metal dust?
The disease, called hard-metal pneumoconiosis or "cobalt lung," usually occurs when people inhale mineral dusts caused by metal grinding, said senior researcher Dr. Kirk Jones, a pathologist with the University of California, San Francisco.
What did Kirk and his colleagues see in people exposed to metal dust?
Microscopic examination of biopsied lung tissue revealed abnormally large cells containing multiple nuclei, something that Kirk and his colleagues had only seen in people exposed to metal dust on the job. "The only reason we recognized it is because it has such an unusual appearance under the microscope," Kirk said.
How many chemicals are in cigarette smoke?
Please keep in mind that cigarette smoke contains a cocktail of more than 7000 toxic chemicals with more than 40 recognized carcinogenic substances and focusing on trace levels of metals does not create significant health advantage, but only alarmist headlines.
Is it toxic to touch and smell?
But everything we touch, see, and smell is made up of chemicals, and anything reduced to its chemical name can sound sinister when presented to people who are unfamiliar with chemistry. Unless you are exposed to large doses of these metals they are not considered toxic even by the wonderful FDA.
Is e-cigarettes harmful?
Richard Palosa answered by saying: They should not. Current findings indicate that e-cigarettes are by far less harmful than tobacco cigarettes. First, levels of metals found in these studies are well below the maximum permissible daily exposure from inhalational medications according to the US Pharmacopeia.
What does the study say?
The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins University in the United States and measured the vaping devices of 56 everyday vapers.
Health risks
A lot of the discussion around the study concerns itself with the level of harm that these toxic metals pose to humans. A press release issued with the study claimed that such levels “approached or exceeded safe limits,” a claim that subsequent reporting seemed eager to pick up on.
Where the news falls short
The trouble starts when we apply standard limits for ambient air to e-cigarette vapour. Because anyone who’s ever vaped, seen someone vaping, or heard of vaping, knows that vape users don’t breathe eliquid vapour exclusively (hopefully).
A few grains of salt
Remember the PHE study from earlier this year? Where they suggested putting vaping on the NHS? That study claimed that vaping was 95% less dangerous than smoking traditional tobacco.
Looking forward
With further study and as vaping grows in popularity, we can chip away at that 5%. Toxic metals in e-cigarette vapour, at any concentration, aren’t ideal; and with the release of this study it’s likely that we’ll see more innovation going into ceramic coils and safer alloys. So the vaping industry is moving forward thanks to studies like this.
What is a vape pen?
With vaping, a device (typically a vape pen or a mod — an enhanced vape pen — that may look like a flash drive) heats up a liquid ( called vape juice or e -liquid) until it turns into a vapor that you inhale. “Vaping is a delivery system similar to a nebulizer, which people with asthma or other lung conditions may be familiar with,” says Broderick. ...
What happens if you inhale diacetyl?
Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult. Popcorn lung has no lasting treatment. There are, however, treatments that manage BO symptoms, such as: 1 Coughing 2 Wheezing 3 Chest pain 4 Shortness of breath
Is second hand vapor safe?
Secondhand Vapor Isn’t Safe Either. It’s a myth that secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes are harmless. Many people think the secondhand vapor is just water, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The vapor emitted when someone exhales contains a variety of dangerous substances, which may include: Nicotine.
Is it safe to take vitamin E?
And, while it’s safe when taken orally as a supplement or used on the skin, it’s likely an irritant when inhaled. It’s been found in the lungs of people with severe, vaping-related damage.
Does e-liquid damage the lungs?
Other common substances found in e-liquid or produced when it’s heated up may also pose a risk to the lungs. These include: Diacetyl: This food additive, used to deepen e-cigarette flavors, is known to damage small passageways in the lungs.
Does vaping affect the lungs?
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.