Do e-cigarettes do more than you thought? Thousands of unknown substances have been detected in their vapors

A first-of-its-kind study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found thousands of unknown chemicals in e-cigarette fluids and the aerosol that e-cigarettes produce. Scientists have detected a huge range of unidentified chemicals and a handful of known and potentially harmful compounds. Unfortunately, once again you can see that e-cigarettes are not as good an alternative to classic cigarettes as you might think.

"Existing studies that have compared e-cigarettes to regular cigarettes have shown that cigarette contamination occurs in e-cigarettes in much smaller amounts," explained one of the authors of the paper, Carsten Prasse. “The problem is that e-cigarette aerosols contain other, completely uncharacterized chemicals that can pose a health hazard that we don't know about yet. More and more young people are using e-cigarettes. These people need to know what they are being exposed to. "

Lurking risk

The Johns Hopkins University study is the first to conduct a thorough, non-targeted analysis of all potential compounds present in so-called e-cigarette liquids and vapors using high-resolution liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry methods. Researchers tested four popular tobacco flavored e-cigarette liquids and their vapors generated by four common types of e-cigarettes.

During the research, almost 2,000 different chemical compounds were detected, most of which could not be identified. The remainder, the compounds identified, included, inter alia, six potentially harmful substances. Two are aromas associated with respiratory tract irritation, the other three are industrial chemicals, one is a pesticide, and the last is… caffeine.

Mina Tehrani, the lead author of the study, notes that as many as two of the four fluids tested contained caffeine. It is known that trace amounts of caffeine are included in coffee or chocolate-flavored liquids, but only tobacco liquids have been tested. So the scholars were surprised by the discovery.

Another unexpected discovery was the presence of condensed hydrocarbon-like compounds in the vapors of liquids. These compounds are usually produced during a combustion process that does not occur in e-cigarettes.

Harmful marketing

The new study, of course, is not the first to find potentially dangerous substances in e-liquids. However, keep in mind that this particular test, like many others, was designed to detect any traces of chemicals. They did not check whether these chemicals actually do any harm when using e-cigarettes and whether they are present in doses sufficient to cause harm.

On the other hand, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have shown how little we know about the liquids used in e-cigarettes. Therefore, they believe that e-cigarettes should not be considered a "healthy" alternative to classic cigarettes, and this is how they are often advertised.

“People just need to know that when they vape, they are inhaling a very complex mixture of chemicals. With many of these compounds, we don't even know what they really are, ”said Carsten Prasse. “Map, the problem is that vaping is advertised as healthier than smoking. In my opinion, it's just too early to be able to say something like that. "