08/11/2014
Va**ng, by it's very nature, is a harm-reduction practice to reduce or eliminate lighted to***co use among smokers. Many people have found merit in this practice, and have ceased to smoke lighted to***co altogether. It is widely regarded to be at least thousands of times safer than lighted to***co ci******es, to both its practitioners and the public at large.
Va**ng, by definition, is the use of a battery-powered device to v***rize and inhale a liquid, either ni****ne-added or ni****ne-free, specifically formulated for use in these devices. The exhaled v***r contains water particles, moderate amounts of the FDA-approved compounds propylene glycol, food-grade flavoring, and vegetable glycerin. Exhaled v***r may contain trace amounts of ni****ne if contained in the origin liquid, but air quality modeling studies have been conducted that show those levels are negligible for purposes of claiming 'second-hand ni****ne' at 8 micrograms per cubic meter per vaper inside a two-meter range in experiments for workplace exposure inside a closed office. The OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit is .5 milligrams per cubic meter. A quick conversion shows the allowable limit figure to be 500 micrograms per cubic meter for eight hours to be the safe range.
The research of Dr. Igor Burstyn in his study dated July-August of 2013, 'Peering Through the Mist', we have a few key conclusions :
• Even when compared to workplace standards for involuntary exposures, and using several conservative (erring on the side of caution) assumptions, the exposures from using e-ci******es fall well below the threshold for concern for compounds with known toxicity. That is, even ignoring the benefits of e-cigarette use and the fact that the exposure is actively chosen, and even comparing to the levels that are considered unacceptable to people who are not benefiting from the exposure and do not want it, the exposures would not generate concern or call for remedial action.
• Expressed concerns about ni****ne only apply to va**rs who do not wish to consume it; a voluntary (indeed, intentional) exposure is very different from a contaminant.
• There is no serious concern about the contaminants such as volatile organic compounds (formaldehyde, acrolein, etc.) in the liquid or produced by heating. While these contaminants are present, they have been detected at problematic levels only in a few studies that apparently were based on unrealistic levels of heating.
• The frequently stated concern about contamination of the liquid by a nontrivial quantity of ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol remains based on a single sample of an early technology product (and even this did not rise to the level of health concern) and has not been replicated.
• To***co-specific nitrosamines (TSNA) are present in trace quantities and pose no more (likely much less) threat to health than TSNAs from modern smokeless to***co products, which cause no measurable risk for cancer.
• Contamination by metals is shown to be at similarly trivial levels that pose no health risk, and the alarmist claims about such contamination are based on unrealistic assumptions about the molecular form of these elements.
• The existing literature tends to overestimate the exposures and exaggerate their implications. This is partially due to rhetoric, but also results from technical features. The most important is confusion of the concentration in aerosol, which on its own tells us little about risk to heath, with the relevant and much smaller total exposure
to compounds in the aerosol averaged across all air inhaled in the course of a day. There is also clear bias in previous reports in favor of isolated instances of highest level of chemical detected across multiple studies, such that average exposure that can be calculated are higher than true value because they are “missing” all true zeros.
As you can see, research has been done. Many studies have been performed and have come to the same or similar conclusions. Va**ng cannot, in any terms other than the actions that make it so effective a smoking cessation tool, be associated with the consumption of lighted to***co ci******es. There are few, if any, ‘unknowns’ in regards to this.
