WEBVTT - Are E-Cigarette Liquids Safe? 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:07.160 Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff, 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.320 Lauren vocal bomb here. Even if you're not a tobacco user, 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.680 you're probably familiar with the cigarettes from their aggressive marketing 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:18.200 campaigns and popularity with former smokers. They're the electronic battery 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.160 powered devices that heat a fluid a k A. Liquid 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.479 or vape juice to create an aerosol that's inhaled in 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.200 place of the smoke that conventional cigarettes produced by burning 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:31.240 tobacco leaves. These fluids can contain any number of compounds 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.720 to create the puffs of aerosol, their flavors, and their effects, 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.839 including nicotine, the active ingredient in tobacco. E cigarettes are 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.080 rising in popularity, with ten point eight million adult users 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.720 in the US as of Part of the attraction maybe 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.080 that they're perceived as being less hazards to the health 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.839 than conventional smoking, since users don't receive the cancer causing 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.480 tar found in conventional cigarettes. Add to that the allure 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.120 of the sweet tasting flavorings available for addition to the 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.760 E liquid, and people such as US Food and Drug 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.400 Administration Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb worry it may be all 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.479 too appealing to youthful users, but that pleasant taste may 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.560 have a downside, researchers say. In a study published in 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.760 October eighteen in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, scientists 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:20.440 from Duke and Yale Universities found that chemical flavorings for vanilla, cherry, citrus, 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.080 and cinnamon interacted with solvents such as propylene glycol and 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:28.400 glycerol in the E liquid, forming new compounds called acetols, 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.200 which can trigger irritation and inflammation when inhaled. According to 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.520 the Duke Medicine press release, the interaction occurs even before 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.119 the liquid is heated. We spoke with Hannah A. Wreath Repel, 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.600 a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Tobacco Center of Regulatory 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.479 Science and a co author of the study. He said, 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.920 we simply don't know what long term effects these compounds 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.840 and many other compounds in E cigrette liquid have on 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.880 the airways. Many of the additives to E liquids have 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.520 g R A S status, which means generally regarded as safe, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:00.919 but that's based on in jest gin and on dermal 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.160 or skin exposure. There isn't much knowledge about what these 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:07.160 compounds might do in the airways and lungs, and that's 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.600 true for all vapors, young and old earth. Repel added 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.840 that scientists already know that further reactions take place during 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.680 the heating step of vaping. All of this means that 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.480 the initial list of ingredients for a liquid quote is 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.800 likely different from the final e liquid composition, which in 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.160 turn is different from what the user is exposed to 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.920 in the generated aerosol. How that might affect vapors bodies 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.840 isn't yet clear, but the researchers say that the irritant 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.640 compounds will persist in the body for some time after 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.440 a user vapes. Over time, that mild irritation could trigger 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.639 the immune system and create an inflammatory response in your body, 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.360 which isn't a good thing for anyone, but especially for 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.919 users with conditions like asthma and a breath. Repel notes 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.960 that the researchers have other concerns as well. He said, 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.680 if this reaction can take place that creates a more 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.960 irritating compound or possibly more toxic, what other reactions can 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.000 take place that might cause increased risk for users? We 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.720 simply don't know. I would add that long term effects 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.000 of vaping on the airways and the whole body are 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.840 generally unknown given how young these devices are, independent of 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.880 the final composition of the liquid, but the fact that 0:03:12.919 --> 0:03:16.600 these more irritating compounds form is certainly not reassuring in 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.720 that regard. We also spoke via email with Robert Strongen, 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.040 a professor of organic chemistry at Portland State University who 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.960 was not connected with the Duke Yale study. He said 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.400 that just as users aren't aware of these new chemicals 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:33.040 being created an e liquid, scientists similarly don't know much 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.200 about the effect of those chemicals on the body. Quote, 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.440 we know very little or nothing about the flavoring additives 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:41.680 or even much about the solvents as far as their 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.400 inhalation toxicity, especially as chronically used in e cigarettes. A 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.160 chemical safer ingestion are not necessarily safe for inhalation inhaled 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.160 organic solvents and flavorings bypass processing by these stomach and 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.480 liver lung tissue is different. Just because we can eat 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.280 flavor molecules doesn't mean at all that it's okay to 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.680 inhale them. Earth Repel says that more research is needed 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.440 on the chemical changes in e liquids and what health 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.480 effects they may have, which will be a challenge seeing 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.280 as how, there are an estimated seven thousand flavors or 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.480 more on the market right now, and that market is growing. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.400 Today's episode was written by Patrick J. Kaiger and produced 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.479 by Tyler Playing. For more on this and lots of 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.159 other health topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:40.880 dot com.