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Heat not burn e cig9/12/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() In 2015, Rule received a grant from the state of Maryland with funds from the Cigarette Restitution Fund to study 58 adults who regularly use e-cigarettes, obtaining urine, saliva and exhaled breath samples, along with samples of the vapor produced by their devices. What’s more, many e-cigarettes are manufactured overseas, where regulations and oversight may be more lax than in the U.S. A number of metals can be used to create the alloys and solder used in the various parts of the metallic coil, although the most popular coils use nickel and chromium. ![]() The heating coil could leach metals into the liquid that is vaporized and inhaled. ![]() To Rule, that sparked an immediate concern. In 2013, she was in the process of measuring the tiny particles inhaled by users of hookahs and water pipes when a colleague asked her, “Did you know many e-cigarettes use a metal coil to heat the liquid?” In her time at the School, Rule had built two labs: one to measure nicotine in cigarette smoke, and one to measure heavy metals. Rule’s background in environmental engineering and air pollution assessments, however, gave her an advantage. Nor is it clear exactly what types of problems researchers should look for. E-cigarettes have been around for only 15 years, and it takes at least 20 years of regular use for many chronic health problems to appear, Rule says. More than four centuries passed between the global spread of tobacco by Europeans and the definitive research showing that smoking causes cancer and other health problems. “They are likely safer than continuing to smoke combustible cigarettes, but without the long-term studies, we just don’t know,” says Joanna Cohen, PhD, MHSc, Bloomberg Professor of Disease Prevention and IGTC director. Cartridges of refill liquid can contain high concentrations of nicotine, the rough equivalent to a pack of cigarettes for some products. The multitude of flavored e-liquids-from grape to vanilla to coffee-are especially appealing to young taste buds. The devices are especially popular with two different groups: smokers trying to quit and young people who have never used conventional cigarettes. Market projections estimate that the global e-cigarette market will be worth upward of $44 billion by 2024. By 2015, that number had soared to $3.2 billion. Within just a few years, their popularity boomed, thanks to what Kennedy calls “clever, effective advertisements” and celebrity placements. By 2006, e-cigarettes had arrived in Europe and the U.S. In 2003, Chinese inventor Hon Lik filed a patent on the first modern electronic cigarette, which acquired the nickname “cig-alike” due to its superficial resemblance to the real thing. This and other research is creating a more nuanced picture of the potential hazards of vaping that will influence how the FDA decides to regulate e-cigarettes. Recent work by Rule and other scientists published in Environmental Health Perspectivesin February found high levels of heavy metals in many e-cigarette aerosols, including arsenic and cadmium in some of the samples. Even if vaping proves safer than smoking, that’s still a long way from a gold stamp for their safety, according to Ana María Rule, PhD ’05, MHS ’98, an assistant professor in Environmental Health and Engineering. Dangers ranging from flavorings in the e-liquids to metals in the heating coil may cause long-term health effects. But a recent spate of studies reveals that vaping may not be as safe as many public health officials hoped. and Europe have begun to think of e-cigarettes as a way to reduce the harms from cigarette smoking. Early advertisements touted e-cigarettes as a safe alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes because they didn’t expose users to harmful combustion byproducts. Ranging from cigarette look-alikes to sleek, USB-rechargeable devices, e-cigarettes all heat a liquid to create an aerosol or vapor that users inhale. “When we first started tracking e-cigarettes in 2008, we saw no uptake, no uptake, no uptake … then there was this huge jump and they suddenly were everywhere,” says Ryan Kennedy, PhD, an assistant professor in Health, Behavior and Society and a faculty member in the Institute for Global Tobacco Control.įor public health scientists, this has meant embarking on a quest to understand the potential health risks associated with vaping in order to inform both e-cigarette users and policymakers. As many as one in four teens have tried e-cigarettes, and children as young as 12 are now more likely to vape than they are to smoke. Nowhere was their popularity more swift-and alarming-than with young people. Their selection reflected the sudden stratospheric popularity of electronic cigarettes, with readers 30 times more likely to encounter vape in news media that year than they were just two years before. In 2014, Oxford Dictionaries selected vape as their word of the year. ![]()
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