Vaping and Health: What Do We Know About E-Cigarettes?
Vaping and Health: What Do We Know About E-Cigarettes?
Against a backdrop of increasing awareness of the health dangers of cigarettes and legal crackdowns on public smoking, Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik first developed an electronic alternative to traditional cigarettes in 2003. E-cigarettes entered the U.S. market in 2007.
The devices come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all are variations on the same general theme: A heating element at one end aerosolizes a liquid nicotine solution, and the vapor is inhaled through a mouthpiece. "We see e-cigarettes as a single group of products, but there are hundreds of brands and many different generations and models," Goniewicz says. "There are also huge variations in how people use these products."
(Enlarge Image)
Although manufacturers offer many different designs of e-cigarettes, all involve the same basic concept: A heating element at one end aerosolizes a liquid nicotine solution, and the vapor is inhaled through a mouthpiece. © AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
E-cigarettes were originally sold almost exclusively online and were not covered by existing tobacco regulations. At first, their popularity grew slowly, as small numbers of smokers turned to them to replace or supplement their tobacco smoking habit. As companies such as Reynolds American and Lorillard began showing interest in the devices, advertising increased, and the products moved into brick-and-mortar stores. In a short time, e-cigarettes' unconfirmed reputation as a smoking-cessation aid and a "healthy" alternative to cigarette smoking has widely increased their popularity.
(Enlarge Image)
Unlike tobacco products, e-cigarettes are not age-restricted. Use among youth approximately doubled between 2011 and 2012, by which time an estimated 1.78 million students in grades 6–12 had tried the devices, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. © Phanie/Alamy.
Manufacturers can make the nicotine solution flavorless, but many companies add flavors, ranging from the sophisticated (mint chocolate truffle and whiskey) to the baldly juvenile (bubble gum, gummy bears, and cotton candy). A congressional report from spring 2014 accused e-cigarette manufacturers of using these flavors to appeal to youth, a marketing strategy that is prohibited for tobacco cigarettes because it is so effective at attracting young users. In contrast to tobacco products, e-cigarette sales are not age-restricted, and in 2012 an estimated 1.78 million students in grades 6–12 had tried the devices.
(Enlarge Image)
E-liquids come in hundreds of varieties, many with names and flavors that appear to target youth. Flavors besides menthol are banned from use in conventional cigarettes because they are so effective at easing children into tobacco use. © AP Photo/Reed Saxon.
Increases in "vaping" (as e-cigarette users call their habit) have not been matched by available knowledge about the physiological effects of the practice. And when investigators tried to quantify exposures in e-cigarette users, they rapidly ran into trouble, says tobacco researcher Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco.
For one thing, each manufacturer of e-cigarettes has a different design for the device and e-liquid, which alters how much of the vapor and its chemical load is inhaled with each puff. An individual's unique vaping behaviors also help determine how much they inhale. The labels on refill cartridges don't always accurately reflect the amount of nicotine found in the e-liquid, nor does the amount of nicotine found in the liquid appear to correlate with the amount of nicotine found in the vapor.
A Boom in Popularity
Against a backdrop of increasing awareness of the health dangers of cigarettes and legal crackdowns on public smoking, Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik first developed an electronic alternative to traditional cigarettes in 2003. E-cigarettes entered the U.S. market in 2007.
The devices come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but all are variations on the same general theme: A heating element at one end aerosolizes a liquid nicotine solution, and the vapor is inhaled through a mouthpiece. "We see e-cigarettes as a single group of products, but there are hundreds of brands and many different generations and models," Goniewicz says. "There are also huge variations in how people use these products."
(Enlarge Image)
Although manufacturers offer many different designs of e-cigarettes, all involve the same basic concept: A heating element at one end aerosolizes a liquid nicotine solution, and the vapor is inhaled through a mouthpiece. © AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
E-cigarettes were originally sold almost exclusively online and were not covered by existing tobacco regulations. At first, their popularity grew slowly, as small numbers of smokers turned to them to replace or supplement their tobacco smoking habit. As companies such as Reynolds American and Lorillard began showing interest in the devices, advertising increased, and the products moved into brick-and-mortar stores. In a short time, e-cigarettes' unconfirmed reputation as a smoking-cessation aid and a "healthy" alternative to cigarette smoking has widely increased their popularity.
(Enlarge Image)
Unlike tobacco products, e-cigarettes are not age-restricted. Use among youth approximately doubled between 2011 and 2012, by which time an estimated 1.78 million students in grades 6–12 had tried the devices, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. © Phanie/Alamy.
Manufacturers can make the nicotine solution flavorless, but many companies add flavors, ranging from the sophisticated (mint chocolate truffle and whiskey) to the baldly juvenile (bubble gum, gummy bears, and cotton candy). A congressional report from spring 2014 accused e-cigarette manufacturers of using these flavors to appeal to youth, a marketing strategy that is prohibited for tobacco cigarettes because it is so effective at attracting young users. In contrast to tobacco products, e-cigarette sales are not age-restricted, and in 2012 an estimated 1.78 million students in grades 6–12 had tried the devices.
(Enlarge Image)
E-liquids come in hundreds of varieties, many with names and flavors that appear to target youth. Flavors besides menthol are banned from use in conventional cigarettes because they are so effective at easing children into tobacco use. © AP Photo/Reed Saxon.
Increases in "vaping" (as e-cigarette users call their habit) have not been matched by available knowledge about the physiological effects of the practice. And when investigators tried to quantify exposures in e-cigarette users, they rapidly ran into trouble, says tobacco researcher Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco.
For one thing, each manufacturer of e-cigarettes has a different design for the device and e-liquid, which alters how much of the vapor and its chemical load is inhaled with each puff. An individual's unique vaping behaviors also help determine how much they inhale. The labels on refill cartridges don't always accurately reflect the amount of nicotine found in the e-liquid, nor does the amount of nicotine found in the liquid appear to correlate with the amount of nicotine found in the vapor.
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