E-cigarettes: looks like the “E” stands for “Eek! Cancer!”

The US FDA has been testing some electronic cigarettes. It seems they’re aren’t the safe alternative to real cigarettes they claim to be.

Specifically, DPA’s analysis of the electronic cigarette cartridges from the two leading brands revealed the following:

  • Diethylene glycol was detected in one cartridge at approximately 1%. Diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze, is toxic to humans.
  • Certain tobacco-specific nitrosamines which are human carcinogens were detected in half of the samples tested.
  • Tobacco-specific impurities suspected of being harmful to humans—anabasine, myosmine, and β-nicotyrine—were detected in a majority of the samples tested.
  • The electronic cigarette cartridges that were labeled as containing no nicotine had low levels of nicotine present in all cartridges tested, except one.
  • Three different electronic cigarette cartridges with the same label were tested and each cartridge emitted a markedly different amount of nicotine with each puff. The nicotine levels per puff ranged from 26.8 to 43.2 mcg nicotine/100 mL puff.
  • One high-nicotine cartridge delivered twice as much nicotine to users when the vapor from that electronic cigarette brand was inhaled than was delivered by a sample of the nicotine inhalation product (used as a control) approved by FDA for use as a smoking cessation aid.

(Via Techradar)


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