Editor's Note: There is a concerted effort by Big Tobacco to destroy the vaping industry. Be cautious of findings from studies that may have financial ties to Big Tobacco. Vaping is safer than smoking, since aerosolized liquids do not contain the carcinogenic smoke produced by the burning of plant material. Be skeptical of all studies that claim toxins are found in vaping liquids, especially when those studies refuse to report the concentrations found. They might simply be a few parts per trillion, which is no health risk at all.
In the study, researchers looked at the liquid that generates the aerosol that e-cigarette users inhale. They did this for five brands of e-cigarettes and found that all of the brands contained all the heavy metals they studied. Those metals were cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese and nickel. Those toxic heavy metals may be carcinogenic when they are inhaled. The amounts of those heavy metals found in the e-cigarettes varied from one brand to another.
The Johns Hopkins study results were published in the January issue of Environmental Research.
Ana Maria Rule, Ph.D., MHS, the lead researcher for the study, had this to say:
"We do not know if these levels are dangerous, but their presence is troubling and could mean that the metals end up in the aerosol that e-cigarette users inhale…One of the things that is troubling is that the metals in e-cigarette coils, which heat the liquid that creates the aerosol, are toxic when inhaled, so perhaps regulators might want to look into an alternative material for e-cigarette heating coils…It was striking, the varying degrees to which the metals were present in the liquid. This suggests that the FDA should consider regulating the quality control of e-cigarette devices along with the ingredients found in e-cigarette liquids."
The FDA just began regulating e-cigarettes in 2016. Per their regulations, every e-cigarette maker is required to submit a list of the ingredients in each e-cigarette product. They also must provide a listing of any ingredients in the product that could be harmful.
As if that terrible concoction of heavy metals were not toxic enough, e-cigarettes also contain other unhealthy ingredients, such as propylene glycol, nicotine and flavorings. Those are all ingredients to avoid, but when they are mixed together, they likely conjure up a toxic soup.
We already knew that smoking of all types is toxic, but this research coming out just confirms that even more. Any type of smoking is jam packed with harmful ingredients that no one should be around.
Prevalence and real alternatives
How prevalent is e-cigarette use? Among adolescents, it is way too high, and an alarming trend involves young people such as teens picking up the e-cigarette habit. Between 2011 and 2015, e-cigarette usage jumped a staggering 900% among high school students. The concern is how bad smoking is for anyone but in particular how bad nicotine is for a teen’s developing brain.
Rather than looking for an “alternative” to smoking conventional cigarettes and trying e-cigarettes, the best alternative is to not use cigarettes or tobacco of any type. If you do not smoke, don’t start. Educate your children and grandchildren starting at a young age on the dangers of smoking so that they will ideally never pick up the habit either.
People who are already in the habit of smoking can change course and quit successfully by using natural remedies and modalities such as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), also known as tapping or meridian tapping. It is a powerful and simple technique that is like acupuncture without the needles. It is easy enough for children to do and only takes a couple minutes per “round” of tapping. Some of the many other possible solutions include meditation, acupuncture, dietary changes, vitamins, minerals and herbs.
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