November 27, 2014
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
High levels of some carcinogens reported in ecigs
Kanae Bekki and colleagues from Japan just published a review of the data on "Carbonyl compounds generated from electronic cigarettes" in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that made the point that the level of carbonl compounds, which includes formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolen, and glyoxa are found at widely varying levels in e-cigarette aerosol. Determinants of whether and how much of these toxic chemicals are present depends on the makeup of the e-liquid and voltage of the e-cigarette (which determines how hot it gets).
The hotter systems in "second generation" tank-type e-cigarette systems generally operate at higher temperatures (to produce a bigger nicotine hit that is viewed as a good thing by e-cigarette enthusiasts) and produce more toxins. Some of these higher voltage systems produce levels of formaldehye that are similar to conventional cigarette smoke.
The mutagens glyoxal and methylglyoxal are produced by e-cigarettes that are only "minimal" in cigarettes.
Like others, they found tremendous variability both between different e-cigarettes and within the same brand.
This paper adds to the evidence base that e-cigarette toxicology should be considered on its onw, not just in comparison with conventional cigarettes.
Kostantinos Farsalinos, who has recieved funding from e-cigarette interests, was the external editor for this paper. He has criticised it on his blog.
A news story on the paper is here.
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Japan to investigate e-cigarette safety after formaldehyde findi
Japan to investigate e-cigarette safety after formaldehyde findings
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/28/japan-e-cigarette-safety" title="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/28/japan-e-cigarette-safety"...
Konstantinos Farsalinos, the Greek researcher who has consistently reached favourable conclusions on e-cigarettes, contests the findings on this blog, questioning “Where does the “10 times higher than smoking” statement comes from? I have no idea.” After speaking to the senior Japanese researcher, Naoki Kunugita, Farsalinos ultimately concedes that “newsmedia reports refer to a recent evaluation of a newer-generation device, in which he found 1600μg formaldehyde per 15 puffs. It is true that this level is 10 times higher than what is present in tobacco cigarettes” but he still downplays all potential and real risks (and the title of his blog post does not reflect the infornation contained in the Update). I challenged many of the assumptions and conclusions of Farsalinos and his co-author Gerry Stimson in an exchange in Int J Drug Pol, also linked below:
Electronic cigarette aerosol contains 6 times LESS formaldehyde than tobacco cigarette smoke
http://www.ecigarette-research.com/web/index.php/2013-04-07-09-50-07/201... title="http://www.ecigarette-research.com/web/index.php/2013-04-07-09-50-07/201...
Asking the wrong questions about e-cigarettes: The case for cautious classification
http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00210-2/abstract" title="http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00210-2/abstract";http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00210-2/abstract
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395914002102";http...
Asking the wrong questions about e-cigarettes? A response to Stan Shatenstein
http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00215-1/abstract";http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00215-1/abstract
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395914002151";http...
<strong;Referenced <em;Int J Drug Pol</em; Commentary</strong;:
Is there any legal and scientific basis for classifying electronic cigarettes as medications?
http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00064-4/abstract" title="http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00064-4/abstract";http://www.ijdp.org/article/S0955-3959(14)00064-4/abstract
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395914000644";http...
Stan Shatenstein
Editor & Publisher, STAN Bulletin
Smoking & Tobacco Abstracts & News
mailto:[email protected]";shatensteins@sympatico.ca
Downplay of Carbonyls . . . .
The "dualling letters" bewteen Stan Shatenstein and Farsalinos/Stimson are, indeed, fascinating, and it is further curious to consider the downplay that Farsalinos gives regarding the very recent Japanesse data compared to other statements he has made. For example, Dr Farsalinos here http://www.ecigarette-research.com/web/index.php/research/2014/181-who-r... states that:
“the levels of carbonyls emitted from e-cigarettes can (under certain conditions) be similar to or higher than smoking”, and also that
“Of course we continue our research efforts because we need to learn more about e-cigarettes. Of course we are concerned about some issues, such as e-liquid composition (despite the lack of combustion and the absence of cured tobacco) and temperature of e-cigarette use (despite being almost 5 times lower than smoking), not because e-cigarettes may be more harmful than smoking but because we want to find ways to make e-cigarettes even less harmful than they currently are.”
So: he has previously confirmed that, under certain conditions at least, levels of emitted carbonyls from e-cigs can be similar to or higher than smoking tobacco, and that he is and others "are concerned" about this issue. This concern is also reflected in Maciej Goniewicz's comments here http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/05/prweb11874918.htm";http://www.prwe... when he states that:
“These results suggest that some types of electronic cigarettes might expose their users to the same or even higher levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde than tobacco smoke. Users of high-voltage e-cigarettes need to be warned about this increased risk of harmful effects,”.
High levels of Carbonyl production are an issue with electronic cigarettes, especially the devices which are variable output/higher tempertures. Propylene glycol/Glycerol, seen as GRAS in foods, cosmetics and even in some medication inhalers, have not been shown to be safe as solvents, as yet, when utilised in electronic cigarettes, especially in the devices that can produce higher levels of temperature (100oC - 150oC approximately??). This clearly is an issue, in terms of the science of these devices, in the eyes of Dr Farsalionos: otherwise he would not now be embarking on experiements of his own to try to limit these tempertures and subsequent effects https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/e-cigarette-research-temperature-of-e....
To downplay the potential harm that these clearly harmful chemicals can produce appears somewhat "misleading" from such an important scientist in this field, therefore, and will encourage some observers to ask the question: what are the motives for this presentation of the current scientific data??? Some may highlight the issue of potential conflict of interest and funding, that is for sure . . . .
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