Case Study on E-cigarette Vapor, Is it Harmful as Secondhand Smoke?
1. Case Study : Second Hand
Smoke from E-cig Poses Lower
Health Risks than Traditional
Smoke
Whether e-cigarettes pose health threats or not is a matter of
debate ever since its inception. On one hand, there are
proponents of e-cigarettes, claiming that it is absolutely risk-free
than traditional cigarettes; on the other hand, there are experts
negating the health benefits of e-cigarettes as proclaimed by the
2. manufacturers. Continuing with the debate, in a recent study
conducted by a health journal, the chemical components and
health risks of second hand smoke of both e-cigarettes and
traditional cigarettes were compared. Human samples were ether
given a traditional cigarette or an e-cigarette, and asked to puff
away in a specially designed closed chamber. The amount of
chemical substances in the smoke was then measured to analyze
how much a person would intake, second hand.
According to the report, the toxic substances found in the
traditional cigarette smoke outweighed the meager traces of
harmful chemical compounds found in the vapors produced by the
electronic cigarettes. More than twenty volatile chemical
substances were found in the cigarette smoke; however, on the
other hand, only traces of six of these organic elements were
detected in electronic cigarette vapor. It is important to
understand here that unlike traditional cigarette smoke,
electronic cigarettes generates a liquid vapor, which appears like
smoke, giving a feel of true cigarette smoking but without any
side effects or health risks related to passive smoking.
3. As reported in the survey, when electronic cigarette vapor is
exhaled, contains only a negligible amount of artificial flavoring
and nicotine. The main component that was detected in the vapor
of electronic cigarettes was propylene glycol, which is deemed
safe by FDA and is present in many foods that human beings
consume every day. This study proved that secondhand smoke
from electronic cigarettes is less harmful than smoke generated
from traditional cigarettes. While this may not have much impact
on the anti-smoking group, but it is indeed moving in the right
direction, emphasizing lesser health hazards of smoking
electronic cigarettes.
In the context of an anti - smoking group proposing complete
tobacco or nicotine abstinence, Dr. Brad Rodu, head of Tobacco
Harm Reduction effort at the University of Louisville’s James
Graham Brown Cancer Center, said in an interview that it is
nearly impossible for many smokers to attain total tobacco or
nicotine abstinence. Further he added that their Tobacco Harm
Reduction center primarily involves in finding substitution to
traditional cigarette smoking, by seasoning the hard-core
smokers with some smoke-free alternatives that pose lesser risks
to the health. In favor of his experience, he cited several
references where smokeless tobacco alternatives have reduced
the health risks of both active and passive smoking considerably.
With renowned doctors speaking in favor of smokeless electronic
cigarettes, followed by studies that are further reconfirming the
fact, it goes without saying that second hand vapor from e-cigs
pose lesser health risks than the smoke from traditional
cigarettes.
