In a recent study, a team of researchers demonstrated a link between electronic cigarette smoke and the development of cancer cells in mice.
More and more studies present the risks of electronic cigarettes. In 2018, a study led by Moon-Shang Tangprofessor and researcher at the New York University, had proved that the electronic cigarette damaged the DNA of the lungs and bladder of mice and that nicotine could become an active agent in DNA mutations. A new study, also conducted by Professor Tang, shows a link between vaping and the risk of developing cancer.
Concerns about e-cigarettes are growing
The electronic cigarette has been caught up in recent months by the news. After the wave of deaths and hospitalizations in the United States this summer, the electronic cigarette was banned in several states, and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) called the JUUL brand to order.
Studies are beginning to present the risks of e-cigarette consumption by humans and recommend, above all, to do without smoking altogether. Thus, the results are particularly interesting in view of the little content attesting to the effects on humans.
Published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences on October 7, the study wishes to show the consequences on the organism of mice after 54 weeks and 20 hours of exposure to electronic cigarette smoke or its components.
22% of mice had developed tumors
The device of the study is simple. Three randomly formed groups of mice are separated: for 54 weeks, one group is exposed twenty hours a week to e-cigarette smoke; the second to smoke without nicotine (therefore the “vehicle” liquid, composed of vegetable glycine and propylene glycol); the third to no smoke, only filtered laboratory air.
After 54 weeks and 20 hours of weekly exposure to e-cigarette smoke, 22% of the mice had developed cancerous tumors in their lungs, and 57.5% had developed growths in their bladders, which can be considered as a precursor to cancer. The group exposed to smoke without nicotine did not develop lung tumors, and only one mouse had suspicious growths in the bladder. Only one of the 17 mice that breathed only filtered air had lung cancer, and none had a lump in the bladder. Tang explains: “It is not a surprise to find a cancerous tumor in this group, knowing that the mice have high rates of lung cancer.”
The researchers can conclude that the liquid with nicotine is indeed responsible for a high risk of cancer: mice who inhaled it were eight times more likely to develop it than those who were not exposed to nicotine. .
Do these alarming results have the same consequences for humans?
Moon-Shong Tang, lead author of the study, adds, “We are unable to say with certainty that e-cigarettes cause cancer in humans, but the mechanisms involved are very clear: cancer (carcinogens) that produce cancer in humans are the same that are produced here”.
The conclusions of the study are not categorical on the consequences on humans, because no study has yet been done on humans, or in a way that is too incomplete.
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