According to a Japanese study, the vapors of some e-cigarettes contain several carcinogenic substances. Professor Bertrand Dautzenberg relativizes the scope of this work.
Work carried out by the Japanese National Institute of Public Health and submitted this Thursday to the country’s Minister of Health warns of the discovery of four substances recognized as carcinogens in the vapor of electronic cigarettes. A study that quickly circulated on the web but which has several biases, according to the president of the French Office for the Prevention of Smoking (OFT). “This is yet another study on e-cigarettes where the methodology is very, very poorly described,” notes pulmonologist Bertrand Dautzenberg (1). I have the impression that these are 1st generation single-use cigarettes. We do not know the brand or the actual conditions of use, ”he adds.
Low and inexplicable doses
Among the substances incriminated, Professor Naoki Kunugita’s team found formaldehyde (a compound also called “formalin” known to be potentially carcinogenic to humans), glyoxal (or ethanedial), methylglyoxal or even acrolein . For the latter toxic agent, for example, Professor Dautzenberg recalls that “it is an irritant to the respiratory tract. But, to have it, you have to heat the medium to at least 240 degrees. However, with the e-cigarette, there is no combustion. It heats up to 50 degrees, ”he explains.
Concerning other carcinogenic products, the team confides in having found them in very variable doses, “even if the concentrations of certain chemicals have sometimes exceeded those of traditional cigarette smoke. ”
“For one of the brands analyzed, the research team found, for example, a level of formalin up to ten times higher than that contained in a cigarette,” Naoki Kunugita told AFP.
On these dosages precisely, Professor Dautzenberg believes, for his part, that they were found “at relatively low levels and the vast majority of their e-cigarettes do not release any toxic agent. Only some of these brands are singled out. But since we don’t know which ones, it’s not very informative, ”he says.
Machines that smoke instead of vaping
Suddenly the president of the OFT specifies that it is better to remain very careful with these results. Another example to support his thesis, that of the machines used during the experiment which did not vapot as recommended by all tobacco specialists, underlines the French expert.
According to him, the tests carried out with these machines carried out each time an identical series of fifteen puffs of two seconds every thirty seconds, ten times, with the same cartridge.
However, the pulmonologist advises him to vape every five minutes. “It is better to avoid the flash,” he recalls.
Listen to Prof. Bertrand Dautzenberg, President of the OFT: ” They smoked it like tobacco. With Canadian cigarette smoking standards. Volumes of 55 ml. The conditions for experimentation are not good …“
Never vape dry and use the correct voltages
But the publication of this study is an opportunity for Professor Dautzenberg to recall the precautions for use for vapers: “The idea of the product is always to use it healthily. All while ensuring that the equipment purchased does not heat up too much. Because I insist on this point but the badly used e-cigarette can release toxic products. In France, we say to vapers never run dry and use “reasonable” voltages so as not to heat your e-liquids too much, “he concludes. For this, it is better not to use the first generation e-cigarettes still sold in France, seems to suggest this tobacco specialist from Pitié Salpêtrière (Paris).
Listen to Prof. Bertrand Dautzenberg : ” As soon as we put more pressure or when we are dry, there is this danger which is very real of releasing formaldehyde. It is really the phenomenon of the pan on the fire without liquid and heated too much. “
(1) Author of 1st official report on electronic cigarettes handed over to the government in May 2013.
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