E-cigarette: new cancer risk discovered
Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for
More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.A breath with dangers: E-cigarettes carry considerable amounts of dangerous gases into the lungs. This is what scientists at the Desert Research Institute at the University of Nevada found out. They examined the air breathed by e-cigarette users immediately before and after vaping. The result: the concentration of a carcinogenic substance is greatly increased.
The US researchers searched for the gas formaldehyde in the air they breathe in twelve users of e-cigarettes. The substance is constantly released into the environment in small quantities. In the vapor from e-cigarettes, however, the concentration is much higher. The researchers suspected that some of it could get stuck in the body.
Natural test environment
Earlier studies had indicated increased formaldehyde levels in the vapor of e-cigarettes. However, at that time the so-called liquids with which the e-cigarettes are filled were vaporized at enormous temperatures. Such heat not only creates an unpleasant taste, the values determined are also unrealistic.
Dr. Vera Samburova and her team therefore opted for the most natural possible environment: their testers used their own e-cigarettes and their usual liquids. The duration of vaporization and inhalation was also left to the test subjects.
"We have seen that the concentration of formaldehyde in the exhaled air after vaping is hundreds of times lower than in the freshly generated vapor of the e-cigarette," says lead author Dr. Samburova. “This indicates that a considerable amount of the substance is caught in the user's airways.” The scientist believes that it is likely to be absorbed by the body.
Do values exceed the "safe" concentration?
Formaldehyde is a substance that is used in the chemical industry, for example in textile manufacture. The substance is also created when the chemical components of the liquid in e-cigarettes disintegrate at higher temperatures. Plants release formaldehyde into the air in very small quantities as a metabolic product.
Since 2016, formaldehyde has been considered a hazardous substance in the EU that is likely to cause cancer in humans. So far, there is no limit to the concentration in the vapor from e-cigarettes. The concentration of the substance is only regulated in the room air. Only 0.1 milliliters per cubic meter of room is considered safe indoor concentration. The e-cigarette smoker exposes his respiratory tract to far higher concentrations.
E-cigarette sales explode
Although the exact effects of e-cigarettes on the body have not yet been researched, sales in the industry are continuously increasing. The Association of the E-Cigarette Trade recorded a turnover of 10 million euros in 2010 - in 2016 it was 420 million euros.
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