E-liquid: The True Toxin Linked To E-Cigs

March 31, 2011 | Posted by Adam West

The electronic cigarette debate became viral about June of 2009 after the FDA publicized a report on smokefree cigarettes and their associated nicotine containing solution e juice determining them as harmful as they contained toxins considered dangerous to humans. The e cig camp fired back by hiring a renowned analysis firm to examine the FDA report and the methods utilized to reach their findings. This firm found the findings obtained by the Food and Drug Administration research was invalid because the screening methods they utilized were far from those necessary to produce these types of conclusive determinations.

So at this point, more than a year after, exactly what have we learned about the safety of smokeless cigarettes? Well, essentially, not much has changed. Both sides on the controversy continue to maintain their statements are correct. In the end, the smokeless cigarette user remains in the dark concerning the safety and health of the e cig. Why don’t we take a close look at precisely what we really do know.

In the interest of brevity, I won’t go deep into details concerning how the smokeless cigarette works or how it’s used. It’s in simple terms a nicotine delivery system not different from the physician prescribed Nicotrol inhaler. It works by warming and vaporizing a mix of glycerin and nicotine when the user breathes in a puff from the device. The Food and Drug Administration’s primary point of contention (now identified incorrect via the 2nd study) is the nicotine formulated solution they examined included contaminants hazardous to humans. The controversy regarding this aspect isn’t the issue at hand. The most essential point to remember could be the fact that the Food and Drug Administration may have, if intentional or otherwise, made a very important discovery.

In the United States, most anything we eat or drink has to comply with procedures controlled by a number of government agencies which ensure our health and safety. We often see products which were recalled due to the slightest incompliance with appropriate requirements. So now why don’t we think about e-juice (the nicotine product used in smokeless cigarettes) for a moment. At present, there are no rules or polices in place governing its production, who may manufacture it, how it’s stored or even its shelf life. Basically, you or I may go on the internet, buy e-juice products and start blending it inside our garages with zero regulation whatsoever. Of course for individual use this may seem acceptable. Having said that, I do not know of a comparable product manufactured for human inhalation which you may make for yourself let alone for mass consumption by providing it for sale on the internet. Nevertheless this is precisely what countless e juice suppliers are in reality doing.

Do not misunderstand me. I’m definitely not stating that e-juice is harmful. I’m saying we have a real danger that due to poor regulation, a tainted e liquid might in theory fall into the hands of an e-cig user. So now you will most likely think about the e juice that is made by the e cigarette manufacturers themselves? Here yet again, we basically have the same situation. Formulated for the most part in Taiwan, there is no regulation of any form concerning how this eliquid is made. In the long run, it appears folks searching for eliquid should consider that old adage caveat emptor or “Let the buyer beware”.

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