Chemical in e-cigarettes can damage lungs

Joseph Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science, said despite of butter-flavored popcorn, diacetyl and other related flavoring chemicals are used in many other flavors like fruit flavors, alcohol flavors and candy flavored e-cigarettes.

But many of them contain diacetyl, a yellow-green liquid with an intensely buttery flavour, which has been linked to a respiratory disease which causes constriction of the airways in the lungs.

The recent study conducted by Harvard scientists found a toxic chemical in most of the voured electronic cigarettes that they claim could elevate the risk of developing lethal lung disease called “popcorn lung”.

They tested 51 types of flavoured e-cigarettes and found that diacetyl was present in 39 of the tested products.

Study co-author Dr David Christiani, Professor of Environmental Genetics, added that most of the health issues related to e-cigarettes have focused on nicotine and not enough is known about the e-cigarette devices. In 47 of the flavors, at least one of the three chemicals was identified.

E-cigarettes also contain other damaging chemicals such as formaldehyde.

Popcorn Lung’s medical name is bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), where tiny air sacs in the lungs become permanently scarred.

This condition has since come to be referred to as “popcorn lung”, and its development was associated with the inhalation of butter flavoring chemical mixtures.

The test saw e-cigarettes discharged for eight seconds at a time inside a sealed chamber, and the vapour emitted was analysed. Thirty-nine flavors contained diacetyl, 46 contained acetoin and 23 contained 2,3-pentanedione.

Diacetyl is used in butter-flavoured e-cigarette liquids such as Cupcake and Cotton Candy as well as fruit flavours. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 1.78 million children had used e-cigarettes as of 2012, with 160,000 of these children reporting having never used tobacco cigarettes.

Earlier this month, it was announced that the NHS would be proving free e-cigarettes to smokers struggling to quit. US health officials do not now regulate the product, but the US Food and Drug Administration has made some moves to do so in the near future. A 2014 study in Toxicology examined the exposure levels of diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione found in regular cigarette smoke and determined these far exceeded “occupational exposures for most food/flavoring workers who smoke”.