(Press-News.org) With sales of electronic cigarettes, or "e-cigarettes," on the rise and expected to hit $1.5 billion this year, concerns over potential health risks of using the trendy devices are also gaining momentum and political clout. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, delves into what scientists and regulators are doing about e-cigarettes, which are now being cleverly marketed under more appealing names such as hookah pens and vape pipes.
The battery-powered devices deliver an inhalable vapor, with or without nicotine. Deirdre Lockwood, a C&EN contributing editor, notes that they are often viewed as a safer—and tastier—alternative to smoking cigarettes. Users can choose from an impressive variety of flavors, from key lime pie to black honey tobacco. Some try smoking or "vaping" with the devices as a way to help wean themselves off of tobacco cigarettes, which deliver a toxic cocktail of substances linked to cancer. Although some researchers think the devices are a safer alternative for tobacco smokers, recent studies on the contents of e-cigarette vapor raise concerns about health impacts on users and the public. And regulators, at least at the state and local levels, are taking action.
The article notes that one study has found small amounts of six toxic substances in the vapor of several different e-cigarette brands. Scientists have also detected in the vapor low levels of cadmium, nickel and lead, which can trigger lung and throat inflammation when inhaled. Additionally, because nicotine from the vapor can mix with other compounds in the air to form cancer-causing substances, researchers say parents who vape should be particularly aware of potential health risks to their children. Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate the products, but several states and dozens of counties and cities have banned the use of e-cigarettes wherever tobacco smoking is prohibited. At least nine states have outlawed the sale of the devices to minors.
INFORMATION:
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
Follow us: Twitter | Facebook
Health concerns swirl around electronic cigarettes
2014-03-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
An answer to the perennial question: Is it safe to pee in the pool?
2014-03-26
Sanitary-minded pool-goers who preach "no peeing in the pool," despite ordinary and Olympic swimmers admitting to the practice, now have scientific evidence to back up their concern. Researchers are reporting that when mixed, urine and chlorine can form substances that can cause potential health problems. Their study appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Jing Li, Ernest Blatchley, III, and colleagues note that adding chlorine to pool water is the most common way to kill disease-causing microbes and prevent swimmers from getting sick. But as people ...
Study shows invasive species in waterways on rise due to climate change
2014-03-26
One of the most serious threats to global biodiversity and the leisure and tourism industries is set to increase with climate change according to new research by Queen's University Belfast.
Researchers at Queen's have found that certain invasive weeds, which have previously been killed off by low winter temperatures, are set to thrive as global temperatures increase.
The team based at Quercus, Northern Ireland's centre for biodiversity and conservation science research, predicts that invasive waterweeds will become more widespread over the next 70 years.
The researchers ...
Paracetamol poisoning treatment guidelines costing NHS millions
2014-03-26
Strict guidelines for treating paracetamol overdoses – introduced 18 months ago – are costing the NHS millions of pounds a year, researchers claim.
The number of patients receiving hospital treatment for paracetamol poisoning in the UK each year has risen by almost 50 per cent since the guidelines were updated by the Medicines and Health Regulatory Authority, a study estimates.
Researchers have assessed the impact of the MHRA decision to revise the guidelines, which was taken following the death of a young girl from a paracetamol overdose.
Patients with a life-threatening ...
Cereal flake size influences calorie intake
2014-03-26
People eat more breakfast cereal, by weight, when flake size is reduced, according to Penn State researchers, who showed that when flakes are reduced by crushing, people pour a smaller volume of cereal into their bowls, but still take a greater amount by weight and calories.
"People have a really hard time judging appropriate portions," said Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences and Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutrition. "On top of that you have these huge variations in volume that are due to the physical characteristics of foods, such as the size of individual ...
Kif15: The acrobatic motor protein that could pave the way for new cancer therapies
2014-03-26
Researchers at Warwick Medical School have shown for the first time how a protein motor, Kif15, uses acrobatic flexibility to navigate within the mitotic spindle. Understanding how it works could prove vital for the development of targeted cancer therapies.
The new study, published in eLife, describes the behaviour of Kif15 for the first time and provides a breakthrough step towards understanding the role it plays in cell division.
Many frontline cancer drugs target microtubules, the molecular cables that are used to build the mitotic spindle - the protein machine that ...
Parental addictions associated with adult children's arthritis
2014-03-26
The adult offspring of parents who were addicted to drugs or alcohol are more likely to have arthritis, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.
Investigators examined a group of 13,036 adults and found that 20.4 per cent of respondents had been diagnosed with arthritis by a medical professional. Investigators found that 14.5 per cent of all respondents reported having at least one parent whose drug or alcohol use caused problems while were under the age of 18 and still living at home.
Results indicate that individuals whose parents were addicted ...
Study finds secret to cutting sugary drink use by teens
2014-03-26
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study shows that teenagers can be persuaded to cut back on sugary soft drinks – especially with a little help from their friends.
A 30-day challenge encouraging teens to reduce sugar-sweetened drink use lowered their overall consumption substantially and increased by two-thirds the percentage of high-school students who shunned sugary drinks altogether.
The "Sodabriety" challenge, piloted by Ohio State University researchers, was an effort to confront the largest source of added sugar in the U.S. diet: sugar-sweetened soft drinks, sports and energy ...
Scientists track 3D nanoscale changes in rechargeable battery material during operation
2014-03-26
UPTON, NY-Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have made the first 3D observations of how the structure of a lithium-ion battery anode evolves at the nanoscale in a real battery cell as it discharges and recharges. The details of this research, described in a paper published in Angewandte Chemie, could point to new ways to engineer battery materials to increase the capacity and lifetime of rechargeable batteries.
"This work offers a direct way to look inside the electrochemical reaction of batteries at the nanoscale to better understand ...
New clue to autism found inside brain cells
2014-03-26
The problems people with autism have with memory formation, higher-level thinking and social interactions may be partially attributable to the activity of receptors inside brain cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned.
Scientists were already aware that the type of receptor in question was a potential contributor to these problems – when located on the surfaces of brain cells. Until now, though, the role of the same type of receptor located inside the cell had gone unrecognized. Such receptors inside cells significantly ...
Counting calories in the fossil record
2014-03-26
Starting about 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, brachiopod groups disappeared in large numbers, along with 90 percent of the planet's species. Today, only a few groups, or genera, of brachiopods remain. "Most people won't be familiar with brachiopods. They're pretty rare in the modern ocean," said Jonathan Payne, a paleobiologist at Stanford University.
Meanwhile, bivalves flourished, diversifying into a staggering variety of shapes and sizes, and spread from marine to freshwater habitats. "After the end-Permian mass extinction, we find far fewer ...