February 4, 2015 – Formaldehyde and e-cigarettes

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Anchor lead: Some e-cigarettes produce a known carcinogen, Elizabeth Tracey reports

e-cigarettes that produce high-temperature vapor may also be producing formaldehyde, a recent study reported.  William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, explains the data.

Nelson: What this study showed is that when these cigarettes were operated at the higher power they generated formaldehyde.  Now formaldehyde we know it’s a carcinogen, this is bad.  If there’s formaldehyde being generated it will have consequences that we will see years from now.  There are also some inhaled nicotine devices that don’t involve heating, presumably these wouldn’t generated formaldehyde, all of this would be much safer if this were used as a bridge to stop smoking rather than as a substitute for chronic smoking.   :31

Nelson says people who use these devices need to be mindful of by-products of vaporization, as studies are just beginning to emerge. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.