When using electronic cigarettes, people are under the impression that they are not causing harm to their health. However, a new study finds that even vapor coming from e-cigarettes can damage healthy cells in the body.
The study, published in Journal of Oral Oncology, found that e-cigarette vapors can damage Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and healthy human cells in laboratory studies. This new study contributes to the evidence that e-cigarettes are no less harmful than tobacco.
To arrive at their conclusion, a team of U.S. researchers experimented with human cells in Petri dishes treated with vapor extracts from two famous brands of e-cigarettes. The results showed that cells that have been treated with nicotine vapor tend to receive more damage or die quickly than those treated with nicotine-free vapor.
The nicotine-free vapor still caused damage to the cells, but not as much as the nicotine vapor.
Dr. Jessica Wang-Rodriguez, the study's co-author, said that she believes e-cigarettes are "no better than smoking regular cigarettes," but she highlighted that the findings may not be the same in the real world setting and further studies are still needed.
The debate on whether or not e-cigarettes are considered safe to use goes on and on. There are mixed views from different organizations with regard to how safe the device and its chemicals are. Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not regulated its use since more evidence is needed to establish the safety of these devices.
Public Health England even recently favored the use of e-cigarettes over traditional tobacco cigarettes. Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England shared his opinion about the e-cigarettes based on world-leading review.
According to Fenton, health leaders would still appreciate new evidence about e-cigs' safety, but currently, evidence points that e-cigarettes are still less harmful compared to tobacco.
"Our recent world-leading review found that e-cigarettes carry a fraction of the risk of smoking — the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke, including carcinogens, are either absent in e-cigarette vapor or are at significantly lower levels than in tobacco smoke," Fenton said in a statement.
Fenton advised that smokers just need to quit the habit completely. He also said that health experts should "provide smokers with accurate, balanced information on different quitting methods."
"Smokers who have struggled to quit in the past could try vaping, and vapers should stop smoking," he explained.
