Ingredients in e-juice
E-cigarettes and vaping have been in the news a lot
lately. Opponents, including lobbyists
paid for by big tobacco companies like Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds, are very
quick to jump on the safety bandwagon even after products they’ve mass produced
for years have led to the illness and death of millions of consumers.
One hot topic of debate is the safety of ingredients used in
the e-juice or liquid used in e-cigarette devices. Since they are not regulated by the FDA – or any
organization, for that matter – opponents try to convince the public that there
are millions of unsafe ingredients that are much more harmful than the tobacco
used in cigarettes.
But are these ingredients really all that unsafe? Let’s take a look at them.
Most commercially available e-juices contain four
ingredients: vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, and
flavoring.
I’ll start with the flavorings. The flavorings used in the manufacturing of
e-juice for e-cigarettes and vaping are food grade flavorings you can find
anywhere. Companies like Lorann and
Wilton have been making USP and FDA approved flavorings for candies, cakes,
medications, and other uses for decades – flavorings you already find in the
foods you eat.
The vegetable glycerin (or glycerol as it could be listed
for some products) is a simple sugar alcohol widely used in many FDA-approved pharmaceutical
products. It’s colorless, odorless, viscous,
and water soluble. Non-toxic, it was a
sweet taste that lends to its use as a sugar substitute in many foods.
Vegetable glycerin is also used in a large number of
personal care products like cough syrups, toothpastes, mouthwash, compounded
elixirs and expectorants. Another use is
in allergen immunotherapy treatment as it helps stabilize the solution and
inhibits the degradation of the allergens used while providing antimicrobial
properties.
Finally, on to propylene glycol (NOT to be confused with
ethylene glycol [main component in antifreeze] or polyethylene glycol
[commonly found in laxatives].)
Propylene glycol is a water-soluble,
colorless, viscous, NEARLY odorless organic compound with a faintly sweet
taste. It is used as a humectant (a
substance used to keep things moist) and preservative in food and tobacco
products (yep, big tobacco has been using propylene glycol in its products for
decades already). Some of the common
food items it’s used in include coffee-based drinks (think your frappucinos,
mochas, and lattes you can find in the dairy aisle at your grocery store),
liquid sweeteners (Stevia, Splenda, Nectresse, etc.), ice cream, whipped dairy
products (like whipped cream or whipped cream cheese), and soda.
Propylene glycol is also used in various
medical applications, such as asthma inhalers or vaporizing breathing
treatments. Its main use is to ensure
the medication (such as albuterol) is soluble in water. Possessing antimicrobial properties, it also
inhibits the growth of fungi and microorganisms.
And yes, propylene glycol has gained more
popularity as an ingredient in antifreeze as it, like its cousin ethylene
glycol, lowers the freezing point of liquids.
However, it has gained this popularity because of the very low risk of
toxicity to humans and animals.
Propylene glycol is used to make a more “environmentally friendly”
antifreeze.
Now, I’m not a scientist, a chemist, or a doctor. I don’t have an advanced degree and I don’t
work in a laboratory. But the
information I was able to EASILY find on the internet is information available
to the public, and it counteracts all the negative reports being paid for by
companies like Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds.
So, as you can see, when you look at the list of FDA-approved
ingredients used by reputable manufacturers in their e-juices (I will talk
about companies who use other ingredients in a later blog post because some
companies really do use chemicals and compounds that are harmful to your body),
you can see that people are doing their damnedest to keep their customers
safe. But, when reporters tell you that
these ingredients are not FDA-approved ingredients, they are basically lying to
you. While there aren’t many studies
done to show the effects of the combination of ingredients (more and more
scientists are delving into this matter, however, and have shown that normal
usage is no more dangerous to a person than breathing the air around you), more
attention is being paid to this matter.
As for reports that say the “secondhand” vapor exhaled by a
vaper is as lethal as cigarette smoke and contains many, many more toxins? Those reports have been shown to be conducted
under such ridiculous conditions – heat higher than anyone would ever be able
to safely handle; inhalations longer than normal lung capacity can handle;
doing nothing but puffing on an e-cigarette device for HOURS at a time – that it
canNOT be replicated by human means.
These experiments are done specifically to try and show vaping to be
evil, unhealthy, and dangerous because it is eating into the profits companies
like RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris make with their cigarettes and smokeless tobacco
products.
So the next time you see someone inhaling on their
e-cigarette or vape mod, stop for a moment before you start lecturing them on
all the evils and health risks. Think
about who has told you this is so dangerous and WHY they would want this to
disappear. Do your own research and then
let the person be. They really aren’t
endangering you with this habit – in fact, vaping appears to be healthier than
just breathing during the afternoon in Southern California.
Websites used for information:
NICOTINE DISTILLATION
Improved Steam-Distillation Apparatus
C Bowen , W Barthel
Ind. Eng. Chem. Anal. Ed., 1943, 15 (9), pp 596–596
DOI: 10.1021/i560121a019
Publication Date: September 1943
An Improved Method for the Determination of Nicotine in
Tobacco and Tobacco Extracts in Journal
of Agricultural Research
Nicotine and Its Derivatives from Tobacco Waste in Technology Information, Forecasting, and
Assessment Council
VEGETABLE GLYCERIN
PROPYLENE GLYCOL
COMPANIES WHO MAKE
COMMON FLAVORINGS:
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