Estimation of Health Risks Caused by Metals Contained in E-Cigarette Aerosol through Passive Vaping

Abstract

It is expected that secondary exposure to e-cigarette aerosol (passive vaping) will soon become an issue of public health. Passive vaping inhales e-cigarette aerosol containing similar harmful substances as active vaping. However, parallel studies on passive vaping are minimal. Therefore, there is a need for passive vaping-related health risk studies to assess the impact of vaping on public health. This research conducted a series of experiments in a room using a puffing machine and the Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA) to study e-cigarette aerosol respiratory deposition through passive vaping. The experimental data acquired were applied to estimate the deposited mass and health risks caused by toxic metals contained in e-cigarette aerosol. Five popular e-cigarette products were used in this study to generate e-cigarette aerosol for deposition experiments. In addition, size-segregated e-cigarette aerosol samples were collected, and metal compositions in the e-cigarette aerosol were analyzed. Results obtained showed that estimated non-cancer risks were all acceptable, with hazard quotient and hazard index all less than 1.0. The calculated cancer risks were also found acceptable, with lifetime excess cancer risk generally less than 1E-6. Therefore, the e-cigarettes tested and the passive vaping exposure scenarios studied do not seem to induce any potential for metal-related respiratory health effects.

Nicotine or marijuana vaping exposure during pregnancy and altered immune responses in offspring

“…Both nicotine and cannabis vapes contain complex mixtures of chemicals, and such complexity increases with thermal degradation chemistry [ 42 ] . The study by Li et al underscores the need for further research on individual components to gain a thorough understanding of aerosol composition from using various vaping devices while accounting for individual user settings [ 43 ] .…”

“…Therefore, to capture the available data on the offspring's prenatal exposure to marijuana compounds, we expanded our search to studies involving marijuana and pregnancy, without the search term "vaping". However, such exposure should afterward be restricted to the only compounds identified in marijuana vape devices [41] . We also reviewed reference lists from the relevant studies yielded by this search, as well as studies obtained from colleagues and those from individual journals that had been previously identified by the team but not captured by this search strategy.…”

“…It is therefore important to understand the major constituents in marijuana vape and their amounts in vapor or aerosols that get into a user's lungs by comparing the major constituents in unused vape oil vs. its vaporized and aerosolized forms. While terpenes and minor cannabinoids can be produced when vaporizing and aerosolizing the vape oil, some of these have been found at lower levels in the vapor and aerosol than in the vape liquid [41] and some unlabeled chemicals have been detected [54,105] . In utero exposure to cannabinoids is associated with T cell dysfunction, an impaired immune response to viruses and susceptibility to cancer [115] .…”

“…Technology-wise, newer generation ENDS products have been associated with an increased immunosuppression [36,37] , which is a risk factor for cancer [38][39][40] . Likewise, newer versions of marijuana vaping come with a wide variety of chemicals, with both known and unknown cancer risks [41] . It is important to note that the experiment conducted by Tang et al may not be representative of the aerosol chemistry of cannabis vapor products by pregnant individuals or those in their households [31] .…”