Study Links E-Cigarettes to Incurable Disease Called ‘Popcorn Lung’

E-cigarettes are considered a safer alternative to regular cigarettes. However, the Harvard School of Public Health has released a study which indicates that they might pose a threat different than that of the traditional ones filled with nicotine. The study shows that flavored e-cigarettes and the liquids used for their refilling contain the flavoring chemical called Diacetyl. This chemical is associated with cases of dangerous respiratory disease like the so called “Popcorn Lung” which is an incurable condition. Popcorn Lung is the colloquial term for the condition called bronchiolitis obliterans. As Harvard explains, the first cases of this condition were workers in microwave popcorn processing facilities who happened to inhale artificial butter flavor, hence the popular name of the condition. This is an irreversible and debilitating respiratory disease which is characterized by scaring in tiny alveoli in the lungs that lead to excessive coughing and lack of breath like that in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease sufferers. Joseph Allen, the author of the study, and his team investigated 51 different flavored electronic cigarettes. They discovered that 47 of them contain at least one of the following three toxins: 2, 3-pentanedione, acetoin, and diacetyl. What’s more, 39 of the cigarettes contained diacetyl in an amount that exceeds the one able to be detected by the lab. The assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard, Joseph Allen, said that the flavoring chemicals like diacetyl are also used in flavors other than butter-flavored popcorn, such as alcohol flavors, fruit flavors, and candy-flavored electronic cigarettes. This is quite disturbing since young people might be particularly appealed by the fruity e-cigarettes like Fruit Squirts, Cotton Candy, and Cupcake. The Elkan Blout Professor of Environmental Genetics, David Christiani who’s a co-author of the study, explains that Popcorn Lung is probably just scratching the surface when it comes to e-cigarettes dangers as they are a rather new technology. He explains that scientists still don’t know a lot about e-cigarettes since so far the focus has been set on nicotine. Besides containing varying amounts of nicotine which is an addictive substance, their content also includes formaldehyde and other cancer-causing chemicals, as well as the previously discussed flavoring chemicals which can lead to lung damage. Therefore, the best thing to do is to try and kick this dangerous habit as soon as you can. Via AOL