E-Cigarette is Injurious to Health: It’s Harmful To Lungs & Immune System
While that may be better than smoking cigarettes, all types of smoking are bad for your health. You might think e-cigarettes are a harmless alternative to old fashioned smoking, but the next time you inhale the vapor of an e-cigarette, consider this:
E-cigarettes not only damage important immune cells in your lungs, but they also expose you to toxic levels of metals that are leaking from the heating coils of your device. As a result, e-cigarette users’ lungs have trouble fighting off infections.
And chronic inhalation of these metals can cause damage to your lungs, liver, immune and cardiovascular systems, and even your brain. Most e-cigarettes vaporizing devices work by using a battery-powered heating element to turn a liquid solution into an aerosol, which is then inhaled by users.
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E-cigarettes Affects The Lungs & Immune System
Though the lack of burning prevents some chemicals from being released, there are still a number of damaging effects on the body. To determine the effects of vaping on lung cells, researchers extracted lung tissue samples from 8 non-smokers. They then exposed these lung cells to e-cigarette fluid and vapors from e-cigarettes.
As a control they also exposed some cells to nothing, after 24 hours, researchers looked at the number of viable cells in lung tissue samples. What they found was that samples exposed to the vaped condensate had significantly reduced numbers of viable cells as compared to the untreated cells,
These cells displayed impaired activity of immune cells known as alveolar macrophages. Alveolar macrophages keep our lungs and airways clear of harmful particles such as bacteria, allergens and potentially damaging dust particles.
Exposure to the vaped condensate also boosted the production of free radicals that can alter the cell’s DNA and have cancer-causing effects. Vapors triggered the effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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Researchers Discovered Potentially Unsafe Levels of Metals in E-cigarette
A board term used for diseases including severe bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema. These changes in the lung tissue samples were similar to those seen in regular smokers. Another study showed that E-cigarettes liquid contains potentially unsafe levels of metals such as chromium, nickel, and lead.
These metals are also present in the aerosols inhaled by users. For the study, researchers recruited 56 e-cigarettes users and examined each participant’s own device for the presence of 15 different metals. Researchers inspected the contents of the liquid surrounding the heating coil of e-cigarette. As well as the vaping liquid in the dispensary and the aerosols the devices produce.
Lead concentration in the aerosols was 25 times greater than the level in the refill dispensers. Simply, aerosol concentrations of nickel, chromium, and manganese approached or exceeded safe limits. Strangely enough, the metal concentration in the aerosols studied was higher for e-cigarette devices that had their coils changed frequently.
This shows that the newer the coil, the more it potentially leaches metals. Researchers also detected significant levels of arsenic in 10 of the 56 vapors. How the arsenic got into these e-liquids is a mystery.