/ NationalScience & Health E-cigs pose much higher cancer risk than thought: Japanese study AFP-JIJI E-cigarettes contain up to 10 times the level of cancer-causing agents as regular tobacco, Japanese scientists said Thursday, the latest blow to an invention once heralded as less harmful than smoking.The electronic devices — increasingly popular around the world, particularly among young people — function by heating flavored liquid, which often contains nicotine, into a vapor that is inhaled, much like traditional cigarettes but without the smoke.Researchers commissioned by the health ministry found carcinogens such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in vapor produced by several types of e-cigarette liquid, a ministry official said.Formaldehyde — a substance found in building materials and embalming fluids — was present at much higher levels than carcinogens found in the smoke from regular cigarettes, the official said.“In one brand of e-cigarette the team found more than 10 times the level of carcinogens contained in one regular cigarette,” said researcher Naoki Kunugita, adding that the amount of formaldehyde detected varied through the course of analysis.

“Especially when the . . . wire (that vaporizes the liquid) gets overheated, higher amounts of those harmful substances seemed to be produced.” Kunugita and his team at the National Institute of Public Health, who submitted their report to the ministry on Thursday, analyzed several cartridges of e-cigarette fluid using a machine that “inhaled” 10 sets of 15 puffs.One brand, which was not revealed, showed a more than 10-fold level of formaldehyde on 9 out of every 10 sets.Another brand showed similar levels on several sets, but was not consistently that high.Kunugita said the research showed e-cigarettes are not the harmless products many people assume them to be.“We need to be aware that some makers are selling such products for dual use (with tobacco) or as a gateway for young people” to start a smoking habit, he warned.In common with many jurisdictions, Japan does not regulate non-nicotine e-cigarettes, but nicotine e-cigarettes, or so-called electronic nicotine delivery systems, are subjected to pharmaceutical laws.

Japanese officials will evaluate the possible impact on health of smoking e-cigarettes after researchers found that devices bought in Japan contain up to 10 times more formaldehyde - a cancer-causing substance - than conventional cigarettes.The findings, announced this week, have re-ignited the debate over whether e-cigarettes are a risk-free alternative to tobacco smoking, as more young people take up the vaping habit.Researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Public Health said they had found two carcinogens - formaldehyde and acetaldehyde – in vapour produced by several types of e-cigarettes during a study commissioned by the country’s health ministry.e cigarette dubai 2017One brand of e-cigarette produced 10 times more formaldehyde – a substance used in embalming that has also been linked to sick building syndrome – than a regular cigarette, said Naoki Kunugita, who led the research.e-cigarette igo4 ismk

“Especially when the wire (which vapourises the liquid) gets overheated, higher amounts of those harmful substances seemed to be produced,” he told AFP.He added: “We need to be aware that some makers are selling such products for dual use (with tobacco) or as a gateway for young people [to start smoking].” The experts analysed several cartridges of e-cigarette fluid using a machine that “inhaled” 10 sets of 15 puffs.One new brand of e-cigarette, whose name has not been made public, showed a more than 10-fold increase in formaldehyde levels in nine out of every 10 sets.e cigarette bangaloreThe device produced 1,600 micrograms of formaldehyde per 15 puffs.e-cigarette slim sizeHealth ministry officials acknowledged that the elevated formaldehyde levels found in a single brand of e-cigarette was not proof in itself that vaping posed an increased cancer risk.e cigarette kochi

“The most important finding is that the vapour contained recognised carcinogens,” Hiroyuki Noda, of the health ministry’s tobacco-free initiative, told the Guardian.“Our panel of experts will now look into what possible effects those substances could have on the health of e-cigarette users.” Some experts said the findings offered no proof that e-cigarettes could harm papers’ health.Writing on the e-cigarette research website, the Greek cardiologist Konstantinos Farsalinos said the offending device tested by Kunugita was “a single extreme case out of the many products he tested,” adding that the high formaldehyde reading may have been caused by several factors, including a faulty e-cigarette.e-cigarette kr808a“Obviously, we have to realise that focusing the discussion on one of the tens of carcinogens present in tobacco cigarette smoke is misleading,” Farsalinos said.“Even if e-cigarettes contained similar, or higher, levels of formaldehyde, they do not contain the majority of other toxic and carcinogenic substances present in cigarette smoke.

Overall, any residual risk from e-cigarette use is orders of magnitude lower than smoking.This is exactly what smokers need (and deserve) to know.” Kunugita said officials would evaluate vaping’s possible impact on health before discussing whether or not to regulate the sale and use of e-cigarettes in Japan.Vaping is quickly gaining popularity in Japan, where cigarette smoking is still tolerated in many enclosed and public spaces, even though the smoking rate among adults is at an all-time low.Like many other countries, Japan does not regulate e-cigarettes, but they have yet to become widely available in shops.Most Japanese users order e-cigarettes and flavoured liquids online.Until recently, e-cigarettes were hailed around the world as a safer alternative to smoking, and have been credited with helping tobacco smokers quit their old habit.The number of young people in the US who have tried e-cigarettes tripled from 2011 to 2013, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that more than a quarter of a million young people who had never smoked a cigarette used e-cigarettes last year.