E Cigarette are under scrutiny again
E-cigarettes may be putting people at risk of pneumonia and flu, as they could harm the body’s natural defences against these illnesses. The debate concerning e-cigarettes is on-going and these new findings work against them. Apparently the vapour released can affect the immune system in such a way that it makes it more vulnerable to the likes of bacteria and viruses that causes infections.
Researchers in John Hopkins University in Maryland, exposed mice to the vapours from an e-cigarette twice a day for a duration of two weeks in quantities matched to that of someone who smokes an e-cigarette every day. Some of the mice were given influenza and the rest were given the pneumonia bacteria. The mice that were not in the control group could not fight off the illness they were given and some of them even died.
Professor Shyam Biswal, senior author of the study, said the findings suggested “e-cigarettes are not neutral in terms of the effects on the lungs” he said that the studies should now be extended to people- more so those who have common lung complaints such a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is most often associated with smokers and ex-smokers.
Despite appearing to have some negative impact on health, they are still helping people to quit smoking in large numbers and are better for consumers than tobacco cigarettes.
Given so much uncertainly that surrounds the products- experts are worried that e cigarettes could have detrimental effects on the younger generation, as many young people are using them having never smoked before in their life.
The tobacco companies are increasingly moving over into the e-cigarette market too.
The World Health Organisation has requested that they be banned from indoor spaces, which is under consideration by the Welsh Government.
A new study, published in the PLOS ONE journal, found e-cigarettes contain DNA-damaging toxins known as free radicals – but at levels about 1 per cent of that found in a cigarette. “We have observed that [e-cigarettes] increase the susceptibility to respiratory infections in mouse models,” said Professor Biswal. “This warrants further study in susceptible individuals, such as COPD patients who have switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes or to new users of e-cigarettes who may never have used cigarettes.”
However, Professor John Britton, director of the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies said that it is important to remember that the damage to lungs is greatly reduced by using e cigarettes than it is smoking a tobacco cigarette.
“The lung is an exquisitely delicate organ and therefore nobody with any common sense would believe that inhaling heated vapour many times a day would be harmless,” he said. “What matters here is not a comparison of the effects of e-cigarette vapour compared with nothing, but the effects compared with those of tobacco smoke.
“Harm to the lungs will be less with electronic cigarettes than tobacco cigarettes, and any smoker who cannot quit using nicotine, and doesn’t find medicinal products effective, would be well advised to try an electronic cigarette.”
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