Possible mycotoxin contamination in e-cigarettes?

April 28, 2019 -- the Harvard School Of Public Health has published a research report on e-cigarettes, which pointed out that most of the e-cigarettes in the United States may be contaminated with mycotoxins.

The team surveyed 75 popular brands of e-cigarettes in 2013 and found that 23 percent contained traces of endotoxin and 81 percent contained dextran. The report notes that endotoxins are present in gram-negative bacteria, which are found on most fungi, and that contact with humans can lead to health problems such as asthma, decreased lung function and inflammation, the researchers said.

The report by Harvard was challenged by the American E-Cigarette Association. Gregory Conley, chairman of the American e-cigarette association's advocacy group, said the study should compare levels of toxins in e-cigarettes and cigarettes. Given that many smokers now mistakenly believe that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as cigarettes, Harvard without comparing electronic cigarettes in cigarette adequately published before the report is a disgrace, Gregory Conley, also points out the research focused on the 2013 best-selling brand, rather than the current brand, and there is no report also indicate the product or brand name.

Are e-cigarettes harmful? Can it help people quit smoking?

The U.S. centers for disease control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that e-cigarette is still a new thing and that the health effects of long-term use are unknown. E-cigarettes often contain nicotine, which is harmful to fetal development and cognitive development in people under the age of 25. In addition to nicotine, vapors from e-cigarettes are not entirely harmless. They contain some tiny particles that may cause cancer, and may also contain some heavy metals and volatile compounds [15]. Some studies have also shown that e-cigarettes increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Public health England (PHE) released a 113-page report in 2015 detailing the

2019 Research And Analysis: E Cig Can Improving Health In England

Proof

Summarize evidence to support UK e-cigarette policy and regulation. E-cigarettes or e-cigarettes system can play an important role in improving public health.

Survey

There has been a steady increase in experimentation on e-commerce in the UK in recent years. However, regular use remains low, with 1.7percent of 11 to 18-year-olds in the UK reporting using it at least once a week in 2018 (0.4percent of 11-year-olds and 2.6percent of 18-year-olds). E-cigarettes using is still associated with smoking. The percentage of young people who have never smoked using at least one e-cigarette per week remains low (just 0.2percent among 11 - to 18-year-olds in 2018). The percentage of non-smokers who have tried e-cigarettes is rising. Without e-cigarettes, it's unclear to what extent these young people would attempt to smoke.

Policy changes

The background to the report is that smoking remains the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death and one of the biggest causes of health inequality. As a result, the national institute for health and care excellence (NICE) has published guidelines for health and social care workers on how to conduct informed discussions on e-cigarettes. The Commons science and technology committee has published a report on the European Community, which includes recommendations on harm reduction, smoking cessation, the community's mental health environment, and regulation.

Support

The advertising commission (CAP) and the broadcasting commission (BCAP) announced that they would lift the European commission's blanket ban on making health claims in non-broadcast advertising.

NHS England's long-term plan proposes a new universal smoking cessation service for long-term users of professional mental health and learning disability services. This would include the option for smokers to switch to e-cigarettes while in hospital.

Quit practitioners and health professionals should provide behavioral support to smokers who wish to use e-cigarettes to assist them in quitting. Quit-smoking practitioners and health professionals who support smokers in quitting should receive education and training on the use of e-cigarettes in smoking cessation attempts. The national smoking cessation and training center (NCSCT) provides online training.

The report was co-authored by four experts from the UK's top universities, King's College London and the University of Edinburgh.

Reference material: Vaping in England: an evidence update February 2019

The article recommended:  What Does A Heavy Smoker Think Of E-Cigarette ;

                                           4 Data Show That Vaping Is Safer Than Smoking;

What are other things like nicotine?

Alkaloids are basic organic compounds containing nitrogen that exist in nature, especially in the plant kingdom. Most alkaloids have optical activity, and the properties of different optical isomers are obviously different. Most alkaloids have special biological activities and are the main active ingredients of most Chinese herbal and native medicines. The discovery and application of alkaloids may be a great achievement in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry. As modern organic synthesis has grown by leaps and bounds, alkaloids have become a source of new drugs. Now there are quite a number of common drugs, are natural alkaloids after the structural modification of the product. For example, many of the effective ingredients in the compound cold medicine ephedrine and so on of course, at the same time, toxic alkaloids are not in the minority, which is not a lack of very dangerous poison. Now let me introduce the poisonous alkaloids.

1. Caffeine:

The systematic name for caffeine is 1,3, 7-trimethyl xanthine, also known as theobromine, and its direct biological source is coffee berries and tea. In fact, caffeine analogs are found in many plants, and quite a few of these plants are used by people all over the world to make drinks:

 

Caffeine is metabolized in the liver and its metabolites are theophylline, theobromine, and xanthine. These 3 look very similar, actually its pharmacological action also is basic and identical, it is a central stimulant. Small doses of caffeine act on the brain cortex high central, can make people excited, eliminate fatigue, and can improve thinking, sleep will also reduce. Caffeine also dilates bronchial tubes and diuretics.

High doses of caffeine can cause some adverse effects. Because its central excitatory action can make the person feel so disgusting, have a headache or insomnia. Single high dose of caffeine or especially large doses of caffeinated beverages can cause anxiety, muscle tremors, tinnitus, palpitations, and convulsions. But it's only toxic n in large quantities, so small amounts of caffeine aren't harmful.

2. Morphine:

 

Morphine is the main ingredient of the exudate of poppy fruit, one of the first discovered alkaloids, and a central analgesic that is now tightly controlled in almost all countries.

 

The toxicity of morphine is mainly reflected in its addiction after repeated use. The acute death dose of morphine is around 250mg. If taken in excess, morphine can cause severe respiratory depression and can cause the death of respiratory paralysis if not rescued in time.

3. Colchicine

Source of colchicine:

 

Colchicine is still used as a medicine to treat gout, but you need to be very careful about how you use it. It can also be used in chemotherapy for leukemia, skin cancer, and breast cancer. The maximum daily dose of colchicine should never exceed 6mg, and patients must get regular examinations of liver and kidney function and blood routine. If a patient develops a gastrointestinal reaction while taking colchicine, it could be a harbinger of serious poisoning. The acute toxic reaction of colchicine is complex and toxic to blood, gastrointestinal tract, heart, and urinary system. The biggest harm may be the inhibition of the respiratory center, if patients don’t get instant treatment after poisoning, the mortality rate is relatively high. And there is no specific antidote for acute colchicine poisoning.

4. Aconitine

From the beautiful buttercup:

 

Aconitine is used in the adjuvant treatment of cancer now, mainly at reducing cancerous pain. Because it can paralytic peripheral nerve ending directly, producing a local analgesic effect. Only 0.2mg oral administration of aconitine will cause a toxic reaction, and the lethal dose is about 2mg-5mg. The effect is very rapid and violent. The main reaction is intense excitement of the center and direct action on the myocardium.

5. Scopolamine 

 

 

When the amount of the tropane alkaloid is high, it affects the central nervous system. At first, there will be anxiety, talkativeness. Severe hallucinations, movement disorders, and convulsions may occur at doses that are toxic.

6. Solanine

 

In immature or sprouted Solanaceae plants, there is a sharp increase in the content of sobering.

 

The main toxicity of sobering is irritation and causticity of gastrointestinal mucosa and central paralysis. The reaction is severe stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and difficulty breathing.

7. Gelsemine

 

It’s a beautiful flower but very toxic too.

The main toxic effect of hook-kiss is still neurotoxicity with the main respiratory depression as a symptom, and the cause of death is still respiratory paralysis.

8. Strychnine

There are no beautiful flowers for Strychnine, but it looks very tasty. The seeds of strychnine are not only very bitter but also contain indole alkaloids which are highly toxic.

 

The mildly toxic effects of strychnine are facial muscle stiffness, a stiffness of the limbs, and adduction of the feet. At the same time, brucine can also make the respiratory muscle group rigid, then stop people’s breathing. The lethal dose of brucine is about 10mg.

9. Coniine

What it looks like:

 

The most famous person in history who was poisoned by the celandine was Socrates. In ancient Greece, hemlock was often used as a component in the juice to kill people of high status, but it was also used for spasmolysis.

Natural hemlock alkaloid is dextral that has special stink. The lethal dose ranged from 60 to 100mg, mainly due to neurotoxicity, paralysis of motor nerve endings and spinal cord. The victim shows weakness, slow breathing, and eventually death from respiratory arrest.

10. 

The blowout phenomenon of nicotine salt e-liquids has just emerged, and waves of new products have entered the user's field of vision. If the birth of e-cigarettes changed the fate of millions of smokers around the world, the emergence of nicotine salt e-liquids extended the selection for smokers. Different from traditional nicotine e-liquids, People will feel more comfortable inhalation and dispelling when used nicsalt e-juice. It is suitable for low-power equipment to achieve the advantages of quick addiction and small vapor without disturbing others.

The development of nicotine salt smoke oil is rapid, and various methods of using tobacco for smoking and smoking cessation have prompted more targeted devices to

Schools in the United States are launching a new and stricter program to prevent students from using e-cigarettes in schools and nearby areas. "When students return from spring break, they will be searched to detect if they are using any e-cigarettes," Hamilton school officials announced on March 29.

Last year, the U.S. food and drug administration (FDA) launched a series of tough restrictions on companies to prohibit them from selling e-cigarettes to minors. In September 2018, five tobacco manufacturers were required to submit plans to reduce teen use of their products within 60 days. Schools are also taking action to prevent students from vaping. The school’s leaders said they would use handheld metal detectors to randomly search students' lockers and vehicles parked on campus. Once a student is found using the e-cigarette device, he or she will undergo urine analysis within 48 hours. Hamilton School

Health Effects Of E-Cigarettes-From A Study In Hungary

In 2015, 1,042 adult Hungarian e-cigarette users were surveyed. To explore the comparison of self-reported adverse events and perceived health changes among Hungarian adult e-cigarette users and dual users (smokers who use e-cigarettes versus conventional cigarettes).

Prevalence of vaping-related adverse events and perceived improvement in physiological functions

I am an e-cigarette and traditional cigarette enthusiast. Four years of experience in using e-cigarettes, I spent almost 20000RMB on it. Although it is not professional, after the exposure of e-cigarettes problem in China's 3.15 party, I still want to say something. There is indeed a certain degree of a safety hazard in e-cigarettes, but there is no absolute safety. And it is the composition of e juice or a mist of smoke, this is definitely not comparable to smoking.

E juice

In China, many manufacturers of e juice have safety problems, and their products can make a lot of profit. Because I bought smoke oil from a friend,8 yuan a bottle of counterfeit electronic oil buy one get one free, or buy two get one free. It's all are the flavor of artificial flavor when you hit it. This is safe to use?

The hidden danger after e juice atomization

I've been playing with e-cigarettes for many years, I've asked my doctor to get a consensus. There are three parts that have a major impact on health. The first is the composition of e juice. The 2nd, it is to the essence, propylene glycol allergy and the person that suffer from the respiratory tract problem such as asthma to fear grain. Third, the long-term use of e-cigarettes is not clear whether it will harm the lungs or body parts in the future, because the current e-cigarettes are not a long time, and the interaction with blood may take five years or ten years, or even longer, so this hidden danger may exist, but no conclusion has been reached.

As someone who uses both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, I'd like to talk about my feelings.

Quit smoking

Many of my friends started to use e-cigarettes mostly because their wives were pregnant. They didn’t have any special interest in e-cigarettes. Some of my friends used cigarettes to quit cigarettes and finally gave up e-cigarettes to quit smoking. Many people dispute the idea that e-cigarettes can quit smoking. Originally, an e-cigarette is a kind of cigarettes. There is no evidence that e-cigarettes can help us stop smoking, but it is much easier to give up e-cigarettes than to give up cigarettes. I take a cigarette and use ten e-cigarettes to achieve the same effect, and many people rely on this quantity gap to slowly quit their dependence on nicotine, and finally need their own willpower. (at least I don't have the willpower, but my friends do.) most of my friends are not used to using e-cigarettes and they feel that e-cigarettes can't achieve the effect of cigarettes, so they all give up using e-cigarettes soon. And like me, there are a lot of people who don't quit smoking and play with e-cigarettes. However, according to my own use, it is undoubted that the number of cigarettes I can smoke every day is obviously reduced.

Physical feeling

After getting used to e-cigarettes, it is natural to compare e-cigarettes with cigarettes. I will talk about my personal situation, but only for reference. People who smoke cigarettes know that getting up every morning; coughing, nausea, neck pain, and throat sputum are common things. When my wife was pregnant, I used cigarettes at work and e-cigarettes at home, and I could clearly feel the difference between the two during use. I rested at home for two days and smoked e-cigarettes for two days. I did not feel any obvious difference at first. Once I rested at home for four days, and when I got up on the morning of the fifth day, I felt that my throat was very comfortable. When there was no sputum, I coughed hard without pain in my neck and felt no nausea in my mouth. It is a feeling that I have never smoked for many years. This discovery led me to buy a set of e-cigarettes for my dad immediately, but he still didn't insist on using e-cigarettes, but he began to agree with e-cigarettes. On the other hand, if you smoke cigarettes and use e-cigarettes like me, you're more likely to increase your addiction and there is no benefit.

Psychological feelings

To be honest, people who smoke struggles a lot, we know that smoking is not good, smoking is harmful to health, bad for breath, and so on. But the cravings are coming, I still need one, and I know that I am going to die. A lot of times people use e-cigarettes, at first with the attitude of quitting smoking, and they gave up later, but in the end, they re-use them because of the diversified smell of smoke.

First, e juice is rich in flavor, just like milk tea, occasionally it will be sucked. For example, I personally like fruits flavor, tea flavor, wine flavor and e juice mixed with fruit.

Second, there is no psychological burden, this is my hobby, I agree that it is less harmful than smoking, and blowing a big smoke ring is really fun.

Third, control of e-cigarettes. How to control fake and shoddy e-cigarette equipment and E juice is the focus of management. How to establish a set of guidelines and legal regulations governing the production and use of e-cigarettes. At the same time, I hope that the country can vigorously develop e-cigarette technology

After the exposure of the China's 315 CCTV broadcast, the entire e-cigarette industry was branded "unhealthy and unregulated". But is that really the case?

The results detected by the professional institutions in a very strict way (pumping 100 times) showed that the harmful substances in e-cigarettes, except nicotine, only contain formaldehyde, and the content of formaldehyde in every 100 mouths is 0.00573 mg. What is the concept? it takes about 1400 to consume the amount of formaldehyde that is taken up by one cubic meter of air. At 350 to 640 puffs per cartridge, it takes about three cartridges to breathe a cubic meter of formaldehyde, which is much safer than the formaldehyde found in many foods, like mushrooms. But in the traditional cigarette contains more than 100 kinds of harmful substances and dozens of carcinogenic substances (such as tar, carbon monoxide, etc.) have not been detected. There's also

There's a lot of evidence that e-cigarettes are actually less harmful than traditional cigarettes, and they can also be used as an auxiliary tool for quit smoking. If you want to quit smoking or find a less harmful alternative to cigarettes, e-cigarettes are your best choice.

What do you do when you want to get into e-cigarettes?

The first step is to choose the right e-cigarette device, and it is revommended to use a vape pen like Vladdin.Because of its simple operation, the two are similar in comparison to conventional cigarettes as compared to conventional cigarettes. Due to the difference between e-cigarette steam and traditional cigarettes, it may cause discomfort when it comes into contact with e-cigarettes, and it takes a certain amount of time to adapt. Vaping is the best option.