E-cigarettes contain up to 10 times carcinogens.... NOT! (Updated)

Important update: Read Dr. Farsalinos' statement on ecigarette-research.com about this: 
http://goo.gl/GY3Ibj

Today a lot of major newspapers picked up on a Japanese study that apparently has found that the vapor from e-cigarettes contains up to 10 times the amount of carcinogens compared to traditional cigarettes. The Daily Mail is just one of the, and almost all major Norwegian newspaper picked up on the story with headlines like these: "Scientists say that e-cigarettes are very carcinogenic", "This is very dangerous" and "Scientist made shocking discoveries in e-cigarettes".

None of the tabloid media has from what I've seen yet provided any link to the original study, but apparently this is the one they are referring to: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/11/11192/htm. As you can see this study has Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos listed as an external editor. Dr. Farsalinos commented on this on his own facebook page today:

In the study you mention (table 1) the highest level they found was 8 times LOWER than tobacco cigarettes!!!

Later he refers to this article to show the amount of carbonyl compounds found in cigarette smoke: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18062674

Here they found 200ug/cigarette in mainstream smoke (what you inhale) and 880ug/cigarette in sidestream smoke!

And when asked if vaping still is safe he answers this:

If you don't vape with a dry wick, you are much better than smoking...

Cause basically, if you read the research in question, what they found is these compounds come from oxidation of e-liquid or wicking material, not from vaporizing.

Also have a look at the conclusion of the original study:

Studies have shown that e-cigarettes emit toxic carbonyl compounds, generated from thermal decomposition. These substances can have adverse health effects; however, in most cases, the levels are lower than those in tobacco cigarette smoke. It is important to expand the research in this field, to better understand the source of carbonyls emitted from e-cigarettes and find ways to reduce them.

So from the FACTS I mention above I can only draw the following conclusion when it comes to this "sensational" story that hit the world today: This is pure propaganda, based on lies probably fed to shitty journalists, hungering for their next big scoop, by ANTZ or Big Pharma themselves.

UPDATE: I also recommend reading this post from ecigadvanced.com on the subject for further information: http://goo.gl/eFFDEZ, and also this post from the Ashtray Blog: http://goo.gl/eshOZC



photo credit: TaylorErinn via photopin cc