The E-Cigarette Flavoring Controversy – Harvard Weighs in on the Topic

It’s one thing to eat the artificial butter in microwave popcorn; it’s another thing to inhale the chemicals that give your Jolly Time its’ creamy flavor.

A study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has determined that the flavorings designed to enhance electronic cigarettes may impair the function of your bodies first line of defense against COPD, asthma and other lung diseases.

Findings suggest these flavoring chemicals are harming the e-cig users’ cilia; the tiny hair-like tissues that line airways protecting the lungs, allowing people to breathe easily.

Researchers, for instance, have found chemicals used in smoking devices are some of the same as the ones responsible for a condition known as “popcorn lung.” This was first identified by workers who inhaled artificial butter flavor at popcorn production facilities.

Exposure to these chemicals are now kept to a low-level during popcorn manufacturing. However, researchers are concerned that even these low levels are still too high. There are currently no restrictions on the levels of these chemicals for e-cigarette users.

For more information on this topic click on this link to the Harvard research: //news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/02/e-cigarette-flavorings-may-damage-cilia-production-and-function/

 

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