Nicotine is the main component of electronic cigarette liquid
Recently, the report about electronic cigarettes has become a blockbuster. What is electronic cigarette? What harm does it do? The reporter interviewed Wu Yiqun, researcher of China Center for Disease Control and prevention.
“No matter from the perspective of science or reality, the harm of electronic cigarette to human body cannot be ignored.” Wu Yiqun said, “electronic cigarette refers to the electronic nicotine transmission system, which is a product that transmits nicotine and other substances to the user’s respiratory system after atomizing the e liquid into aerosol through the atomizer, and nicotine (commonly known as nicotine) is the main component of electronic cigarette liquid.”
Electronic cigarette is an electronic product that imitates cigarette. It has the same appearance, smoke, taste and feeling as cigarette. Whether smoking or electronic smoking, the goal is actually to obtain nicotine. Imitating the way of smoking, maintaining the feeling of smoking and releasing vaporized smoke are the common characteristics of most electronic cigarettes.
“Especially for the curious and imitative young people, the physical shape of e-cigarettes, fashionable and cool modeling, unidentified packaging, and a variety of delicious tastes are very attractive.” Wu Yiqun added that the so-called “electronic cigarette culture” has become a popular trend among young people, with the temptation of “harmless, non-toxic” advocacy and online video playing. “The most worrisome thing is that young people easily try to smoke electronic cigarettes, which may make young people who do not smoke eventually become consumers of electronic cigarettes, or even traditional cigarettes, and thus form a bad habit of smoking.”
“Whether it’s a traditional cigarette or an electronic cigarette, nicotine is the main ingredient.” According to Wu, nicotine has three characteristics. Firstly, it is highly addictive. According to foreign literature, the addiction of nicotine has been proved to be higher than most drugs, only lower than cocaine and heroin. Secondly, nicotine belongs to highly toxic chemicals, and has been listed in the catalogue of highly toxic chemicals in China (2015 Edition).
In addition, nicotine has pathogenicity. Wu Yiqun said that repeated inhalation of nicotine will cause microcirculation ischemia, increase blood pressure and heartbeat; damage vascular endothelial cells, promote platelet aggregation and increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; nicotine can also directly damage vitamin C and hinder its absorption. Nicotine is a carcinogen, which can be transformed into nitrosamines with carcinogenic effect in its catabolic process.
“Minors and adolescents are more sensitive to nicotine. Medical data show that nicotine can affect brain functions that are still developing, such as the decline of attention, learning ability and impulse control ability, increase the risk of addiction in the future, and excessive intake may also be life-threatening. ” Wu said.
E cigarette or excessive nicotine inhalation
“The domestic e-cigarette market lacks supervision, and e-cigarette is in a state of blank without product standards, quality supervision and safety evaluation.” Some e-cigarette products contain high levels of nicotine, which can even cause direct harm to human body, said Wu. According to EU regulations, the content of nicotine in e-cigarette products shall not exceed 20 mg / ml. At present, the quality of domestic e-cigarette products is uneven. The content of nicotine in cigarette liquid ranges from 1.5 mg / ml to 56 mg / ml, with a large fluctuation range.
In addition, the vague identification of nicotine concentration in e-cigarette may lead to excessive consumption of nicotine by consumers. 16 documents reported that the content of nicotine in e liquid was inconsistent with the label, involving 544 samples. The difference between the labeled nicotine content and the actual content was large, and the deviation range was – 100% – 105%.
According to CCTV’s “consumption warning” program of the “March 15” party in 2019, 8 kinds of e-cigarette vape juice purchased randomly from the market were sent to the laboratory for testing the nicotine content. It was found that the identification of nicotine concentration in 5 kinds of e liquid was not standardized: only the nicotine content value was not marked with units. For example, 60 ml of e-liquid, labeled content of 6 mg, the experimental nicotine content of 340 mg. This way of marking is easy to mislead consumers. There are three bottles of e liquid for inspection marked with 3 mg / ml, but the actual measured values are 11.85 mg / ml, 11.55 mg / ml and 11.69 mg / ml respectively, and the actual measured concentration is more than three times higher than the marked concentration.
“In addition, for some e-cigarette purchased online, there are only four levels of lampblack concentration in the column of specifications: high, medium, low and none. Consumers can’t figure out the concentration of nicotine in the e-cigarette they purchased at all.” Wu said.
Studies have shown that the amount of nicotine inhaled by e-cigarette is related to nicotine concentration, heating system, breathing mode, environmental wind, etc. The amount of nicotine inhaled varies with the frequency and mode of use of e-cigarette. “Because some e-cigarette businessmen publicize that e-cigarette is the artifact of quitting smoking, we should not talk about the addiction of nicotine. Many people pursue stimulation and pleasure. They will choose high concentration nicotine e liquid (carts/pods) and high-power atomizer. Some users change the vapor production through the rotary air supply control system, choose the concentration they like, and accidentally ingest too much nicotine. ” Wu said.
What worries Wu Yiqun is that students who can’t smoke are curious and like to imitate. They think it’s cool to smoke e-cigarette. “Teenagers don’t know the main ingredients of e-cigarette, or even know that it contains nicotine, which is more likely to lead to nicotine poisoning.”
“In a word, nicotine addiction is the basis of e cigarette’s sales. Because of the high addiction and toxicity of nicotine, excessive inhalation of nicotine in e-cigarette has a great potential safety hazard. ” Wu Yiqun said that it is recommended to ban the sale and use of e-cigarette as a common commodity. In the future, if e-cigarette can help to quit smoking through scientific demonstration, e-cigarette should also pass the certification of relevant national departments as well as the smoking cessation drugs.
Verdict
A pod vape with a nicotine strength of 50mg/5% like JUUL is of high nic concentration.
Concerning your own health, please stop and have a rest after 10 puffs.
Because 10 puffs equal 1 cigarette.
And please stop vaping after 200 puffs in a day.
Because 200 puffs equal 1 pack of cigarettes (20 cigarettes)! We believe most traditional smokers are around 1 pack a day.
Good things are good only when the amount is proper, beautiful things are beautiful only when its distance is not too far or too near.
