In a new study, researchers at New York University found that e-cigarettes were linked to lung cancer and pre-cancerous legions in the bladders of mice. This is the first study linking e-cigarettes to cancer after a surge in their popularity and after a number of FDA notices have warned about their dangerous effects.
“With nicotine in e-cigarettes, general belief is that it is not carcinogenic — it’s addictive, but it does not cause cancer. But we showed that nicotine from e-cigarettes can damage DNA material and cause lung cancer and precancerous legions on the bladder,” Dr. Moon-shong Tang, Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pathology and Medicine at New York University School of Medicine who authored this study tells SurvivorNet.
Read MoreVaping-Related Lung Cancer
Mice who inhaled e-cigarette vapor with nicotine were more likely to develop lung cancer and precancerous bladder legions
NYU Study in PNAS Journal
There were some limitations to the study. For example, the the mice were not able to inhale the vapor as deeply as a human might. It was also conducting a small sample size of mice, and they were more likely to develop cancer over their lives.
“Humans just inhale, so we cannot completely replicate that. The next best is to just put the mice in a closed chamber with no air, and we inject the e-cigarette vapor. It’s a closed system, where the only thing they can inhale is the e-cigarette vapor,” says Dr. Tang.
Still, the results are alarming at a time when there has been a lot of uncertainty over the safety of vapes.
Vaping and recently reported dangers
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified over 1000 cases of vaping-related lung diseases to date, which have led to 18 deaths. Twelve of those deaths, according to a CDC report, have been tied to vapes that include THC. Federal investigators say 78% of the cases of vaping-related illnesses are linked to THC vaping devices.
Despite the FDA warning and the reports from the CDC, vaping is not yet banned federally. However, many state governments have already taken steps to making vaping more difficult and to reduce the number of underage people using these products. State measures taken so far include:
- New York, Michigan and Rhode Island have issued a ban on flavored nicotine vapes (flavored vapes like JUUL are especially popular among the underage crowd)
- Massachusetts has issued a four-month ban on all vaping products
- California health officials issued a statement urging people to stop vaping right away
What have doctors said about vaping in the past?
Part of the problem with vaping is that because the science is still unclear, many people believe it’s not actually harmful, and while this study from NYU is a good start, there is still a lot unknown about the impact of vaping. Because vaping is still new, researchers haven’t been able to conduct long-term studies on the physical damage these products can do.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Weill-Cornell thoracic surgeon Dr. Brendon Stiles explained that the need to study these products and their dangers now is urgent — and users shouldn’t assume that products are a safer alternative to cigarettes (as they were marketed to be.
Dr. Brendon Stiles, thoracic surgeon at Weill-Cornell, talks about the need for more research on
“The reason doctors can’t say with certainty that vaping is dangerous is that there simply hasn’t been enough time to study the long-term effects yet,” Dr. Stiles told SurvivorNet, adding that these unknowns make it dire that research on the dangers is started sooner rather than later. “It’s very pressing to start researching this now. If we wait 10 to 15 years until we see the clinical effects in all these kids who are taking up vaping, it’s going to be too late.”
In its latest warning, the FDA acknowledged that there is still much more research to do, but said that there are serious indicators implicating THC-containing vape products as a real danger to a person’s health.
“This is a complex, ongoing and evolving investigation,” the FDA said. “In addition to our own analyses, we are also diligently reviewing published literature of third-party analyses of samples and data, which are beneficial to our ongoing investigation. At this time, the FDA does not have enough data to identify the cause, or causes, of lung injuries in these cases. Additionally, while no one compound or ingredient has emerged as a singular culprit, we do know that THC is present in most of the samples being tested.”
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