While vaping is considered by many to be less toxic than tobacco cigarettes, new research insists that they are actually just as harmful. Results gathered from a new testing device have shown that both the vapors and nicotine-based liquid in e-cigs may result in similar levels of DNA damage. The device, which is 3-D printed, is reportedly the first of its kind capable of quickly detecting such “genotoxicity.”
A study by chemists at the University of Connecticut offers new evidence that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are potentially as harmful as tobacco cigarettes. Using a new low-cost, 3-D printed testing device, UConn researchers found that e-cigarettes loaded with a nicotine-based liquid are potentially as harmful as unfiltered cigarettes when it comes to causing DNA damage. The researchers also found that vapor from non-nicotine e-cigarettes caused as much DNA damage as filtered cigarettes, possibly due to the many chemical additives present in e-cigarette vapors. Cellular mutations caused by DNA damage can lead to cancer.
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Source: [H]ardOCP – E-Cigarettes “Potentially as Harmful as Tobacco Cigarettes”