Popular vaping products contaminated with bacterial and fungal toxins

[freemexy]

Popular vaping products contaminated with bacterial and fungal toxins

Popular Electronic Cigarette products in the United States may be contaminated with harmful bacterial and fungal toxins, a new study from Harvard researchers suggests.When looking at 75 e-cigarette cartridges and e-liquid products from the top-selling brands in 2013, the team found that 23% contained traces of endotoxin and that that 81% contained traces of glucan.

Endotoxins are found on Gram-negative bacteria and glucan is found on most fungi. Exposure to them has been associated with health problems like asthma, reduced lung function, and inflammation, the researchers say.

"Airborne Gram-negative bacterial endotoxin and fungal-derived glucans have been shown to cause acute and chronic respiratory effects in occupational and environmental settings," David Christiani, a professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and senior author of the study, said in a statement.Finding these toxins in e-cigarette products adds to the growing concerns about the potential for adverse respiratory effects in users."

While the team did find the contaminants present in their samples, they did not test for how much of the contaminants were in aerosols actually inhaled by users, the study says.Brand and product names were not included in the study.

The study, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives, comes amid growing concern among federal health officials about potential public health effects of vaping.The Food and Drug Administration last year declared youth vaping an "epidemic" as millions of middle school, high school and college students say they use e-cigarettes.Electronic Cigarette
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