The FDA report where they claimed to find poisons and carcinogens in e-cig juice is fairly old news, but it is still being used to justify banning the products or providing more strict regulation on them. As this biased announcement continues to be referenced, the facts behind the spin need to be pointed out. It should also be kept in mind that manufacturers do not claim that these products are completely safe; not even tap water is completely safe. However, they are certainly safer than analog cigarettes.

Accusations of Antifreeze in E Cigarette Juice

One e cigarette sample out of 18 was found to have diethylene glycol in less than a 1% concentration. This is true, and diethylene glycol is, in fact, poisonous in high amounts. Putting this in context, that means one out of 18 manufacturers used diethylene glycol. It is also stated in the FDA's report that no diethylene glycol was found in the vapor.

Even taking a suggestion that there was diethylene glycol in the vapor, this manufacturer used significantly less than a toxic amount of this substance. Diethylene glycol has an acute toxicity of 12565 mg/kg at a 100% concentration. Converting to US measurements, that is approximately 1 ounce per pound of body weight. For the average person, that means it would take about a gallon all at once to achieve acute poisoning. One cup would make a person ill, but it would not typically be fatal.

Obviously, there is not enough space in an e cigarette cartridge to come remotely close to that, even at a 100% solution. Again, this concentration was only 1%. Also, the average cartridge yields about 330 puffs, which would further diminish the possible exposure 330 times.

To be extra safe, most manufacturers either use propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin in their solutions. Some have transferred the antifreeze argument to propylene glycol, but again, this is misleading. PG is sometimes used antifreeze—when a non-toxic alternative is required. The FDA itself has labeled it safe for consumption.

Claims of Carcinogens in Electric Cigarette Juice

Another cited part of the FDA's report is the “trace amounts of carcinogens” statement. What they are referencing is the nitrosamides. In a table on Dr. Michael Stiegel's blog, the relative amounts of these substances are compared between a variety of nicotine products. The total nitrosamide amounts (nitrosamines per gram) for a vapor device is 8.183, which is comparable to a nicotine patch, which has 8.000. What does a Marlboro have? Anywhere from 6,600 to 11,190. Smoking has 825 to nearly 1,400 TIMES the amount of carcinogens than vaping.

The e-cig industry does not claim to be absolutely safe, not even drinking water is completely safe. The claim is that it is safer than smoking, which can hardly be argued in this light.