There’s plenty of scientific evidence about the dangers of tobacco but nothing conclusive about e-cigarette aerosol or vaping. “Instead of tobacco, now you’re inhaling this fluid with nicotine” said Dr Matthias Salathe, a professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Miami are using a smoking robot to test the impact vaping may have on the airways to the lungs.
Inside his high-tech lab, specially designed e-cigarettes are put to the test. The robot is designed to take one puff every minute. The vapor goes into a tube, it’s diluted with air and then blown over cells from the lining of a human airway. “Some preliminary data that we have suggests there are changes occurring” Salathe said. Researchers are also using the set-up without the nicotine additive to test lung cells exposed to just the vapor. It’s formed by heating two liquids; propylene glycol, an organic liquid with a sweet taste, and glycerine, a substance found in cooking oil.
“Just because these fluids are safe to put on your skin or to drink them, they’re not necessarily safe to inhale into the lungs” Salathe explained. This researcher and his robot may soon have a clear picture. Salathe said the contents of e-cigarettes are varied because unlike other nicotine products, e-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA. Data from the study could be used to determine whether the cigarettes should be regulated. View full article
Melanie Falcon (16 September 2015) Health Beat, e-cigarettes: Smoking robot [news]. Retrieved from http://ow.ly/Sjnza
DR B' VAPING. all.things.vapelife 