A STUDY by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has finally debunked claims vape contains toxic formaldehyde.
False headlines and rumours have been circulating since 2015 when a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) concluded vaping emitted the dangerous chemical.
The nation’s health protection agency has now concluded that e-cigarette vapour contains no more formaldehyde than the normal, everyday air found in the average American home.
In fact, many residences probably have much higher levels from regular textiles found around the home, such as carpets and curtains.
A number of renowned researchers including top doctor Dr Konstantnos Farsalinos have spent the past three years trying to reassure vapers by conducting similar experiments to the new CDC study, which came to the same reassuring conclusion.
Sadly, however, they fell on deaf ears and the scaremongering rumors not only continued to worry the public and medical world but the misinformation has even shaped government policy across the world.
The new paper titled 'Evaluation of Chemical Exposures at a Vape Shop' has now been published on the CDC website, which can be viewed by the public.
The researchers gathered their data by collecting air samples from vape shops where both customers and employees would be actively vaping. Not surprisingly they found that despite the higher than average amount of vaping taking place in such outlets, the air quality testing did not produce measurable concentrations of formaldehyde or other toxins.
In line with the above, in 2017 the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) had also been carrying out air sampling in vape shops throughout the state.
In his blog, Public Health Expert Dr. Michael Siegel shared the results obtained from a relatively small and non-ventilated vape shop, where many of the employees and 13 customers were actively vaping while the sampling was taking place - hence the environment had a high level of exposure to second-hand vapor.
Despite all these unfavourable conditions, the results reported no dangerous levels of exposure to any hazardous chemicals. Despite this, the CDPH never released this official data.
Public health experts and vaping advocates alike are now hoping that the CDC study will be given the attention it deserves and start repairing the damage done by the inaccurate and often quoted 2015 study.
The CDC study can be read here.
