We do not claim that this title is 100% scientifically substantiated, but the odds are very large that it is correcter than the slogans that were headed for us today.
Of course, we refer to the many messages titled "e-cigarette 15 times more carcinogenic than ordinary cigarette".
It was a day when our mailbox was flooded with messages from people who have the irresistible urge to let us know how bad and unhealthy electronic cigarettes are.
It shows how easy it is to sow fear and confusion with messages based on misleading formaldehyde studies.
The cause of the hot is after all a study of researchers at the University of Portland whose results were published earlier in The New England Medical Journey.
Punishment if you ask us ... because the New England Medical Journey is a renowned medical magazine. We would hardly believe everything that appears in this magazine, do not we think we are just a little better informed about this matter than Jan with the cap or Fred with the cigarette.
What was channeled out of the channel research to flood our media was mainly due to concentrations of formaldehyde released by electronic cigarettes with a variable voltage battery.
How did the research proceed?
The researchers confirmed a battery on an atomizer (atomizer), set the voltage to 3.3 volts and 5.0 volts, and simulated in either case a 4-second puff (pull). In the situation at 3.3 volts nothing was abnormally noted. But when the battery was set to 5.0 volts - which means the fluid was exposed to a higher temperature - the researchers found formaldehyde, a substance that is carcinogenic.
What were the conclusions of the research?
Because a smoker smokes 3 milligrams of formaldehyde a day and a smoker who adjusts his 5.0 volt battery to 14 milligrams, it was concluded that electronic cigarettes are 15 times more carcinogenic than ordinary cigarettes.
What's in this story?
You could hardly pay attention, but if you read between the lines of the report, one thing becomes very clear: when using an electronic cigarette, no carcinogens are released.
What's not in this story?
First of all, no formaldehyde was found, but formaldehyde hemiacetals. (Cf. Dr. Farsalinos, cardiologist and scientist who has been researching electronic cigarettes for years).
Because we are not all scientists and want to get you all the way to the end of this article, we will keep it understandable.
There is no evidence that hemiacetals are toxic or carcinogenic. It could even be that the formation of hemiacetals protects against damage caused by formaldehyde. In spite of all this, the authors assumed that the risks are similar to those of formaldehyde to calculate the risk of cancer.
But far more important: the researchers are completely mistaken in their research because they assume that the temperature in an electronic cigarette is determined by the battery voltage.
That's not right at all. The heating of the e-liquid has to do with 2 factors: the battery voltage and the coil resistance (coil) in the atomizer. That combination determines the power of your electronic cigarette, expressed in Watt.
We do not know which power (wattage) the atomizer received during processing. Every experienced e-smoker knows that when you increase the voltage of your battery, you need to use a lower resistor coil to ensure that your e-liquid or coils do not burn. (See our safe vapor chart - note this does not apply to all tanks).
Our conclusion: In the 5.0 volt simulation of the research the coils became overheated. And everybody knows that toxic substances can be released in that situation.
This is confirmed by calculations that Dr. Farsalinos did based on data released by researchers in response to their studies.
The authors of the study indicated that at 3.3 volts and 4-second puffs, 5mg of e-liquid was consumed. This calculated Farsalinos generated a power of 6 to 7 watts.
Based on these parameters, you can easily use the resistance of the atomizer used during the investigation. (Wattage = Voltage x Voltage / Resistor). The resistance is thus between 1.6 and 1.8 ohms. This means that at a voltage of 5.0 volts, the power in the tested configuration increased to 14 to 16 watts.
If you look up this figure in our safe vapor chart, you'll see that this is extremely high