Vaping speeds up the death of lung cells by 50 fold and could trigger lung diseases in later life, a new study suggests.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham found that the vapour inhaled from e-cigarettes damages immune cells, preventing them from clearing out harmful bacteria.
The researchers said changes to lung tissue were similar to those seen in regular smokers and found the vapour triggered the effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an umbrella term for diseases including severe bronchitis, asthma and emphysema.
David Thickett, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Birmingham’s Institute of Inflammation and Ageing said: “Where I live there is a vaping shop with a poster which says ‘save your lungs, switch to vaping’ and what we are saying is we don’t believe that’s true.
“If you vape for 20 to 30 years and it can cause COPD then that’s something we need to know about.
“A large number of e-cigarette companies are being bought up by tobacco companies and there’s certainly an agenda to portray e-cigarettes as safe.
“I don’t believe that e-cigarettes are more dangerous than cigarettes but I think we should have a cautious scepticism that they are as safe as we are being led to believe."
According to the Office For National Statistics, there are around 2.8 million regular vapers in Britain.
But scientists and health officials across the world are currently divided over the safety of e-cigarettes. Public Health England (PHE) continues to urge smokers to switch to vaping, claiming they are around 95 per cent safer than tobacco.
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| © Getty According to the Office For National Statistics, there are around 2.8 million regular vapers in Britain. |
However, the US Surgeon General has warned that e-cigarettes leave young people at risk of nicotine addiction, brain development problems and mood disorders, while the World Health Organisation has said it is concerned that heating e-fluid can lead to the ‘formation of toxicants.’
While previous studies have shown that e-cigarette fluid causes damage to the lungs, that research has been criticised for not mimicking the effects of vaping itself.
To get a more accurate representation of the effects of inhaling e-cigarettes, the Birmingham researchers came up with a way to create condensed vapour, which is closer to what lung cells encounter.
They extracted immune cells from lung tissue samples provided by eight non-smokers who had never suffered from asthma or COPD and exposed them to varying levels of e-cigarette fluid and condensed vapour.
The vapour was found to boost the production of inflammatory chemicals and disable key protective cells in the lung that keep the air spaces clear of potentially harmful particles. It also increased cell death by a factor of 50.
Commenting on the study Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said: “This study provides further evidence that challenges the view that vaping presents only minimal risks.
“The argument that, since vaping is better than smoking cigarettes any effects of vape on lung cells are not important - is increasingly becoming a specious one.
“This study convincingly shows that e-cigarette vapour has the capacity to induce adverse effects in these cells.”
However, Prof John Britton, Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies at the University of Nottingham, said e-cigarettes were still far safer than smoking.
“The harsh truth is that smoking kills, and smokers who switch completely to electronic cigarettes are likely substantially to reduce the likelihood of premature death and disability,” he said.
The government’s Science and Technology committee is due to publish a report on the safety of e-cigarettes this Friday.
The research was published in the journal Thorax.
While previous studies have shown that e-cigarette fluid causes damage to the lungs, that research has been criticised for not mimicking the effects of vaping itself.
To get a more accurate representation of the effects of inhaling e-cigarettes, the Birmingham researchers came up with a way to create condensed vapour, which is closer to what lung cells encounter.
They extracted immune cells from lung tissue samples provided by eight non-smokers who had never suffered from asthma or COPD and exposed them to varying levels of e-cigarette fluid and condensed vapour.
The vapour was found to boost the production of inflammatory chemicals and disable key protective cells in the lung that keep the air spaces clear of potentially harmful particles. It also increased cell death by a factor of 50.
Commenting on the study Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said: “This study provides further evidence that challenges the view that vaping presents only minimal risks.
“The argument that, since vaping is better than smoking cigarettes any effects of vape on lung cells are not important - is increasingly becoming a specious one.
“This study convincingly shows that e-cigarette vapour has the capacity to induce adverse effects in these cells.”
However, Prof John Britton, Director of the UK Centre for Tobacco & Alcohol Studies at the University of Nottingham, said e-cigarettes were still far safer than smoking.
“The harsh truth is that smoking kills, and smokers who switch completely to electronic cigarettes are likely substantially to reduce the likelihood of premature death and disability,” he said.
The government’s Science and Technology committee is due to publish a report on the safety of e-cigarettes this Friday.
The research was published in the journal Thorax.
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