E-cigarettes induce less biological responses associated with Cardiovascular – PMI

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 | By publisher


Health

Landmark 6-month study demonstrating that e-cigarette vapours induce significantly lower biological responses associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases compared with cigarette smoke

 

 

PHILIP Morris International, PMI, presented the results from a new study on e-cigarettes on Thursday, March 14 at the 58th Annual Society of Toxicology Meeting in Baltimore. The study demonstrates that after 6 months, e-cigarette vapours with and without nicotine induced a significantly lower biological responses associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases than cigarette smoke. The study, conducted in collaboration with Altria Group, Inc., assessed the biological response of mice exposed to e-cigarette vapours compared with that of exposure to cigarette smoke.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are more than 1 billion people worldwide who smoke cigarettes and will continue to smoke in the foreseeable future. Tobacco harm reduction can play an important role by supplementing existing tobacco control strategies to help reduce the risk of smoking-related diseases. For harm reduction to be successful, current adult smokers need access to smoke-free products that deliver nicotine but with significantly lower levels of toxicants than cigarettes.

“These results are a powerful addition to the evidence showing that switching to e-cigarettes is a much better choice than continuing to smoke,” Julia Hoeng, the PMI’s director of Systems Toxicology, said. “This study truly is a landmark study, not just demonstrating the reduced toxicity and disease risk between e-cigarettes and cigarettes but also evaluating the role of nicotine and flavours.”

Background

The combustion of tobacco produces over 6,000 chemicals, of which almost 100 are harmful or potentially harmful. The overwhelming scientific evidence links the exposure to these chemicals, rather than nicotine, as the primary cause of smoking-related disease. Therefore, in recent years, e-cigarettes have been gaining popularity as a potential alternative to cigarettes. Currently, however, there are limited data on the long-term disease risk profile of e-cigarettes or their components compared with that of cigarette smoke. In general, e-cigarettes consist of aerosol formers (propylene glycol [PG] and/or vegetable glycerin [VG]), nicotine, and flavour ingredients. Therefore the study is relevant for products that contain these components. In contrast with cigarettes, e-cigarettes deliver nicotine without the smoke constituents that arise from the combustion of tobacco.

– Mar. 15, 2019 @ 13:35 GMT |

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