No Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines or Diethylene Glycol Detected in inLife Electronic Cigarettes

Do Anti-Smoking Groups Still Want Ex-Smokers to Return to the Real Thing?

Laboratory testing of inLife electronic cigarettes has confirmed that there are no detectable levels of either tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA's) or diethylene glycol (DEG) (see: full report #1; full report #2). The testing was conducted by Alliance Technologies. No DEG was detected either in the electronic cigarette cartridge (liquid) or vapors. For the TSNA testing, only the liquid was tested (but there won't be any TSNA's in the vapor if they are not present in the liquid).

Previously, NJOY announced that testing of its electronic cigarette products revealed no carcinogenic TSNA's in the vapor produced by the device. FDA testing had detected trace levels of TSNA's in the liquid. But NJOY's testing of the vapor revealed no detectable levels of three carcinogenic TSNA's. Trace levels of a fourth TSNA were detected, but that component is not believed to be toxic, according to NJOY. In contrast, detectable levels of the highly carcinogenic TSNAs NNN and NNK were found in nicotine replacement products.

The results of laboratory testing of inLife electronic cigarettes are available on a new web site which presents detailed information about electronic cigarettes and helps to debunk many of the myths about these products which have been disseminated by anti-smoking groups.

The Rest of the Story

Despite the initial scare instilled into the American public by the FDA, subsequent testing has revealed no evidence that there is any appreciable exposure to carcinogens from inhaling the electronic cigarette vapor and the DEG scare seems to be limited to a single e-cigarette brand. The inLife electronic cigarette product, we now know, is free of detectable levels of either TSNA's or DEG. Thus, claims about these two major hazards of electronic cigarettes, made by anti-smoking groups calling for their removal from the market, have now been debunked.

So far, anti-smoking groups which want electronic cigarettes removed from the market have pointed to just two potential hazards from these products: (1) carcinogenic exposure from tobacco-specific nitrosamines; and (2) exposure to diethylene glycol. This testing of inLife and other electronic cigarettes is significant because it demonstrates that for at least some of the e-cigarette products on the market, neither of these two alleged health hazards is a problem.

Which means - there are currently no alleged health hazards of many of the brands of electronic cigarettes on the market. Yet, anti-smoking groups still want these products to be removed from the market, forcing thousands of ex-smokers to return to regular cigarette smoking.

That is a policy which would, with near certainty, lead to increased disease and death.

Yet that's the policy being supported by a number of major anti-smoking groups.

Clearly, protecting the public's health is not the sole concern or motivating factor for these anti-smoking groups.