Secondhand smoke receives a great deal of attention, and now that vaping is popular, the focus has shifted to secondhand vaping instead. Some studies show that secondhand vaping is harmless, while others claim that it is just as dangerous as secondhand traditional smoke.
We reviewed some of the research and tried to find the truth behind secondhand vapor and whether it poses any risk.
What we know today
The vast majority of scientific studies show that secondhand vapor does not pose a threat to our health. Even if this is true, it has not stopped several media sources and scientific communities from expressing dissenting opinions.
What could be causing these different opinions? What do the studies that have examined secondhand vapor conclude?
Before we look at why some believe that secondhand vapor poses a threat, let’s first figure out…
What is secondhand vaping? Secondhand vaping is vapor produced after an individual exhales vapor from an electronic cigarette or e-cigarette.
A study published in the Journal of Chromatography examined the amount of “volatile organic compounds” (VOC) in secondhand vapor and compared them with the number of VOCs in normal exhaled air, indoor air, and smoke from tobacco cigarettes.
VOCs are organic compounds that have a low boiling point, causing them to become gaseous easily. Some of them can be toxic and result in long-term health effects.
The study concluded that not only did secondhand vapor contain fewer VOCs than tobacco smoke, it also contained fewer than exhaled air. The study found nicotine in secondhand vapor. However, it was present in such low quantities that it did not harm anyone.
So far, we know that secondhand vapor contains fewer toxic VOCs than tobacco smoke.
What other information is available on this subject?
Air-sampling studies on secondhand vapor
The California Department of Public Health conducted air sampling in various e-cigarette shops throughout California.
The samples were taken in e-cigarette shops with more than 10 customers and employees, all of whom were puffing on their e-cigarettes. The shop was not ventilated and, to put it in terms a vape enthusiast can understand, "There were some epic clouds."
The researchers found no traces of nicotine or other compounds known to be dangerous. They found trace amounts of formaldehyde, but at levels consistent with normal outdoor air.
The results showed that secondhand vapor posed almost no threat to people in the environment in terms of exposure to dangerous toxins.
To summarize: In a cloudy e-cigarette shop with more vapor than at any other place the average person will ever visit, no dangerous exposure levels of dangerous toxins were detected.
The list of studies removing secondhand vapor as a threat to human health is enormous. We will include a few more links at the bottom of this article.
This should mean that, with this amount of evidence, we ought to be able to dismiss the idea that secondhand vapor should be classified as harmless.
Does anyone out there believe that secondhand vapor poses a threat to human health? Answer: Yes!
The opposition
An article published on scarymommy.com highlights the main points made by those who believe that secondhand vapor poses a risk to the public.
The first main argument presented in the article refers to a CDC study that found that the majority of Americans believe that secondhand vapor causes little or no harm. The study concludes that it is important for adults and children to become aware of the potential harms of secondhand vapor.
Where did the CDC get the idea that secondhand vapor would be harmful?
A 2016 report published by the Surgeon General claimed that secondhand vapor contained nicotine, heavy metals, and other dangerous toxins. This report encouraged the idea that secondhand vapor was a harmful substance that the public should avoid. The CDC used this report as the basis for its study and claimed that the fact that the public had no idea about the "dangers" was a cause for concern.
Why did the Surgeon General’s report get such different results compared with the studies we mentioned earlier?
It didn’t.
The report noted that these chemicals were present, but it failed to mention that they were present in such low quantities that they would have no impact on human health and that many of them also exist in the normal air we all breathe.
The Surgeon General’s report cited studies that found harmful chemicals in vapor and used this as a way to argue that secondhand vapor poses a threat to the public. Studies that only show that secondhand vapor exists have not produced these results.
This may lead you to wonder whether vaping itself is bad for you. The Surgeon General’s report mentions that formaldehyde is detected in the aerosol emitted by vaporizers.
The myth of formaldehyde
One of the most widely publicized studies on vaping was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015.
You may have seen headlines suggesting that e-cigarette vapor contained formaldehyde. NBC, NPR, and other major news outlets covered the story. It took the Internet by storm and caused a great deal of fear among the public about the potential dangers of vaping.
There are some problems with this study. Dr. Konstantin Farsalinos took a critical look at the study and discovered the many flaws that were present.
"This study is the result of serious personal frustration at seeing a complete lack of understanding among several researchers about how e-cigarettes work and how consumers use them," Farsalinos said in an article on e-cigarette-research.org.
The study fails to consider how people use e-cigarettes. The researchers who conducted the study essentially created a machine that would imitate a person’s action with a vaporizer. They connected the vaporizer to the machine, fired it, and measured the chemicals in the vapor.
And yes, they found formaldehyde at the highest temperature they tested. The lower temperatures produced no formaldehyde or other carcinogens at all.
What they did not consider
What they failed to consider was that the temperatures they used were too hot for anyone to inhale. Anyone who has used a vaporizer is familiar with the term "dry hit." This occurs when devices overheat or do not have enough e-liquid to produce a hit.
It is one of the worst sensations you will ever experience as a vape user. No one in their right mind would ever use their devices at these high temperatures, and yet the study used temperatures in this dry-hit range to search for chemicals.
Imagine this: A group of researchers wants to test whether steak is carcinogenic. They fry the meat until it is burnt and charred to the point that no one in their right mind would consume it, and then test it for carcinogens. They find carcinogens and report that cooked steak contains carcinogens.
That is what happened here, but with vaporizers.
So, let’s summarize this chain of information. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study conducted in a way that did not imitate the real-world use of vaporizers. The study found formaldehyde when the device was used at high temperatures that no one could actually inhale. These results were used by the Surgeon General to conclude that secondhand vapor is unsafe. The CDC conducted a survey stating that people do not understand the harmful potential of vaporizers and urged the public to become more aware. News outlets published stories claiming that secondhand vapor poses a risk to the public.
Dr. Konstantin Farsalinos conducted a counter-study in the journal Addiction. He discovered that it was possible to make e-cigarettes produce formaldehyde, but only at temperatures and settings that would be intolerable for anyone using a vaporizer.
Some highly debatable information led to a massive outcry from the public and media.
Professor Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, said the following about Farsalinos’s study,
“These findings emphasize the importance of clarifying the conditions for testing of this kind and avoiding strong claims that could mislead the public. Vapers are not exposed to dangerous levels of aldehydes. My reading of the evidence is that e-cigarettes are at least 95% safer than smoking.”
Conclusions about the effects of secondhand vaping
There appears to be no connection between inhaling secondhand vapor and health hazards.
This may leave you feeling a little confused. Why is there so much negative pressure surrounding secondhand vapor?
Many people are afraid that vaping could initiate a "renormalization" of smoking. There are many people and organizations that believe more people will dare to smoke in public and that it will become a normalized part of society. If that happens, smoking will become normalized as it once was.
Others also worry that there are not enough long-term studies, since vaporizers were introduced in 2007. Although this is true, it is easy to analyze the vapor, see which chemicals are present, compare it with the science behind air purity and the dangers of gaseous substances, and conclude that there is no risk from vaping.
The exaggerated effects of secondhand vaping
Have you heard people exaggerate the effects of secondhand vapor? Do you think the public should be made aware that many scientific studies conclude that secondhand vapor poses no threat? What can we do about it?
Share your thoughts in the comments on our Facebook page. We would love to hear your opinions!
Additional studies and evidence
Secondhand exposure to vapors from electronic cigarettes: "Using an e-cigarette in indoor environments may unintentionally expose non-users to nicotine but not to toxic tobacco-specific combustion products."
A systematic review of what chemicals of concern in electronic cigarettes tell us about health risks: "Current knowledge of chemicals in liquids and aerosols associated with electronic cigarettes indicates that there is NO evidence that vaping delivers inhalable exposures to contaminants in the aerosol that would warrant health concerns according to the standards used to ensure workplace safety."
Comparison of selected analyses in exhaled aerosol from e-cigarettes with exhaled smoke from a conventional cigarette: "The result suggests that exhaled e-cigarette aerosol does not increase exposure to phenols and carbonyls above the levels observed in respiratory air, in contrast to the quantifiable levels of these analytes in exhaled conventional cigarette smoke."
