Using certain electronic cigarettes at high temperature settings potentially could release more formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical, than smoking traditional cigarettes does, new lab tests suggest.
The research does not prove a health risk. It involved limited testing on one brand of e-cigarettes and was done in test tubes, not people. It also does not mean e-cigarettes are better or worse than regular ones. Tobacco smoke contains dozens of things that can cause cancer.
But it does highlight how little is known about the safety of e-cigarettes, which are battery-powered devices that heat liquid to deliver nicotine in a vapor.
“It’s a potential red flag,” said independent expert Stephen Hecht, a chemist and tobacco researcher at the University of Minnesota, of the study. “Under some conditions, e-cigarettes might be generating more formaldehyde than you’d want to be exposed to. But I don’t think we know enough yet. There’s a huge variety in the makeup of these cigarettes and how they are used.”
