Study Reveals Shocking Truth About Vape Pen Liquids: They Contain Dangerous Metal Nanoparticles
In a groundbreaking study published in ACS Omega, researchers have uncovered a disturbing fact about vape pen liquids: they contain metal nanoparticles. And we’re not just talking about a little bit of copper or zinc – we’re talking about a whole host of toxic metals including lead, nickel, and chromium.
Funded by Health Canada and conducted by the National Research Council of Canada, this study has sent shockwaves through the vaping community. The results were presented at the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, where over 12,000 presentations were made on a wide range of topics.
Andrew Waye, head of the research program at the Health Canada Office of Cannabis Science and Surveillance, presented the findings at the meeting. “Cannabis vapes are a newly regulated product in Canada, so we don’t have much scientific data on them yet,” Waye stated in a press release. “This is an opportunity for us to address the risks and unknowns surrounding cannabis vapes.”
While vaping is often seen as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, this study has raised concerns about the potential health risks associated with inhaling metal nanoparticles. Unlike cigarettes, which use a combustion process to burn tobacco, vaping heats the liquid until it becomes an inhalable vapor. However, this process can still result in the inhalation of harmful metals.
The study focused specifically on cannabis vapes and used mass spectrometry to analyze 41 different vape liquids – 20 of which were legal products and 21 were illegal samples provided by the Ontario Provincial Police. Working with Zuzana Gajdosechova from the Metrology Research Centre of the National Research Council of Canada, researchers were able to identify 12 different metals through electron microscopy.
While some of the metals, such as arsenic, mercury, and cadmium, were present within acceptable limits, others, like lead, were found in higher concentrations in illegal samples. “The presented data from legally purchased and illegal cannabis vape devices showed mass fractions of Pb [lead] above the currently established tolerance limits in several of the vape liquids analyzed,” the authors wrote. “Additionally, the measured mass fractions of toxic metals such as Cr [chromium], Cu [copper], Ni [nickel], and Co [cobalt], as well as the essential metals Zn [zinc] and Mn [manganese], add to the existing evidence that long-term vaping may carry risks to health.”
What’s even more concerning is that the samples were taken from vapes that were less than six months old and had never been opened or used. This suggests that metal contamination can occur during the manufacturing process, posing a potential threat to consumers.
So before you take another puff from your vape pen, think twice about what you may be inhaling. The evidence is clear: vaping may not be as safe as we once thought.
