Metal and Silicate Particles Including Nanoparticles Are Present in Electronic Cigarette Cartomizer Fluid and Aerosol
By Monique Williams, Amanda Villarreal, K. Bozhilov, Sabrina Lin, P. Talbot. PLoS ONE, 2013
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Background Electronic cigarettes (EC) deliver aerosol by heating fluid containing nicotine. Cartomizer EC combine the fluid chamber and heating element in a single unit. Because EC do not burn tobacco, they may be safer than conventional cigarettes. Their use is rapidly increasing worldwide with little prior testing of their aerosol. Objectives We tested the hypothesis that EC aerosol contains metals derived from various components in EC. Methods Cartomizer contents and aerosols were analyzed using light and electron microscopy, cytotoxicity testing, x-ray microanalysis, particle counting, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Results The filament, a nickel-chromium wire, was coupled to a thicker copper wire coated with silver. The silver coating was sometimes missing. Four tin solder joints attached the wires to each other and coupled the copper/silver wire to the air tube and mouthpiece. All cartomizers had evidence of use before packaging (burn spots on the fibers and electrophoretic movement of fluid in the fibers). Fibers in two cartomizers had green deposits that contained copper. Centrifugation of the fibers produced large pellets containing tin. Tin particles and tin whiskers were identified in cartridge fluid and outer fibers. Cartomizer fluid with tin particles was cytotoxic in assays using human pulmonary fibroblasts. The aerosol contained particles >1 µm comprised of tin, silver, iron, nickel, aluminum, and silicate and nanoparticles (<100 nm) of tin, chromium and nickel. The concentrations of nine of eleven elements in EC aerosol were higher than or equal to the corresponding concentrations in conventional cigarette smoke. Many of the elements identified in EC aerosol are known to cause respiratory distress and disease. Conclusions The presence of metal and silicate particles in cartomizer aerosol demonstrates the need for improved quality control in EC design and manufacture and studies on how EC aerosol impacts the health of users and bystanders.
Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Epidemiology, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b69f62b1edc0ab5e0151d27d6745965e213bf95a
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Citations in the corpus
- Vapors Produced by Electronic Cigarettes and E-Juices with Flavorings Induce Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammatory Response in Lung Epithelial Cells and in Mouse Lung (2015, background): “Specific particulates, heavy metals, and toxic carbonyls in ENDS/e-cig aerosols have recently been measured in ecigs aerosols as well [5,7,9,10].”
- Safety evaluation and risk assessment of electronic cigarettes as tobacco cigarette substitutes: a systematic review (2014, background): “This is a highly unexpected finding which cannot be supported by the findings of the study by Williams and colleagues [Williams et al. 2013]; because the levels found in the latter could not result in such elevation of the environmental levels of aluminum, unless nothing is retained in or absorbed f”