Vape No More: Safe Or Toxic?

Early 500 B.C., smoking has become part of the shamanistic rituals. Several of ancient civilizations such as the Babylonians, Indians and Chinese kindle incense as fragment of their religious rituals. The Americans have further believed that smoking had originated from this burn of incense and it has been turned and adopted for pleasure or as a social tool.

Dating back from early society, the people embraced a new way of inhaling pleasure, from cigarettes that are made from scraps or cigars to filtered cellulose acetate and reconstituted of tobacco sheet to ventilated tips and freeze dried tobaccos and now to electronic cigarette or popularly known as "vape."

E-cigarettes are battery operated device that vaporizes a flavored liquid inside the metal coil. Using e-cigarettes is called "vaping" wherein the user inhales the vapor that comes from the liquid called e-liquid. This liquid is usually made up of nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine and flavorings.

Ecigalternative said that just any other substances that introduced to our body can cause side effects -- whether it is ingested, inhaled or even simply touched. These liquids used in association with vaping are no different.

According to Science News for Students, in the study, although the liquid is labeled as food grade and perceptibly edible, scientists argued that heating this substance can change its chemical composition. Experts emphasized that these chemical changes can make the vapor more lethal and harmful.

Furthermore, the paper of Rahman's team that published last Oct. 24 in the journal of Oncotarget has taken out that vaping is causing adverse risk of developing cancer, gum disease and possibly tooth loss for anyone who uses e-cigar.

The team of researchers described it through inoculating and culturing human's mouth cells in the lab such as gum's cell, ligaments that attach teeth to the gums. By that, each cell has been exposed to the chemicals from e-cigar vapors. Rahman's team concluded that the vapor can alter DNA, and exposing the cells to the vapors can change the genetic sequence that signals a cell on how to grow and function.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" -- a proverb that keeps on nagging us to stop doing something from happening in the first place than to fix the damage after it happened.