| Electronic cigarettes (EC) have grown in popularity over the past decade, often promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes. Currently, regulatory proposals are being deliberated, with much of the focus on the regulation of sale of EC's. Since EC's have come to market, consumers, regulators, and researchers have expressed concern over the actual health benefits, risks, and safety of these products. But in order to ensure the safety of the population through proper regulation, scientific evidence surrounding EC's must be examined. Current literature focuses on cessation, cravings, and user demographics. Unfortunately, the current body of research surrounding EC emissions, usage, and safety is sparse. To assess recent findings with EC emissions and cellular effects, systematic searches were performed on five databases for research between 2009-2015 concerning e-liquid, cartridges, vapor constituents, biomarkers, and cytotoxicity. Overall, many compounds are present in EC aerosol, and cell viability is affected by EC use. Researchers have consistently found that EC's are not emission free, sometimes containing carcinogens, metals, and other potentially harmful constituents. Although the body of research is expanding, there are many obstacles in the field that make drawing conclusions about health and safety difficult. These difficulties include a lack of universal validated methodology, an extrapolation of data to the general population due to differences in user behaviors and techniques, and variation in EC devices to name a few. Regardless of these obstacles, a main conclusion needs to be drawn on whether these devices pose a threat to the health of users and bystanders. Through examining EC emission data, this review is able to point out compounds of concern and further assess the actual health risk EC emissions may pose. |
