New England Journal of Medicine 2015-01-22

Hidden formaldehyde in e-cigarette aerosols.

R Paul Jensen, Wentai Luo, James F Pankow, Robert M Strongin, David H Peyton

Index: N. Engl. J. Med. 372(4) , 392-4, (2015)

Full Text: HTML

Abstract

This letter reports a chemical analysis of vapor from electronic cigarettes that shows high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The authors project that the associated incremental lifetime risk of cancer could be higher than that from long-term smoking. To the Editor: E-cigarette liquids are typically solutions of propylene glycol, glycerol, or both, plus nicotine and flavorant chemicals. We have observed that formaldehyde-containing hemiacetals, shown by others to be entities that are detectable by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy,1 can be formed during the e-cigarette “vaping” process. Formaldehyde is a known degradation product of propylene glycol that reacts with propylene glycol and glycerol during vaporization to produce hemiacetals (Figure 1). These molecules are known formaldehyde-releasing agents that are used as industrial biocides.5 In many samples of the particulate matter (i.e., the aerosol) in “vaped” e-cigarettes, more than . . .