The risks of vaping under the microscope

In the fall of 2019, serious respiratory illnesses struck 3,000 young American vapers, killing more than sixty people. The pandemic relegated the subject to oblivion, but since then, studies involving Montreal researchers continue to draw the same observation: vaping is not harmless.

Lipids rising

The mice on which Carolyn Baglole, a biologist at McGill University, tested vaping showed signs of metabolic problems, including lipid management. They also showed signs of damage to the arteries. Thus, vaping can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, particularly in men, concludes M^me Baglole.

Vaping every day for a long period of time increases the level of lipids in the blood vessels. Lipids accumulate on the walls and in the heart, the study shows that M^me Baglole published in November in the academic journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. “This was notable, given that atherosclerosis is often linked to inflammation and vaping created little inflammation in the lungs and the rest of the body. »

The McGill team launched their study in 2019, in the midst of the vaping crisis, when there were numerous cases of vaping-associated lung disease (MPAV, or its more widely used English counterpart, VALI).

Mutations and nutrients

Joined to others published in recent years, these results show, according to M^me Baglole, that it is not impossible that the effect of vaping on health is as important as that of smoking.

Smoking increases the risk of lung cancer tenfold, while most environmental exposures have an effect 10 times less. Second-hand smoke or obesity, for example, increase the risk of cancer by 20% to 50%.

According to Mathieu Morissette, a biologist specializing in tobacco and vaping at Laval University, vaping causes much fewer genetic mutations, which cause cancer, than smoking. “But certain products associated with vaping can promote the growth of cancer,” specifies Mr. Morissette.

Two products commonly used in e-cigarettes, propylene glycol and glycerol, can be used as an energy source by cells. This allows tumors to grow faster.

“There, we bring propylene glycol and glycerol directly into the lungs,” indicates the researcher from Quebec. If a person has smoked cigarettes and then switches to vaping, they may have a risk of cancer from smoking which will progress more quickly because of vaping. »

The Dutch example

Like M^me Baglole, Flory Doucas, coordinator at the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control, believes it is too early to rule out the theory that vaping is as harmful as tobacco.

Even though vaping is found to be less harmful than smoking, it is a public health problem because twice as many young people vape as smoke. “We must regulate the soup of chemicals present in vaping products,” believes the D^re Doucas.

According to her, the Netherlands is the example to follow. This Western European country bans several of the chemicals found in e-cigarettes here.

Animals and humans

Current studies on vaping focus on animals because its effects on humans, like those of smoking, will only be discovered in several decades.

“We use mice that are often susceptible to diseases such as atherosclerosis to see what is happening at the biological level,” explains Mr. Morissette.

The biologist from Laval University is following a cohort of vapers from Quebec to see if they present biological alterations, even though they have no clinical symptoms. For the moment, he has noted bronchial hyperactivity and abnormalities in the diffusion of carbon monoxide, produced by human respiration.

This fall, in the magazine Scientific ReportsItalian researchers have shown that vapers present “non-clinical” respiratory abnormalities, that is to say that they do not generate any observable symptoms.

“The symptoms are a very poor indicator of what is happening in the lungs,” comments Mr. Morissette. Before there are symptoms, it takes years, even decades. »

The results of 2019

The findings of the VALI investigations received little media coverage, which was, in spring 2020, mainly focused on COVID-19.

The culprit is vitamin E acetate, a product associated with the use of vapes to consume cannabis, according to M^me Baglole. This product was used as a capacitor for cannabis capsules sold on the black market, and research has shown that vitamin E acetate can produce a gas that is toxic to the lungs. It is banned in Canada in vaping products.

VALI victims appeared to have damage to their immune systems, says M^me Baglole. She wants to answer some questions soon. Can normal vaping cause damage to the immune system, or generate autoimmune problems?

Canada has been less affected than the United States by the vaping crisis: only 20 cases, including 16 hospitalizations, have occurred in the country, and none have died. There have been six cases in Quebec.