Vaping FAQs

does vaping affect second hand

by Leif Simonis Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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The study found that vaping aerosols can contain nicotine, aluminum and particulate matter (inhalable particles that can irritate the respiratory system and cause health issues) that can impact the health of those exposed to secondhand vapor from e-cigarettes.

Yes, second and third-hand smoke and vaping aerosols contain harmful, toxic and cancer-causing chemicals that can be breathed in. They can go into the body through the skin. These chemicals can be swallowed, as many children put their hands or other objects into their mouths.

Full Answer

Is secondhand vaping something to be concerned about?

“Vaping and secondhand vaping is just as dangerous,” clarifies Nader Nakhleh, D.O., a board certified pediatric pulmonologist. “Now it is our mission as experts to change the conversation around vaping from being a ‘better’ alternative to smoking to actually being equally as detrimental.”

What are the dangers of vaping?

The interchangeable use of smoking and vaping is most common in people under age 35. They face equal risk of heart attack or stroke than if they lit up exclusively. The takeaway is that there is no ‘best’ method of inhaling nicotine.

Is second hand vaping harmful?

Vaping can cause severe health issues, but breathing in secondhand vapor is dangerous too.

Is second hand vapor smoke harmful?

There isn’t a lot of research done on the health harms of exposure to secondhand aerosol from vaping. Early studies suggest that the risks posed by secondhand vaping are substantially lower than secondhand smoking, but that's a low bar considering how hard cigarette smoke is on the body.

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How does second hand smoking affect the world?

Secondhand smoking kills tens of thousands of people every year in the United States alone. It can cause sudden infant death syndrome and lung issues in children. In adults, it can lead to serious health conditions later in life, such as stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer—even in people who never smoked themselves. 1

How does an e-cigarette work?

E-cigarette devices use metal coils to heat the vaping fluid, and over time, small amounts of metals can sometimes get into the aerosol after repeated use at high temperatures. 6 . While the person vaping will breathe in the full brunt of these toxins, some will be exhaled into the air.

Is second hand vaping bad for you?

Secondhand Vaping as a Gateway. In addition to the still uncertain health risks associated with breathing in e-cigarette aerosol, being around people who vape could have other consequences—particularly for adolescents who are more likely to be influenced by social norms and visual cues.

Does vaping hurt your lungs?

Short-term studies didn’t find evidence that secondhand vaping hurts lung function , with one notable exception. Researchers found that people who were around vaping aerosol showed increases in the serum cotinine, which is a marker that someone was exposed to nicotine (an ingredient often found in e-cigarettes). 7  Given the long list of health risks posed by nicotine, more research needs to be done on how this exposure could affect someone’s lungs long-term like it can with secondhand smoke.

Can vaping affect non-vapers?

It’s still not clear how the toxins found in secondhand vaping can affect the health of non-vapers, especially long-term. The limited research available so far has largely focused on immediate health effects. That said, there are some concerns about how repeatedly inhaling e-cigarette aerosol over an extended period of time could affect bystanders’ long-term lung function and risk of allergic reactions.

Can vaping cause lung injury?

UPDATE: Recent illnesses have been associated with use of e-cigarettes (vaping). Since the specific causes of these lung injury cases are not yet known, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends refraining from all vaping products.

Does vaping affect air quality?

One study, for example, found that under most conditions, someone vaping at home all day didn’t change the air quality a terrible amount unless they vaped intensely at a high voltage. At that point, levels of formaldehyde exceeded limits set by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), though other compounds didn’t come close. 7

Vaping and Second Hand Smoke

While secondhand vaping is different from secondhand smoke, it is still dangerous and unhealthy to ingest. E-cigarettes do not burn, so they do not create smoke. However, inhaling the secondhand fumes from vaping is the same as inhaling secondhand cigarette smoke.

Is Vaping Safe For Teens?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that using e-cigarettes is not safe for kids, teens, or young adults. Research has proven that vaping is not a better alternative to cigarette smoking. Here are some additional facts from the CDC about nicotine, vaping, and e-cigarettes:

Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center Offers Vaping Use Treatment

At Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center, we are proud to offer a vaping use treatment program for teen boys. The reality is that vaping is not safer than smoking cigarettes, and both contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. Marketing campaigns for e-cigarettes are everywhere.

What is secondhand vaping?

Secondhand vaping is exactly what it sounds like: if you're near a person breathing out vapor from an e-cigarette, you generally breathe in the same air that they're exhaling and can inhale the same vapor.

What to do if someone uses e-cigarettes?

If someone close to you, like a parent, caretaker or coworker, uses e-cigarettes, you can kindly ask them to stop while you're around. Frame it as a way to protect both your health and theirs, and hopefully they'll respect your wishes.

Is vaping a health risk?

E-cigarettes can emit a huge cloud of vapor that can affect an entire crowd of people. Getty Images. When vaping first gained popularity, it was marketed as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes. However, a recent surge in illnesses, hospitalizations -- and even deaths -- has shown that there may be much scarier health risks associated ...

Does vaping harm the lungs?

The vapor can also harm bystanders ' lungs and contribute to lasting damage ...

Does vapor contain nicotine?

Another study from 2018 found that the vapor not only contains nicotine, but also heavy metals, aldehyde and glycerin, even though vaporizer companies try to paint these products as healthier in every way. These chemicals contribute to the health risk posed by secondhand vaping.

Is vaping a teenager phenomenon?

E-cigarettes are becoming more and more of a teenage phenomenon. With more teens than ever now vaping, it seems like the younger folks who are more at risk. A third of high-schoolers and middle-schoolers reported that they were exposed to vaping aerosol in 2018.

Can you vape with your friends?

If you really want to avoid the negative health effects of secondhand vaping, you may just want to not hang out with your friends while they're using e-cigarettes. Or, if you're reading this and you are an e-cigarette user who's not ready to give it up yet, at least don't vape around other people (especially kids).

What is Secondhand Vaping?

Like secondhand smoking, secondhand vaping is when one person is in near proximity to another person who is vaping and the secondary person breathes in what the first person had just exhaled. Even if the secondary person is standing at what some might call a safe distance away from the first person, chances are good that they will end up breathing in the harmful stuff anyway. Regardless of the conditions. A study conducted in 2014 came to the conclusion that a room’s air quality was still impaired even when e-cigarettes were used in a ventilated room.

Who Should Be Concerned About the Risk of Secondhand Vaping?

Like secondhand smoke, everyone who comes into contact with secondhand vaping is at risk, but some people are more suseptical to illness including:

How does vaping work?

Vaping devices work in two different ways. One uses a mouth-to-lung inhalation and the other uses a direct lung inhalation. Mouth-to-lung vaping is when a person takes a drag of the vape in a way that is similar to sucking liquid through a straw and then releasing it out of the mouth once the vapor hits one’s lungs. The direct lung type of inhalation is when one quickly breathes in a vapor directly to one’s lungs and then quickly exhales the vapor back out almost immediately.

Is vaping safe for smoking?

To help with this fight, a variety of new products using a new technology practically took over. Vaping was thought to be the safer way for one to get the nicotine they craved and it could be that new tool that would provide a safe outlet for those wanting to quit the habit.

How does nicotine affect the brain?

Nicotine can impact the developing structure of the brain – altering reward pathways that navigate positive reinforcement in the brain – so that a child becomes more vulnerable, or is at increased risk, for becoming addicted to products that contain nicotine and other drugs in the future.

Is e-cigarette smoke addictive?

Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, and even some e-cigarettes advertised as nicotine-free contain the highly addictive drug, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Aerosol contains many other harmful or potentially harmful substances.

Can you get asthma from vaping?

And a study published in the journal Chest in January 2019 found that teens with asthma who were exposed to secondhand aerosol, without vaping themselves, were more likely to have an asthma attack.

Is second hand smoke bad for you?

Secondhand smoke from traditional cigarettes is known to cause tens of thousands of deaths annually in the U.S., and is implicated in some infant deaths, or sudden infant death syndrome. Likewise, chemicals in e-cigarette aerosol may also contribute to secondhand health problems. "People who are doing the vaping themselves, ...

Does vaping cause aerosols?

The aerosol produced by e-cigarette use tends to garner little notice, if any at all. And even when it is noticeable, the airborne evidence of vaping, which typically involves inhaling and exhaling the aerosol from a battery-powered e-cigarette, tends to dissipate quickly. By contrast, smoke from a traditional combusted tobacco cigarette often lingers.

Does vaping have second hand effects?

E-cigarettes' inconspicuous nature, in addition to their promotion as potential quit aids to help stop smoking, may contribute to the notion that vaping has no secondhand effects, experts say. But as further study continues to shine light on ...

Does second hand vaping cause hyperactivity?

What's more, where secondhand smoke can contribute to higher levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, secondhand vaping could possibly lead to problems with attention and hyperactivity as well, he says. While experts emphasize more study is needed to understand the effects of vaping aerosol, they also reiterate there's enough potential ...

Who studied the dangers of second hand vaping?

Igor Burstyn’s study of the possible dangers of secondhand vaping attempted to “estimate potential exposures from aerosols produced by electronic cigarettes and compare those potential exposures to occupational exposure standards.” His conclusion: “Exposures of bystanders are likely to be orders of magnitude less, and thus pose no apparent concern.”

What is secondhand vapor?

Secondhand vapor (which is technically an aerosol) is the vapor exhaled into the atmosphere by an e-cig user. Like secondhand smoke, it lingers in the air long enough that anyone in the same room (assuming the room is small enough) is likely to inhale some of the exhaled aerosol. As the name indicates, the bystanders are not inhaling secondhand (or passive) smoke—because secondhand e-cigarette vapor simply isn’t smoke.

What is the difference between e-cigarettes and vapor?

E-cigs heat e-liquid with a small metal coil housed in an atomizer , and the heat turns the e-juice into the vapor you see. E-cigarette vapor doesn’t have any carbon monoxide or tar, and the particles in the aerosol are liquid rather than solid. Dangerous chemicals and metals are found in vapor, but only in tiny quantities.

Is third hand nicotine inhaled or exhaled?

What isn’t inhaled falls to the ground quite rapidly. Those concerned with “thirdhand nicotine”—the unabsorbed nicotine that lands on floors and furniture—might make a case for not vaping around kids or pets who might lick the surfaces. But there’s not much nicotine left in the settled residue. According to a 2016 University of California-San Francisco study, 93.8 percent of the inhaled nicotine is retained by the user, and is not part of the exhaled vapor.

Does vaping contain VG?

Aside from propylene glycol and glycerin (PG and VG) —the two glycols that make up the base of virtually all e-liquids—what vapers exhale into the air doesn’t contain high levels of anything. According to Drexel University toxicologist Igor Burstyn, while the contents of e-cig vapor inhaled by users “justifies surveillance,” there is so little contamination in exhaled vapor that there is unlikely to be any risk for bystanders.

Can you vape inside a house?

If you encounter people vaping inside a house, all of the secondhand vapor you see comes out of the mouths of the vapers in the room. There is no side stream “vape smoke” like there is side stream tobacco smoke from cigarettes—no constant emission of vapor pouring from the device when it’s not being used.

Is nicotine in vapor residue?

But there’s not much nicotine left in the settled residue. According to a 2016 University of California-San Francisco study, 93.8 percent of the inhaled nicotine is retained by the user, and is not part of the exhaled vapor.

What happens if you smoke a second hand?

Babies exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and kids exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to be sick more often with ear infections, colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma and breathing problems.

What is the point of vaping?

The point of vaping is to deliver nicotine, a particularly addictive drug, to the body. Vaping devices can resemble traditional tobacco cigarettes, but many look more like pens or, in the case of JUULs, USB drives.

What is vaping?

Vaping is the act of using an e-cigarette — specifically, the inhaling of vapor from e-cigarettes such as JUULs, cig-a-likes, vape pens, personalized vaporizers and mechanical mods. The point of vaping is to deliver nicotine, a particularly addictive drug, to the body.

What is the minimum age to buy a cigarette?

In December 2019, the minimum age to buy tobacco products, including cigarettes and e-cigarettes, was raised to 21 — a good thing, since the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that any exposure to nicotone, including secondhand exposure from e-cigarettes, may be dangerous for children.

How old do you have to be to buy a vape?

They were first regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2016, some 10 years after they first hit the market. Now, you must be over 21 to buy vaping products, and manufacturers have to apply for permission from the FDA to sell their product and list in detail every ingredient they use plus exactly how it's made.

How many times more likely are children to be admitted to the hospital from e-cigarettes?

In addition, children exposed to e-cigarettes were more than 5 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital and more than twice as likely to have a severe health outcome than kids exposed to regular cigarettes.

Is vaping harmful?

There are dangers to vaping or JUULing. For starters, vaping devices don 't emit harmless water vapor — instead, they release aerosol that contains toxic chemicals, some of which have been linked to cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease.

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