Those with pre-existing lung or breathing conditions are also at a greater risk: If you have asthma or a related condition, the effects of secondhand vaping may be heightened. The aerosol in vapor can cause throat and respiratory irritation, so if you're already feeling a little sick or have a sore throat, you could feel much worse.
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.
Why are vapes dangerous for children?
What is the chemical in second hand vape aerosol?
What is third hand smoke?
What percentage of people with asthma report vaping?
How to quit smoking cigarettes?
Is vape aerosol harmful?
Does vaping smell like candy?
See 4 more
About this website
Doctor's warning about dangers of vaping - Mayo Clinic Health System
For the safety of our patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a non-patient care area where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.
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
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).
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 ...
Why is vaping so difficult?
This is due to the difficulty in correctly identifying what they inhaled, especially when they are intubated or unconscious.
How to tell if a child is vaping?
Talk with your kids about the dangers of vaping, but also look for warning signs including: 1 Changes in emotions 2 Trouble sleeping 3 Scents of fruity odors on skin, breath and clothes 4 Strange cylinders, chargers or batteries lying around
Why is vaping so popular among teens?
First publicized as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco, vaping caught on because it didn't contain the carcinogens or tars found in most smoking tobacco products. Also, vaping was supposed to eliminate the dangers of secondhand smoke to those nearby.
How long does a vape last?
Did you know most cigarettes are smoked within two to five minutes? E-cigarettes on the other hand can last up to 20 minutes, delivering more nicotine and damaging chemicals to the lungs. In addition, some vaping mixtures can contain 20 times the nicotine that a single cigarette contains.
What is an e-cigarette?
E-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that heat a liquid solution — usually, but not always, containing nicotine — turning it into a vapor that can be inhaled . If the base nicotine mixture is not palatable, many flavors, such as mint, apple and others, can make vaping attractive, especially to adolescents.
How to help a teenager who is vaping?
Encourage your teen to look into the warnings and media stories related to vaping, or reach out to his or her primary care provider with questions.
Is vaping bad for teens?
Adolescents often feel that bad things happen to everyone else, but the risks associated with vaping are real. Many teens are taking things a step further, adding cannabis, CBD oils and other dangerous additives to vaping devices.
What to do if you are unhappy with second hand vaping?
If you’re unhappy with secondhand vaping at local restaurants, parks, or other public places, speak up. Ask places you frequent to make their facilities smoke-free, and if you're somewhere that's supposed to be a no smoking zone but patrons aren't following suit, tell someone in a position of authority. And if you're exposed to secondhand vape because someone you love smokes or vapes, talk to them about quitting. (Get the conversation stated with these tips from NoButts.org .)
How much has the use of vapes increased in the past year?
The usage of these electronic smoking devices—AKA e-cigarettes or vapes— has skyrocketed in the past year or so. Among high school teens, for example, there’s been a 78 percent increase in vape usage between 2017 and 2018, a report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. And there’s reason to be concerned even if you’re not vaping: Just like cigarettes, e-cigarettes (whether they contain nicotine, marijuana, or something else) emit toxic secondhand aerosol.
How long does it take to understand the dangers of second hand smoke?
It took decades for people to fully understand the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke; hopefully, it won’t take as long to realize just how dangerous all types of secondhand smoke can be.
How many people die from second hand smoke?
The dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke—in your home and outdoors—are well-established: It kills over 41,000 non-smoking adults in the U.S. every year, according to a Surgeon General report. And secondhand marijuana smoke contains many of the same cancer-causing substances and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke (like ammonia and hydrogen cyanide), according to research published in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
How many brands of e-cigarettes are there?
Research on the impact of secondhand aerosol inhalation is still in development, and it doesn’t help that there are over 460 brands of e-cigarettes on the market. “Because these are not regulated, we don’t know exactly what chemicals are even in each kind,” says Dr. Rich.
What are the chemicals in e-cigarettes?
In fact, at least 10 chemicals identified in the aerosol emitted by e-cigarettes are on California’s Proposition 65 list of carcinogens and reproductive toxins, including nicotine, formaldehyde, lead, and toluene (a compound associated with paint thinners). Further, there might be dangers we're still not aware of.
Is smoking a cigarette legit in 2020?
Bloomberg. In 2020, witnessing someone smoke a legit cigarette —something you hardly see anymore—feels like a blast from the past. But look around next time you’re at a bar, in a park, or even on the sidewalk, and you might spot people discreetly puffing from sleek devices that look like fancy pens or USBs.
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 is a vape pen?
With vaping, a device (typically a vape pen or a mod — an enhanced vape pen — that may look like a flash drive) heats up a liquid ( called vape juice or e -liquid) until it turns into a vapor that you inhale. “Vaping is a delivery system similar to a nebulizer, which people with asthma or other lung conditions may be familiar with,” says Broderick. ...
What is the food additive used to deepen e-cigarette flavors?
Diacetyl: This food additive, used to deepen e-cigarette flavors, is known to damage small passageways in the lungs.
What happens if you inhale diacetyl?
Diacetyl is frequently added to flavored e-liquid to enhance the taste. Inhaling diacetyl causes inflammation and may lead to permanent scarring in the smallest branches of the airways — popcorn lung — which makes breathing difficult. Popcorn lung has no lasting treatment. There are, however, treatments that manage BO symptoms, such as: 1 Coughing 2 Wheezing 3 Chest pain 4 Shortness of breath
What is the chemical that can damage your lungs?
Acrolein: Most often used as a weed killer, this chemical can also damage lungs.
Is second hand vapor safe?
Secondhand Vapor Isn’t Safe Either. It’s a myth that secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes are harmless. Many people think the secondhand vapor is just water, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The vapor emitted when someone exhales contains a variety of dangerous substances, which may include: Nicotine.
Does vaping affect the lungs?
Instead of bathing lung tissue with a therapeutic mist, just as a nebulizer does, vaping coats lungs with potentially harmful chemicals. E-liquid concoctions usually include some mix of flavorings, aromatic additives and nicotine or THC (the chemical in marijuana that causes psychological effects), dissolved in an oily liquid base.
Why are vapes dangerous for children?
Infants and children. Vape aerosols pose an especially high risk for infants and children because of their lower body weight and developing respiratory systems. , being exposed to even low concentrations of the components of vape aerosol can affect brain and lung development.
What is the chemical in second hand vape aerosol?
Secondhand vape aerosol contains flavorings, such as diacetyl, a chemical that may impair the function of cilia in the airway.
What is third hand smoke?
Thirdhand exposure is a thing, too. When someone who’s vaping exhales, the components of the aerosol doesn’t just go into the air — they also settle on surfaces. Trusted Source. . This is what’s referred to as thirdhand smoke (or aerosol). You can be exposed to these components when you touch a contaminated surface.
What percentage of people with asthma report vaping?
Based on the results of the 2018 Annual Asthma Survey by the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership, 14 percent of people with asthma reported that vaping or exposure to secondhand vape triggered their asthma symptoms.
How to quit smoking cigarettes?
Try to taper your nicotine dose gradually if you’re using vaping to help you quit traditional cigarettes. Cutting out nicotine altogether will minimize the risk of nicotine-related side effects for you and others.
Is vape aerosol harmful?
Its long-term effects are still being investigated. What we do know so far is that vape aerosol contains a number of harmful substances, including: There’s evidence that nonsmokers exposed to secondhand vape aerosol absorb similar levels of nicotine as people exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke.
Does vaping smell like candy?
This brief exposure probably isn’t a huge deal, but secondhand vape aerosol (the “smoke” from vaping) is definitely a thing, even if it smells like candy.
