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A New York University study has identified a pattern of lung cancer in mice exposed to the same amount of e-cigarette vapor as someone who's been using e-cigs for approximately three to six years.
The big picture: As vaping deaths and illnesses rise, the medical community and health regulators are increasingly concerned about the unknown effects of e-cigarette use. While e-cigs were originally meant to help cigarette users ween off smoking as a whole, vaping has dramatically increased in popularity in recent years, especially among young people.
- To date, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention had linked 18 deaths to vaping and over 1,000 illnesses.
By the numbers: The study exposed 40 mice to vapes with nicotine for 54 weeks. Out of that population:
- 22.5% developed lung cancer
- 57.5% developed pre-cancerous lesions in their bladders
- Meanwhile, 20 separate mice who were exposed to vapes without nicotine were cancer free
What they're saying:
"E-cigarette vaping can cause lung cancer and pre-cancer changes in bladder in mice. The carcinogenic mechanism is via production of nitrosamines, the proven human carcinogens. So, the probability that e-cigarette vapor is a human carcinogen is high."— Moon-Shong Tang, the study's lead professor, told Axios.
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