PSU Receives $3.5 Million Grant for Cutting-Edge Research on E-Cigarettes

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Researchers at Portland State University will get to continue their cutting-edge work on the hazards of e-cigarette use thanks to a $3.5-million grant from the National Institute of Health.

Earlier this year, Professor Robert Strongin and his team of researchers published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, outlining their findings that that vaping devices can provide a previously unknown reaction pathway to deliver high levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

This new grant will allow Strongin, along with fellow researchers James F. Pankow, and David Peyton, to launch a large-scale investigation into the mostly unknown public health effects of e-cigarettes. The team is particularly interested in how e-cigarettes differ from conventional cigarettes.

“What makes us a unique team is that we’ve been able to conclusively identify potentially hazardous compounds that were previously overlooked,” Strongin told GoLocal. “We are also able to explain when and why these chemical reactions are likely to occur.”

E-cigarette use has been on the rise as of late. According to the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13.4 percent of teenagers used e-cigarettes at least once a month in 2014, up from just 4.5 percent the year before.

Professor Robert Strongin; Courtesy pdx.edu

New Study

In Strongin's initial research on “vaping”, as e-cigarette use is sometimes called, it was revealed that the devices can release formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

Further research conducted by the PSU team found that certain flavor chemicals recognized by toxicologists to be “primary irritants” of the respiratory tract are present in some e-cigarette fluids at high enough concentrations to expose daily users to twice the recommended occupational limits for those chemicals.

In this new study, the team plans to more closely examine the makeup of e-cigarette liquid and the health effects of the chemicals held inside the vapor. They also hope to find what creates the harmful irritants in vapor smoke, and find ways to reduce them.

“We will be employing more researchers and studying the vast array of e-cigarette devices and liquids available on today’s unregulated market,” Strongin said. “Our first study gave us a reliable method for identifying toxic chemicals in e-cigarettes—now our goal is to better understand the processes that may create them during vaping and find ways to minimize them.”

More Knowledge Vital

Research like this is vital, according to Kari McFarlan, tobacco program manager with Multnomah County, because little is known about e-cigarettes.

“We don't know what's in them,” she said. “Its totally unregulated and our ability to communicate with the public about them is limited because we just don't know much about them.”

McFarlan said little is known about e-cigarettes because the products exploded in popularity in recent years, not allowing researchers much time to study their effects. She also said that because many of the products are imported from China or other countries, the industry is essentially unregulated.

Each manufacturer has different safety standards and different components for use. E-cigarettes also have no standard labeling, which makes it more difficult for consumers to distinguish the effects between different brands.

McFarlan said that research initiatives such as the PSU study allow public health advocates to better communicate with people who have real questions regarding the safety of e-cigarettes.

“What we need to figure out is, can these really help people with nicotine addictions or not,” McFarlan said. “Are they a harm reduction? Because people really want to know if these are better than other forms of nicotine, such as regular cigarettes.”

Related Slideshow: #50 to #1: Doctors in Oregon with the Most Medicare Prescription Claims

The following information was found on ProPublica, which performs investigative journalism for the sake of the public interest.

The doctors listed here self-identified internal medicine as their primary specialty, and are sorted from the lowest amount of Medicare prescription claims filled to the highest amount of Medicare prescription claims filled.

PSU Receives $3.5 Million Grant for Cutting-Edge Research on E-Cigarettes

Professor Robert Strongin; Courtesy pdx.edu New Study

More Knowledge Vital

Related Slideshow: #50 to #1: Doctors in Oregon with the Most Medicare Prescription Claims

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Professor Robert Strongin; Courtesy pdx.edu

New Study