Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/PqKyUnQe-Mc Need more reasons not to use e-cigarettes and to convince your children to avoid them?  Besides the fact that they spew addicting nicotine and toxic flavoring chemicals?   A study from the Harvard School of Public Health now finds bacterial endotoxins and fungal cell wall remnants in 75 popular e-cigarette products from 10 top-selling US brands. The investigators studied 37 e-cigarette cartridges and 38 e-liquid products that are used to refill cartridges.  They demonstrated that 23% of the products contained significant concentrations of gram-negative bacterial endotoxins and a whopping 81% of the products were contaminated with fungal by-products.   Other studies have confirmed that these bacterial endotoxins and fungal glucans trigger acute and chronic respiratory problems.  Asthmatics or those with pre-existing lung disease would be particularly vulnerable. This study joins so many others that underscore what is just common sense: don’t inhale poisons unless you have