Foreign Nicotine – Dangerous?

DANGERS OF USING FOREIGN NICOTINE FROM TOBACCO 

William Hackett – Guest Contributor

Pick up the bottle of e liquid that you are currently enjoying. Examine the label. Does it say anything about where the ingredients originated? Probably Not. Does this concern you? It should.

What if I were to tell you that the products you rely on, the e liquids you TRUST, may very likely contain trace amounts of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a harmful chemical more commonly known as DDT?

In fact, 90% of the e liquids on the market today use liquid nicotine extracted from tobacco plants grown in India. India is the world’s leading producer of DDT, and not surprisingly, the agricultural use of DDT is overwhelmingly prominent. But more on this later.

I am writing this because I feel like this is a serious health concern that is very commonly overlooked. Everybody seems to be on high alert about buying e liquids manufactured in places like China and India. Yet when it comes to determining the origin of the nicotine being used, people aren’t nearly so cautious.

Vapers need to be aware of what they are ingesting. The very essence of vaping has its roots sown in a global “green” movement promoting healthier lifestyles. You’ve made a conscious decision to stop smoking cigarettes and switch to a much healthier alternative, but don’t stop there. It’s up to you to ensure that the alternative you’ve chosen is in fact free of harmful substances.

In truth, the average person just won’t take the time to sit down and do a little research about the products they are ingesting. Instead, they instill all of their trust into the person who sold them that product. They think to themselves, “if it was going to cause me harm then it wouldn’t have been for sale”. And how could we blame them? With literally thousands of different products relentlessly shoved in front of our faces each day, it’s impossible to expect anyone to do research and assure the quality of their purchases. When dealing with E Liquid, DON’T BE THAT PERSON!

Unfortunately, the cold reality of the situation is that the E Liquid market is NOT being regulated and e liquid manufacturers can’t always be trusted to assure the safety of their products. Instead, it’s up to the consumer to regulate the market.

Tread cautiously. A lot of e liquid manufacturers make claims about having “American made products”. In reality, the juice is merely assembled or bottled in America. Each of the ingredients may have likely been purchased from a different country. The liquid nicotine from India, the PG and VG from China, and the flavoring from just about anywhere else. It really is just a free for all right now. Each month, more and more reports surface of hazardous material such as heavy metals, plastics, and dangerous chemicals being found in e liquids manufactured overseas.

Back to DDT. As I said, liquid nicotine impurities are the most commonly overlooked ingredient in e juice. The majority of vendors purchase their nicotine solutions from India, meaning it most likely has trace of amounts of DDT as well as other pesticides. In fact, according to the an article by The Times of India, over 65% of the nation’s Tea was found to contain measurable amounts of DDT. The health implications of this are absolutely astounding. Sure, the people of India aren’t dropping like flies due to DDT poisoning, but that isn’t to say they aren’t suffering from longer term health effects. And the same thing can be said about e liquid. We may not see immediate effects, but surely there will be long term residual health impacts. According to the President’s Cancer Panel, women exposed to DDT before puberty are 5 times more likely to develop breast cancer in middle age. This, among other health impacts are very frightening.

On a lighter note, FDA regulation is imminent. The Food and Drug Administration has publicly recognized and the presence of the e liquid market and E liquid vendors know that very soon their products will be held to much stricter standards. Soon manufacturers and vendors will have to show the origins of all of the ingredients used in their products.

Until that happens, you need to take some time to investigate the brands and ensure the quality of their products, before you actually consume it. Don’t just go around testing every bottle of juice that gets thrown in front of you. You’ll likely end up feeling sick, and you won’t know which one it was that did this to you. In the end, you are the one who is really at risk and you are the only one who is truly responsible for your own well-being. Now this really isn’t as difficult and strenuous of a task as it may seem. It’s actually quite simple and only takes a few minutes out of your day. For what it’s worth, you could very well be kicking yourself later if you don’t err on the side of caution.

Here are some steps you should take to ensure you are vaping a quality product:

• Choose 3 or 4 brands whose flavor profiles stand out to you.
• Take some time to locate each of their company websites and social media pages. Do a little browsing, read some of the things people are posting on the company’s wall, and most importantly, take note how of responsive/interactive they are with their customers.
• Find out if their liquid is a 50/50 blend of PG (propylene glycol) and VG (Vegetable Glycerin) or 100% VG. Some people react differently to PG. Also, some people just don’t like to vape propylene glycol.
• Figure out where their Nicotine comes from. Was it grown and extracted in America? What is the purity rating? A bad batch of nicotine can land you anywhere from just feeling a little nauseous, to laying in a hospital bed.
• What kind of flavoring do they use? Is it natural or artificial flavoring? What country does it come from?
• Do any of the flavors contain coloring? There have been cases of certain types of food coloring producing carcinogenic byproducts when vaporized.
• Lastly, don’t even consider a brand if you cannot get a representative on the phone to answer some of these questions for you.

Follow these simple steps and you should have no problem making confidant e liquid purchases.