Inter Scientific recently worked with BBC news on an article covering the risks associated with illegal vape products, particularly to children.

In this study, a vape is considered illegal if it has not been placed on the MHRA list of published products. These products typically have tanks larger than 2ml.

The vapes we were requested to analyse by the BBC had been confiscated from school pupils, and out of the 18 analysed, we found 16 to be illegal. We also analysed 4 legal* products for comparison.

Analysis performed

The test articles were recovered from school children after they had been vaped. Given the age, use and number of devices for testing, the vapes were split into 8 groups dependant on brand. This was required as aerosol and liquid testing was not always possible on a single device, due to there being an insufficient volume of liquid.

Extracted e-liquids were used to perform the following analysis:

• Diacetyl content: Diacetyl has been linked to ‘popcorn lung’, and therefore should not be present in e-liquids.
• Metals (Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, and Lead): These should not be present in e-liquids, and pose a risk to health if consumed.
• Nicotine content: This should be as stated on the packaging, but the legal limit in the UK is 20mg/ml.

Devices were then vaped with the aerosol for the analysis of the following:

• Carbonyls (Formaldehyde, Acetone, Acrolein, Crotonaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), Benzaldehyde, Valeraldehyde, m-Tolualdehyde, and Hexaldehyde): Each of these have varying properties causing negative impacts to health, and therefore should not be present in e-liquids.

Results

Table 1: Diacetyl, nicotine content and product notification.

Table 2: Average Metals Content in e-liquid.

Table 3: Average Carbonyls in Aerosol (ug/per 10 puffs).

Table 5: Average Metals Content in e-liquid.

Table 6: Average Carbonyls in Aerosol (ug/per 10 puffs).

Conclusion

The results of our research show that the illegal vape products confiscated from pupils contain levels of heavy metals. Further analysis against ICH Q3D thresholds, based on an assumed 200 inhalations per day (AFNOR) indicate that consumers using these products would exceed safe thresholds of exposure. 

It is noted that the population from which these devices were confiscated were <18 years old which are at greater risk from exposure to lead. 

Levels of carbonyls generated from the confiscated products far exceed that from the legal products tested. Prolonged exposure to certain carbonyls may increase the risk of the development of certain cancers. 

It is noted that diacetyl was not detected in any product samples and no sample tested exceeded 20mg/mL nicotine.

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