Vaping teenagers could be at risk of exposure to toxic metals

Teenagers who frequently use e-cigarettes could be at a higher risk of exposure to toxic metals, such as lead and uranium, a study has found.

It could potentially damage young people’s brains and organ development, with sweet e-cigarette flarous found to pose additional risks.

The study, conducted by US academics, analysed responses from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, which included American teenagers aged between 13 and 17. 

The analysis included 200 teenagers who vaped, with 81 reporting frequent use, 65 reporting occasional use, and 45 reporting intermittent use.

The study found that both frequent and intermittent e-cigarette users had higher lead levels in their urine than those who vaped occasionally. Frequent vapers also had higher levels of uranium in their urine compared to occasional users.

The study also discovered that different vape flavours affected the uranium levels.

Researchers have raised the alarm over sweet-flavoured e-cigarettes, revealing that users may be inhaling dangerous levels of uranium.

The study found those puffing on sweet-flavoured vapes had higher uranium levels in their urine compared to fans of menthol or mint flavours.

While the scientists behind the study recognised its limitations, such as potential environmental or dietary sources for the uranium detected, they stressed: “Despite the limitations, this study reported increased urine lead and uranium levels associated with vaping frequency.”

They also warned: “Sweet flavours might pose an additional risk of exposure to uranium.”

The implications are particularly concerning for young people, with the researchers noting: “E-cigarette use during adolescence may increase the likelihood of metal exposure, which could adversely affect brain and organ development.

“These findings call for further research, vaping regulation, and targeted public health interventions to mitigate the potential harms of e-cigarette use, particularly among adolescents.”

Professor Lion Shahab, a leading expert from the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, weighed in on the findings, acknowledging the study’s quality but urging caution.

He said: “This is a well-conducted study underscoring the need to carefully monitor exposure in e-cigarette users and highlights the fact that e-cigarettes are not risk free, and therefore should not be used by people who have never smoked, particularly adolescents.”

However, he also pointed out that the study lacked a control group of non-vaping teens and reminded that uranium exposure can come from various sources.

Prof Shahab warned: “This study therefore cannot tell us anything about absolute increase in exposure to heavy metals from e-cigarette use in this population, only about relative exposure among less and more frequent e-cigarette users.”

“Given that heavy metal exposure is mostly driven by the type of device used, future studies should investigate whether there are any meaningful differences between different e-cigarette types to inform regulators to curtail use of devices that expose users to more heavy metals.”

“The relatively small sample size in this study meant that this issue could not be investigated.”

A shocking report by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) revealed last June that a staggering 20.5% of UK children had experimented with vaping in 2023, marking a significant rise from 15.8% in 2022 and 13.9% in 2020.

The Government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, unveiled in October, is set to forge a “smoke-free generation” It will ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, and take a tough stance on vapes to diminish their allure to the youth.

Among the proposals are measures to potentially limit the visibility of vapes in stores and impose restrictions on flavours and packaging to make them less attractive to children and young people.