Although they're advertised as a safe alternative to cigarettes, new research from France's National Consumers' Institute reveals that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are not only just as harmful, but could cause cancer, the Daily Mail reports.
E-cigarettes contain carcinogenic chemicals, and an article in the French magazine 60 Millions Consommateurs calls them "far from the harmless gadgets they're sold as by manufacturers."
Ten different rechargable and disposable e-cigarettes were tested by the National Consumers' Institute for carcenogenic and toxic properties, and according to editor Thomas Laurenceau, "a significant quantity of carcinogenic molecules in the vapor of these cigarettes [has] thus far gone undetected."
"In three models out of ten the levels of the carcinogenic compound formaldehyde come close to those of a conventional cigarette," Laurenceau wrote. "The highly toxic molecule acrolein was also detected in the vapors of e-cigarettes, sometimes at levels even higher than in traditional cigarettes." E-cigarettes were also criticized for their lack of child-proof safety caps, as the nicotine found inside can be harmful to children.
Also detected in e-cigarettes was "acrolein, a toxic molecule emitted in very significant quantities by the E-Roll," according to the Huffington Post.
The report comes in the wake of the French government's plans to ban e-cigarettes from public places. Each year in France, tobacco is responsible for 73,000 deaths. In May, French Health Minister Marisol Touraine announced that the public smoking ban would include e-cigarettes, creating controversy among buyers and sellers of the product that turns liquid nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled, meant to be a substitute for traditional smoking implements.
"The e-cigarette is not an ordinary product," Touraine said to AFP. "We need to apply the same measures as there are for tobacco. That means making sure it cannot be smoked in public places, that its sale is restricted to over 18s and that firms are not allowed to advertise the products."
