(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – A new national survey shows most of Americans under the age of 35 think using electronic cigarettes is not as harmful on the lungs as traditional cigarettes. But doctors aren’t so certain.
“The truth is there is just so much we don’t know about these new products,” said Dr. Peter Shields, a thoracic oncologist and deputy director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. “We have no idea where in the spectrum these are, in terms of safety. Are they like cigarettes, or nothing like cigarettes? Do they affect people the same if they’ve never smoked, or a lot worse? We need to figure this out.”
The survey found that among people under age 35, 44 percent think e-cigarettes are less harmful to the lungs than traditional cigarettes, compared to 41 percent who disagree. Among men, the number jumps to 54 percent who think e-cigs are safer.
In an effort to learn more about the impact using e-cigarettes has on the lungs, researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center are conducting a novel experiment: they are putting tiny cameras into the lungs of volunteers to see what happens while they use e-cigarettes, and they’re also taking samples from the lungs to check for changes they can’t see.
“After washing the lungs, we are taking liquid samples from the patients and we’re also using brushes to gather samples from the lining of the lungs,” said Shields.
Those samples are then sent to the lab to check for genetic changes and for inflammation markers, which are often the precursor to a wide variety of medical conditions including bronchitis, asthma, heart disease and even cancer.
