Study shows Vape clouds do not affect air quality

Vape clouds produced indoors by e-cigarettes break down within SECONDS while it takes over 30 minutes for a traditional cigarette

Researchers measured particle concentrations indoors after participants exhale

They found particles evaporated within seconds after exhalation from vaping

For cigarettes, it took 30-45 minutes for air quality to return to normal levels

A recent study has compared e-cigarettes with their traditional tobacco based counterparts to assess how they affect indoor spaces – and, it appears vaping really does have less of an impact on the surrounding air.

While particles from conventional cigarette smoke linger in the air for upwards of 45 minutes, researchers found that clouds originating from vaping products evaporate within seconds, even indoors!

Even in the ‘worst case scenario,’ where there was no ventilation in a room, the researchers found the particle counts quickly dropped to background levels in trials with commercially available e-cigaretts.

The new research comes as part of a collaboration between Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, ETH Zurich, and Fontem Ventures.

The Participants, who were already regular vapers, were tasked to use their e-cigarettes in varying conditions of ventilation with Researchers then measuring how particle concentrations changed in the surrounding air.

Within seconds, the researchers found the liquid aerosol droplets generated by vaping evaporated, returning the enclosed space quickly back to the normal levels.

‘No accumulation of particles was registered in the room following subjects’ vaping,’ says Dr Grant O’Connell, Corporate Affairs Manager at Fontem Ventures.

‘This shows us how fundamentally different exhaled e-vapor particles are compared to those released when smoking conventional cigarettes, the latter of which linger in the air for longer periods of time.’

Immediately after the participants exhaled, the researchers say initial particle concentrations for e-cigarettes were in the same order of magnitude as those seen with traditional cigarettes.

But, the incredible difference came in their decay.

According to the researchers, it was 30-45 minutes before particle concentrations returned to background levels with conventional cigarettes, which caused an increase with every puff and means nearly an hour of poor air quality for non-smokers exposed to the smoke.

‘Exhaled e-vapour aerosol particles have a different chemical composition to a cigarette smoke and here we show the physical properties are also significantly different,’ Dr O’Connell said.

‘This data strengthens the growing body of evidence that vaping indoors is unlikely to pose an air quality issue.’

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