Put Down the Vape: Even Tobacco-Free E-Cigarettes Might Damage DNA

E-cigarettes (a.k.a. vaporizers or vapes) aren't necessarily a safe substitute for the real thing. Smoking tobacco-free e-cigarettes still damages the users' DNA, increases the rate of genetic mutations, and raises the risk of cancer, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and spotted by Technology Networks.

E-cigarettes are often touted as a healthier way for nicotine addicts to get their fix because vaporizers don't contain tobacco. Smokers inhale water vapor from liquefied nicotine, which doesn't contain the same kinds of cancer-causing chemicals as tobacco-based cigarettes. But the current study findings call that assumption into question.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Researchers from New York University School of Medicine exposed the mice to smoke for three months, and then examined their DNA. They found adducts, a form of DNA damage in which a piece of the genetic material bonds to a chemical. This alters the DNA structure and can increase the risk of mutation. DNA can repair itself, but, the researchers observed, the repair protein levels had also dropped.

To see if e-cigarette smoke would affect humans similarly, they also exposed lung, heart, and bladder cells to nicotine and nitrosamine, a carcinogenic chemical compound formed by the human body when it processes nicotine. Nitrosamines can cause tumors to form, and sub-chemicals can bind to and alter DNA.

These human cells showed the same type of DNA damage found in mice that had been exposed to e-cigarette smoke. The nicotine predisposed the cells to undergo two to four times more spontaneous mutations after additional exposure to environmental triggers, like UV rays.

"Based on these results, I cannot conclude that e-cig smoke is safer than tobacco smoke in terms of cancer susceptibility of smokers," study co-author Moon-shong Tang said, according to Technology Networks.

[h/t Technology Networks]