Aug 3, 2015
Dr Miranda Ween, a researcher in the Lung Research Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, hopes to help inform future policy and regulations to ensure e-cigarettes and e-liquids are safe for public use.
Miranda has been chosen as one of THRF’s 50th Anniversary Award Finalists and her project aims to find out how e-cigarettes affect the health of your lungs, and whether ‘vaping’ makes you more vulnerable to lung infections.
“E-cigarettes are widely advertised as a safe and harmless way to quit smoking, however up to 25 per cent of those aged between 18 and 25 say they are vaping more for the novel, fun and social factors – not as a quitting tool,” Miranda said.
“There is an astonishing lack of information regarding the safety of e-cigarettes and vaping and there are no laws or regulations in Australia that control what they’re made of and where the ingredients come from.
“In fact, in South Australia, there is no age restriction for purchasing them and they’re often exempt from no smoking areas.
“We need to better understand the dangers of e-cigarettes as the more knowledge we have and the sooner we get it, the earlier regulations can be implemented to protect the public.”
Miranda needs your vote for her research to ensure e-cigarettes and vapers are safe for public use.
Miranda hopes that by pursuing research into this area, her team will be able to help draw attention to potential dangers.
“Data is starting to emerge that suggests that even non-nicotine e-liquids could be damaging the lungs and airways,” she said.
Miranda hopes to examine what role vaping plays on the immune response in the lung using scientific methods previously established in the lab.
“Metals are not usually added intentionally to e-liquids. However, the heating element which vaporises the liquid is made of a mix of metals often including chromium, tin, and cadmium. These are released into the vapour during the heating process and this is then inhaled,” she said.
“This project proposes to analyse which metals are release into e-cigarette vapours and inhaled, and then look at whether these are responsible for effects on lung immune cell function.
“The results we find could be used to draw the public’s attention to the fact that e-cigarettes are not as harmless as their marketing campaigns would have you believe.
“100 years ago, tobacco cigarettes were promoted as being safe to smoke and today we know they’re anything but that. We don’t want to see a repeat of this tragedy and that’s why we need your support in the form of voting for this exciting project.”
Dr Miranda Ween, a researcher in the Lung Research Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, hopes to help inform future policy and regulations to ensure e-cigarettes and e-liquids are safe for public use.
Miranda has been chosen as one of THRF’s 50th Anniversary Award Finalists and her project aims to find out how e-cigarettes affect the health of your lungs, and whether ‘vaping’ makes you more vulnerable to lung infections.
“E-cigarettes are widely advertised as a safe and harmless way to quit smoking, however up to 25 per cent of those aged between 18 and 25 say they are vaping more for the novel, fun and social factors – not as a quitting tool,” Miranda said.
“There is an astonishing lack of information regarding the safety of e-cigarettes and vaping and there are no laws or regulations in Australia that control what they’re made of and where the ingredients come from.
“In fact, in South Australia, there is no age restriction for purchasing them and they’re often exempt from no smoking areas.
“We need to better understand the dangers of e-cigarettes as the more knowledge we have and the sooner we get it, the earlier regulations can be implemented to protect the public.”
Miranda needs your vote for her research to ensure e-cigarettes and vapers are safe for public use.
Miranda hopes that by pursuing research into this area, her team will be able to help draw attention to potential dangers.
“Data is starting to emerge that suggests that even non-nicotine e-liquids could be damaging the lungs and airways,” she said.
Miranda hopes to examine what role vaping plays on the immune response in the lung using scientific methods previously established in the lab.
“Metals are not usually added intentionally to e-liquids. However, the heating element which vaporises the liquid is made of a mix of metals often including chromium, tin, and cadmium. These are released into the vapour during the heating process and this is then inhaled,” she said.
“This project proposes to analyse which metals are release into e-cigarette vapours and inhaled, and then look at whether these are responsible for effects on lung immune cell function.
“The results we find could be used to draw the public’s attention to the fact that e-cigarettes are not as harmless as their marketing campaigns would have you believe.
“100 years ago, tobacco cigarettes were promoted as being safe to smoke and today we know they’re anything but that. We don’t want to see a repeat of this tragedy and that’s why we need your support in the form of voting for this exciting project.”
