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The FDA analysis that e-cigarettes contain “detectable levels of known carcinogens”  comes as no surprise, writes Dr. Brad Rodu in his blogrodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com.  Having  investigated the cancer risks of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use, Rodu concludes that the FDA has never regulated nicotine effectively, and the agency had previously signaled its intention to ban e-cigarettes, thus it does undermine the assumption that the FDA bases it oversight activities purely on scientific principles.

Although there are many other manufacturers, the FDA analyzed 18 cartridges from two e-cigarette manufacturers only, Smoking Everywhere and Njoy.  With respect to “carcinogens,” the agency looked at four tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) with very long chemical names abbreviated here as NNN, NNK, NAT and NAB.  

In a separate research conducted by Rodu with a scientist at the Swedish National Food Administration to measure the levels of these agents in smokeless tobacco products, test results showed that TSNAs are present in most American tobacco products at extremely low levels, about 0.1 to 12 parts per million by weight. At this level of TSNAs, someone who puts 1 gram (about 1/28th of an ounce) of smokeless tobacco in his mouth is exposed to, at most, about 10 one-millionths of a gram of TSNAs. There is abundant scientific evidence that exposure at this minuscule level is not associated with ANY cancer in smokeless tobacco users.

The FDA tests, on the other hand, appeared to be selective, reporting the results of only 7 Smoking Everywhere products out of the 14 submitted for analysis.  This is a questionable procedure already, producing had blank boxes in the results chart.  Furthermore, the FDA only tested 3 out of 4 Njoy products for TSNAs.  

Rodu then asks, “Why did the FDA analyze e-cigarettes for carcinogens, when there is no evidence the agency ever conducted carcinogen studies of products that they have regulated for over 20 years? Is it possible that the FDA approved medicines that contained TSNAs, but the agency is now disapproving e-cigarettes because they contain the same contaminants? To answer this important question, we have to know how high – or how low – the TSNA levels are in these products.” 

Rodu summarizes that the FDA report is inconclusive.  the FDA tested e-cigarettes for TSNAs using a questionable sampling regimen, and methods that were so sensitive that the results may have no possible significance to users. The agency failed to report specific levels of these contaminants, and it has failed to conduct similar testing of nicotine medicines that have been sold in the U.S. for over 20 years.  

Sadly, the FDA has resorted to a pseudo-scientific action that are clearly intended to form the justification for banning a category of products that are probably 99.9% safer than cigarettes. According to Dr. Murray Laugesen, a respected New Zealand researcher, “Simply banning e-cigarettes will simply consign thousands of e-smokers back to smoking tobacco and an early death.” 

With this flimsy reports, Rodu recommends that the FDA and anti-tobacco extremists who support it should be held accountable for their prohibitionist actions.