Dr. Igor Burstyn, Associate Professor at the School of Public Health at Drexel University published a scholarly article about the risks associated with electronic cigarettes and the chemistry of the contaminants in e-liquids and vapors. He scoured the literature to find published data on e-cigarette emissions and compared their results to levels that would be considered an occupational hazard in a normal workplace.
He concluded that there was no evidence that the level of contaminants in e-liquids and e-cigarette aerosols would warrant any concern and that their levels were below what are considered hazardous in a workplace. He further concluded that we can be reassured that there are no risks to bystanders from a wide variety of products. There was no serious concern about some of the contaminants such as volatile organic compounds because the reports he studied suggested that these were produced only a few times as most probably as a result of overheating. He addressed the concern about contamination of ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol and said the concerns were based on a single study and the amounts generated did not pose health concerns.
Though this particular study concluded that the level of contaminants in e-cigarettes were too low to be considered hazardous, vaping companies have a responsibility to closely monitor the quality and safety of their products.
Individuals who are doing the vaping should be aware that prolonged
exposures, particularly from nicotine, have not been studied enough to
conclude that there are no health concerns so they should keep an eye on
their own general health.