Are there passive smoking risks from e-cigarettes?

Horizon Magazine, the EU Research & Innovation Magazine, has published an article about potential risks of passive exposure to aerosols produced by electronic cigarettes. For this article Dr. Esteve Fernández, Principal Investigator of the TackSHS project that is focused on secondhand exposure to tobacco and electronic cigarettes in Europe, and Dr. Constantine Vardavas, Principal Investigator of EUREST-PLUS project that investigates the implementation of the policies aimed to reduce respiratory diseases, were interviewed.

On the one hand, the TackSHS project, coordinated by Dr. Fernández, will evaluate potential health effects of exposure to aerosols produced by electronic cigarettes taking into account that components of the e-cigarettes are absorbed in a different manner compared to the conventional cigarettes. The study started in November 2015 and will be conducted in 12 EU countries.

On the other hand, EUREST-PLUS project, coordinated by Dr. Constantine Vardavas, is aimed to monitor and evaluate the impact of the Tobacco Products Directives (TPD) within the context of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ratification at a European level.

It is important to highlight the significant impact that these studies may have on the health of 508 million people who share the same legislation, especially taking into account lack of evidence of the effects of e-cigarettes and accounting for the fact that the debate on the electronic cigarettes is currently more focused on its effectiveness for smoking cessation and less on other aspects such as the possible risks of passive exposure, consumption initiation in children, etc.

Full text of the article is available online via Horizon Magazine and more information about the TackSHS y EUREST-PLUS projects could be found at the corresponding web-pages.