It seems almost everywhere you turn these days someone is drawing on an E-cigarette, with the smell of strawberries and marshmallows being smoked into the air all around us.  After years and years of NHS campaigns to stop people smoking, E-cigarettes have become more and more popular and are marketed as being a safer alternative to cigarettes.  In fact, by one estimate, some 35 million people vape worldwide.

Now though, reports are starting to come in, with suspected cases of vaping-related illnesses.

This week The Sun Newspaper reported deaths in the US which were related to vaping and now health officials are looking into even more cases.

An article on auntminnie.com detailed how MRI scans are showing that vaping is compromising vascular function.  Even more worrying is that E-cigarettes have become popular amongst teenagers, and are being advertised as not harmful, when even without nicotine, they clearly are harmful, and we are now only beginning to see the extent of that.  The solvents, flavourings and additives in the liquid base are exposing users to detrimental effects on the respiratory tract and blood vessels.  Even healthy individuals who have not previously smoked cigarettes are at risk. 

A study in the US, again reported on auntminnie.com has identified a relationship between the use of e-cigarettes and pulmonary disease.  The majority of patients in the study said that they also inhaled THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) through their device and it is believed that the mixing of all the different ingredients has sparked the creation of new toxic agents which has then triggered pulmonary illnesses. 

Chest CT scans have shown damage in young, healthy individuals.  The lungs are showing a range of illnesses from acute eosinophilic pneumonia to hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

More information is needed to be able to fully study the effects of vaping however there is a definite cause for concern and health experts are already calling for a ban on e-cigarettes.