No cell stress from Vype vapor

British American Tobacco has reported that in-vitro testing of Vype vapor has revealed no cell stress, DNA damage or malignant transformations.

In each test, the vapor produced the same results as an untreated control – there was no activity.

‘A series of cell-based tests developed to compare the biological impact of cigarette smoke with e-cigarette vapour revealed no activity in cells exposed to vapour from Vype ePen, a commercially available e-cigarette,’ BAT said in a press note issued today.

‘In contrast, when the cell culture systems were exposed to cigarette smoke, they exhibited a series of responses including stress responses, DNA damage and cellular transformation, depending on the assay used.’

The use of these tests to assess the biological impact of electronic cigarettes was reported by BAT scientists at the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology in New Orleans.

“The results of these tests show that toxicity and biological activity is unaffected by the vapor from the e-cigarette tested, Vype ePen,” said Dr. Kevin McAdam, head of Next Generation Product (NGP) Research at BAT.

“These tests are part of a suite of tests being developed to test novel tobacco and nicotine products and could be used to help develop standards for these products in the future.”

BAT said in its note that electronic cigarette vapor could contain nicotine, humectants, flavorings and thermal degradation products, so it was important to understand the potential impact on biological systems.

‘A number of tests were used to compare the biological impact of cigarette smoke and e-cigarette vapour: cell stress tests, looking at the production of intracellular antioxidants, free radicals and inflammatory markers; assessment of DNA damage, which can set the scene for cancer; and a transformation assay, which measures the transformation or conversion of normal cells into a cancerous cell phenotype,’ the note said.