Abstract
This work targets mainly the quality control of electronic cigarette liquids. It relies on an analytical control of a “32-product” sample made of several types of e-cigarette liquids taken from various supermarkets and tobacconist's offices in Morocco. All along this study, we made sure to check both the conformity of the nicotine level indicated in the packaging of each product and the existence of any other components inside the product, especially toxic or unknown impurities. The method used for this study is known under the name of high-performance liquid chromatography. For statistical analysis, we used Student's t-test for a single sample in order to analyze the relative differences between nicotine quantity reported in the product and the one measured during our experiment. Finally, we used linear regression test to determine the relationship between the nicotine level accuracy on the packaging and the level of toxic impurities in the products. The differences between the nicotine concentrations reported in the packages and the measured ones varied from −100% to +3.3%. The study showed that 31% of analyzed products have an accurate indication of the level of nicotine on the packaging. However, 47% of the studied products showed more than 20% difference between measure and packaging indication. In all analyzed samples, the level of impurities altered from 0 to 32.6%. Furthermore, the level of the nicotine breakdown products did not exceed 2% of the nicotine content in pretty much all of the samples. The actual nicotine content of electronic cigarette refill liquids is not always as precise as what is stated on the packaging; in addition to the level of impurities detected in several brands and that exceeds the European Pharmacopoeia standards, some may even present a risk of causing toxicological damage.
Highlights
Smoking has always been a major health problem
We analyzed 32 samples from different brands of electronic cigarette liquids. e results are presented in Table 1. e comparison of the labeled and determined nicotine concentrations in all the e-liquids analyzed in the study is made by Student’s t-test for the unique sample (Table 2)
The differences between measured and reported nicotine concentrations ranged from -100% to 3.3%. 10 tested samples (31%) showed a similarity between the labeled and the detected nicotine concentration, while 18 samples (47%) showed differences between these
Summary
Smoking has always been a major health problem. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), there are six million deaths each year all over the world that are due to tobacco [1]. A new concept has emerged called tobacco harm reduction [5]and which aim is to reduce tobacco consumption. It is based on the substitution of cigarette by a less harmful competitor product. Several studies have focused on the contribution of alternative or substitute nicotine products in a harm reduction strategy [7,8,9]. During a study lead on a group of intensive smokers (more than 20 cigarettes per day), the use of alternative products allowed an increase in smoking cessation attempts [9]. From a consumer’s perspective, current substitutes created from the issue of not delivering nicotine in the same way as cigarettes. is urged companies to e Scientific World Journal develop a new product that can release nicotine in a similar way from cigarettes in terms of gesture and sensation. is is definitely the case of a popular recent product: the electronic cigarette or the e-cigarette [10]
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