Vapers Warned of Hazards From Dirty Mouthpieces

Vape and e-cigarette users have been warned of the dangers of not cleaning their devices properly over fears harmful bacteria could enter the body from a dirty mouthpiece.

Suzi Gage, a university academic who studies recreational drug use, said that moisture associated with inhaling vapour could perhaps harbour bacteria. And if the e-cigarette or vaping device was not cleaned regularly enough it could lead to the user becoming ill, she suggested, according to a story in The Daily Mail.

Gage said “surprisingly little” was known about the health risk of nicotine. “We know what it is about tobacco cigarettes that is so risky to health, it’s the tar, the carbon monoxide, the formaldehyde, the heavy metals and the tens or even hundreds of carcinogens within the tobacco,” she said.

“These things either are not present in e-cigarettes, they don’t contain tobacco itself, or they might be present but orders of magnitude lower than in cigarettes.

“Now this doesn’t mean that e-cigarettes are harmless because there might be other aspects of inhaling heated vapour that are risky that we don’t know about yet.

“For example, perhaps the moisture associated with vapour could harbour bacteria, particularly as these devices are re-used rather than single use in the way that cigarettes are.

“If you’re an e-cigarette user, have a little think about how often you clean the mouthpiece that you’re putting in your mouth and inhaling your vapour through.”