Electronic cigarettes have skyrocketed in popularity since their inception near the beginning of the millenium. Smokers love the fact that they get to have the act and feel of smoking without the danger and health risk of tobacco. It's harm reduction at its finest. But just how much is the harm of smoking reduced by these devices? That's what researchers in Inhalation Toxicology Journal wanted to find out. They recently conducted a study that examined pollutant levels in a room that had been diluted with electronic cigarette vapor and then compared to one that had been diluted with tobacco smoke.

The study (found here), which is the first "indoor air" study done on electronic cigarettes, looked to find out levels of the famous toxic pollutants found in secondhand tobacco smoke. The researches compared both electronic and tobacco cigarette emissions based on the levels of: VOCs, carbonyls, PAHs, nicotine, TSNAs, and glycols. These are all harmful chemicals that cause such disastrous consequences of direct secondhand (and firsthand) tobacco smoke exposure.

After performing the studies, the researchers published their findings on both types of emissions. The non-cancer risk for tobacco smoke "markedly exceeded risk limits, indicating a condition of "Significant Risk" or harm to human health". Additionally, the tobacco smoke approached risk limits for adult exposure in terms of cancer risk.

But what about electronic cigarettes? Here's what they published about the non-cancer risks: "Non-cancer risk analysis revealed 'No Significant Risk' of harm to human health for vapor samples from e-liquids." And as for cancer risks: "No vapor samples from e-liquids A-D exceeded the risk limit for either children or adults." As you can see, these studies are groundbreaking. Not only do they confirm what most electronic cigarettes users already know – that e-cigarettes are harmless compared to tobacco cigarettes – but they prove that electronic cigarettes secondhand vapor is a virtual non-entity in terms of harm to the e-smokers and those around them.

"At the E Cig Cabin, we've been waiting for a solid study about 'indoor air' levels of electronic cigarette vapor to be published. I've been waiting to write a post about the lack of harm found in secondhand vapor, but there were just no good studies out there. Then I stumbled across this study, which was published just this month (October) and it simply proves everything everyone suspected. Electronic cigarette vapor is virtually harmless to the people that use them and, more importantly, the people that are around them while they're using it. It's great news but I can't say I'm surprised," replied Tyler Bullock, head writer at the E Cig Cabin, when asked about the study.

As electronic cigarettes continue to rise in popularity, expect there to be more thorough studies on the effects of secondhand vapor. But for now, this study does a pretty good job of summing everything up, even if it is what most e-smokers already expected.