NEWS
MAKING E-CIGARETTES ALLERGY FREE
The first practical guide to the allergy-safe use of e-liquid ingredients has been published.
Just like many flavouring or fragrance-containing consumer
products, e-liquid has the potential for causing an allergic reaction.
Flavourings are an important part of the vaping experience and
some flavourings are known allergens.
Currently, there are no specific allergy-related regulatory
restrictions under either the Tobacco Products Directive in Europe
or regulations administered by the Food and Drug Administration
in the US.
Now researchers from British American Tobacco have devised a
practical approach to assessing and managing the allergy risk
associated with e-liquid flavourings and other ingredients in an
online report “Regulatory Pharmacology and Toxicology.”
For skin allergens, the researchers propose a method for
estimating the exposures to e-liquid ingredients and quantitatively
assessing the risk. This has then allowed them to work out a
concentration of an allergen that is not expected to cause allergy
in the person vaping the e-liquid.
Additionally, the researchers say any known allergen should be
labelled as an ingredient if it is present at 0.1% concentration or
higher, even if it is established that it can be used safely at a
higher concentration. This will help those consumers who already
know themselves to be sensitive to certain ingredients to make
product choices.
The researchers say that it is also prudent to exclude all known
respiratory sensitisers from e-liquids. “Although respiratory
allergy is much less common than skin allergy, the potential
adverse effects are much more severe,” said Dr Sandra Costigan,
Principal Toxicologist at British American Tobacco.
Chronic inhalation of respiratory allergens can lead to symptoms
ranging from mild breathing difficulties to fatal anaphylaxis.
Food allergens are yet another type of allergen and the authors
recommend the presence of any potential food allergens (that
are not already excluded for being respiratory allergens as well)
should be labelled.
“No two people have the same immune response, which is why
it is important to tell people about allergens in a product even if
all your data says most people shouldn’t experience a problem,”
says Dr Costigan.
28 ISSUE 11 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE