A number of unexpected chemicals have been found in JUUL e-cigarette products, which may introduce yet more health risks of JUUL for e-cigarette users.

E-cigarettes have already been considered unsafe for young people by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency has noted that the impact of nicotine and other substances in vaping products can have a negative impact on the developing brains of young children, teenagers, and young people up to their mid-twenties. These devices have been linked with nicotine addiction, as well as issues such as attention, learning, and mood problems.

Indeed, researchers from Yale University recently conducted a study that found that JUUL products contain harmful, unexpected chemicals that could cause irritation in its users’ airways.

The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. For the study, researchers built a vaping machine at Yale in order to analyze the JUUL cigarettes.

Researchers found that the liquid vanillin (which provides the vanilla flavoring found in JUUL pods) contained additional, unexpected chemicals. These chemicals are called acetals and appeared in the product after the flavored liquid combined with the alcohol contained in vapes from nicotine and flavoring.

“We were able to detect these acetals both in ‘Créme Brulée’ e-liquid as well as in the aerosol generated from it,” said the study’s lead author and an associate research scientist at Yale, Hanno Erythropel, in a press release posted on the school’s website about the JUUL study.

Erythropel noted that this study is the first to research the presence of acetal chemicals in the aerosol of e-cigarette products.

The presence of these chemicals surprised the study’s team members, noted one of the researchers, Sven-Eric Jordt, who co-authored the study from Duke University.

Why are acetals such a big deal? According to the Yale study, acetals have actually been banned in traditional cigarettes. But in e-cigarettes, once manufacturers have mixed a variety of chemicals together, acetals may be created—and they can introduce users to yet more health risks of JUUL products.

“People often assume that these e-liquids are a final product once they are mixed,” said Erythropel. “But the reactions create new molecules in the e-liquids, and it doesn’t just happen in e-liquids from small vape shopes, but also in those from the biggest manufacturers in the U.S.”

The government is currently working to better regulate the use of e-cigarettes. More than three million people in the United States are users of e-cigarette products, according to estimates from the CDC. Notably, the use of e-cigarettes is rapidly growing among young people. Indeed, between 2017 and 2018, the number of high school students using e-cigarettes grew by 78 percent, and among middle schoolers, the percentage grew by 48 percent.

The Yale researchers hope their study and research into the health risks of JUUL will help guide the government toward new e-cigarette regulations.

If you or someone you love have suffered from negative health risks of JUUL products, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation.

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If you or your child suffered seizures after vaping with a JUUL e-cigarette, you may benefit from participating in a free JUUL class action lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented 
for informational purposes only.