As Vaping Grows, NCCU Scientists Investigate Unanswered Questions

While no one claims that electronic cigarettes are good for you, there is a perception that e-cigarettes are less harmful to users than tobacco.

E-cigarettes entered the United States market about 20 years ago. Manufacturers originally promoted e-cigarettes as a method for smokers to wean their way off tobacco. Rob Onyenwoke, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of biological and biomedical sciences at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) says that doesn't work.

"People that will try (tobacco) cigarettes will still try cigarettes," Onyenwoke said. "They will also vape."

About 8% of the U.S. adult population has used electronic cigarettes, 7.3% in North Carolina, said Onyenwoke.

Perhaps more concerning is the number of young people who use e-cigarettes: 6% of all students in the U.S. per Onyenwoke. That includes 7.8% of high school students and 3.5% of middle school students.

"It's a youth culture thing," said Vijay Sivaraman, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of biological and biomedical sciences. Sivaraman and Onyenwoke have collaborated on research on e-cigarettes which has led to 15 published papers.

Their research has focused on the impact of vaping on lungs, the impact on the pulmonary system, whether e-cigarettes exacerbate pneumonia and whether vaping makes people more susceptible to viral diseases, including Covid.

What is the attraction

E-cigarettes use an e-liquid which often contains nicotine, in volumes that equal the nicotine in 20 tobacco cigarettes.

When electronic cigarettes are used or "vaped," that e-liquid is heated until it transforms into vapor.

The Food and Drug Administration's opinion on e-cigarettes when they first came on the U.S. market was that they were less harmful than tobacco.

"We pushed back on that," said Sivaraman. "You are taking a complex chemical mixture and heating it to 300 degrees. Chemicals change as they vaporize. Other chemicals are being brought into airways."

The e-liquid also contains nicotine salts, a form of nicotine that is combined with an acid.

"It goes down smoother," said Sivaraman. "You can take in more."

Globally, e-liquids come in 15,000 different flavors. Those include bubble gum, mint and frosted cupcake.

"It's like candied cereals drawing in the little kids," said Sivaraman. "Also, the devices are pretty cool looking. And (e-cigarettes) don't put off an odor as noxious as regular cigarettes."

Both Onyenwoke and Sivaraman say the jury is out on how harmful e-cigarettes are compared to tobacco.

"They both have their own problems," Sivaraman said. "Tobacco has a lot of carcinogens (substances that promote cancer)."

"We just don't know yet," said Onyenwoke. "It took a long time to convince people that tobacco cigarettes were bad for them, decades and decades."

Workforce Development

While vaping is bad for users, conducting research on e-cigarettes and other inhaled toxins has benefited NCCU students. Seventeen master's students and three doctoral students who have worked in either Sivaraman or Onyenwoke's labs have graduated. Almost all had papers published in academic journals, either as first or second authors, and the master's students have moved on to positions in biotechnology, clinical research organizations and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"School can be challenging, but if you hold on and get a graduate education, you can do well with a degree from NCCU," Sivaraman said. "Research Triangle Park sees us as a producer of workforce."

"Students get jobs in the biotechnology sector," said Onyenwoke. "They use all the skills (they learn at NCCU): analytical techniques, genetics, cell biology. We want students to be heavily involved in the research."