A senior from Garnet Valley High School in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania earned a national science award recently for a project to determine the harmful effects (if any) of vaping.
Natalia Orlovsky tested the effects of e-cig liquids on bacteria and human cells. She also tested nicotine. She discovered that the e-cig liquid itself caused cells to produce chemicals associated with stress. That was true even when there was no nicotine present. While this research was only done in cells, not people, the young scientist notes, “The fact that it could apply to people is reason to do more research. Vaping may indeed be safer than cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean its harmless.”