An editorial in BusinessLIVE has called for the government to rein in the manufacturers of vapes and subject them to the same regulatory control as the purveyors of cigarettes and snuff.
The plea comes after recent findings that some popular disposable e-cigarette brands – after a few hundred puffs – release far higher amounts of hazardous metals and metalloids than older refillable e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes, raising a user’s risk of serious health problems.
The study comes hard on the heels of the recent global World Conference on Tobacco Control held in Ireland, where inadequate South African legislation on tobacco and vape was starkly highlighted in a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The BusinessLIVE editorial points out that once at the forefront of global tobacco control, SA is now one of just 62 countries yet to ban or institute any rules for e-cigarettes, and that the sector is thus governed by the outdated Tobacco Products Control Act – last amended in 2008 – and is silent on the new generation nicotine delivery devices flooding the market.
“The consequences are there for all to see …as manufacturers exploit gaps in the law. One in six high schoolchildren in SA is vaping, and almost half of them reach for their e-cigarettes within half an hour of waking up.
“Most of these children have never smoked and are not using the devices to try to kick a tobacco habit. Instead, they are getting hooked on a substance that is notoriously difficult to quit, and using products completely free of regulatory oversight.
“Consumers thus have no assurance that the products contain the ingredients they claim to, or are free from known poisons and carcinogens. Worse still, vaping may act as a gateway to smoking,” the editorial warned.
“We know that smoking kills. There isn’t enough independent, long-term evidence to conclude that vaping doesn’t. And given the dark history of the various industries that have suppressed safety data that run counter to their business interests – from big tobacco hiding the links between smoking and lung cancer to pharmaceutical manufacturers burying data on potentially deadly side-effects – we must be wary of the plethora of industry-sponsored, short-term studies claiming vaping is less harmful than smoking.”
While current legislation prohibits tobacco companies from advertising cigarettes or sponsoring concerts, there is nothing in law to stop vape manufacturers from marketing their products with every trick in the book, from sponsoring high-profile sporting events to hiring social influencers, the editorial notes.
“Regulating a market that has been allowed to grow without restraint is never easy," adds the editorial. “But if there is political will, it can be done. A total 133 countries now control electronic nicotine delivery systems in some form, ranging from outright bans to strict rules about their composition, promotion and sale.
“It’s time for the government to put the genie back in the bottle. The onus is on MPs to stand firm … and ensure the draft tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems Bill is an effective safeguard for public health: the next generation depends on it.”
Alarming research
According to the recent American study, some disposable e-cigarette brands will emit far higher amounts of hazardous metals and metalloids than older refillable e-cigarettes and traditional cigarettes – after only a few hundred puffs.
“Our study highlights the hidden risk of these disposable electronic cigarettes, with hazardous levels of neurotoxic lead and carcinogenic nickel and antimony, and stressing the need for urgency in enforcement,” said Brett Poulin from the University of California-Davis and corresponding author of the study.
MedicalXPress reports that previous research on early generations of refillable e-cigarettes (e.g., refillable pens, box mods and pods) found that their heating components could release metals like chromium and nickel ions into the internal liquid that then becomes the vapour people breathe.
Inhaling certain metals and metalloids is potentially harmful, increasing the risk of cancer, respiratory disease and nerve damage.
In the past few years, disposable e-cigarette sales have overtaken sales of older refillable vapes, but little is known about the elemental composition of vapours from the newer devices.
Poulin and colleagues assessed popular disposable e-cigarette brands to evaluate their potential health risks, with their findings being published in ACS Central Science.
They first identified the metal and metalloids inside seven disposable devices from three brands, comparing liquids with light and heavy levels of flavouring. The original unused liquids had low levels of ionic metals and metalloids, though some devices had surprisingly high levels of lead and antimony.
The team traced the source of lead to leaded copper alloys used for non-heating components, which leach into the e-liquid. Antimony did not have a definable source.
Then they activated the disposable e-cigarettes, which heated the internal liquid and created between 500 and 1 500 puffs for each device.
Analyses of the vapours determined that:
- The levels of ionic metals and metalloids, including chromium, nickel, and antimony increased as the number of puffs increased, whereas concentrations of ionic zinc, copper, and lead were elevated at the start, and each device had different emissions;
- Compared with previous studies, most of the tested disposable e-cigarettes released higher amounts of metals and metalloids into vapours than older refillable vapes. One of the disposable e-cigarettes released more lead during a day’s use than nearly 20 packs of traditional cigarettes.
- The researchers next assessed the health risk faced by a daily user of these devices. For two of the disposable vapes, the team collected toxicity information for chromium and antimony, substances that have non-toxic and carcinogenic forms.
Only the non-toxic form of chromium, Cr(III), was present, but a mixture was observed between the less toxic form of antimony, Sb(V), and the carcinogenic form, Sb(III), in the vapours.
However, nickel levels in vapours from three devices and Sb(III) levels in vapours from two devices exceeded cancer risk limits. The vapours from four of the devices had nickel and lead emissions that surpassed health risk thresholds for diseases other than cancer.
The team tested only three of the nearly 100 disposable e-cigarette brands available on store shelves.
They said the results are concerning because of the current popularity and extensive use of disposable e-cigarette products, especially among adolescents and young adults.
Study details
Elevated Toxic Element Emissions from Popular Disposable E‑Cigarettes
Mark Salazar, Lalima Saini, Tran Nguyen, Kent Pinkerton, Amy Madl, Austin Cole, Brett Poulin.
Published in ACS Central Science on 25 June 2025
Abstract
The rapidly evolving market of disposable e-cigarettes poses unknown health risks to adolescents and young adults. We report excessive emissions of toxic metallic elements in aerosols from flavoured and “clear” versions of three popular products (Esco Bar, Flum Pebble, and ELF Bar), orders of magnitude higher in concentration than traditional cigarettes and other e-cigarettes. Heating coil elements (chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni)) likely leached into e-liquids and aerosols from coil degradation during use, increasing up to 1000-fold in concentration over the device life. In Esco Bar devices, high concentrations of lead (Pb, ≤175 ppm), Ni (≤38 ppm), copper (Cu, ≤546 ppm), and zinc (Zn, ≤462 ppm) were observed in both e-liquids and aerosols. We identified the illicit use of leaded bronze in non-heating device components in contact with e-liquid as the source of Pb. Elevated antimony (Sb) in Flum Pebble and Esco Bar samples had unknown origins. Analyses showed Cr was present as nontoxic Cr(III), while Sb was a mixture of nontoxic Sb(V) and carcinogenic Sb(III). Risk assessments revealed cancer risks from Ni and Sb(III) and non-cancer toxicity risks from Pb and Ni exceeded safety thresholds. These findings highlight critical gaps in e-cigarette regulation, characterisation, and enforcement, with implications for public health.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Experts, FDA flag synthetic chemicals in new vapes
Illegal vapes packed with unsafe lead, nickel levels, laboratory tests find
Ban disposable vapes by 2024, urges UK council
Australia bans ‘public health threat’ vapes
Vapes not safer than tobacco, says expert