So the University of Rochester found that flavouring in e-cigarettes can deliver free radicals (DNA-damaging, cancer-causing agents), heavy metals and inflammation agents to lung tissue (Report, 31 December). The lung lining is, after all, specifically designed to exchange materials between our body and the air. The main defences that we have evolved are against particles, as in smoke, and foreign bodies, not the vapours, often of volatile organic chemicals, found in e-cigarettes.
Of course, it is not surprising that British American Tobacco scientists concluded otherwise. Tobacco companies see vaping as a wonderful market for the creation of addicted customers. Come on, wake up and smell the vapour.
Dr Brian Curwain
Christchurch, Dorset
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