A University of California, Riverside, study analyzing fourth-generation electronic cigarette, or EC, pod atomizer design features has found the pod atomizers are similar to those of previous generations and contain elements that may adversely affect health and accumulate in the environment.
EC atomizers are chambers that hold nicotine-containing fluid and upon heating generate an aerosol. The pod-style e-cigarettes have become very popular, especially with young people.
The elements/metals in atomizers are important because chronic exposure could adversely affect human health. Further, EC pod products, which eventually enter the environment, could contribute to chemical pollution in water and soil.
“The more these devices aesthetically evolve, the more the atomizer components and elemental composition stay the same,” said Esther Omaiye, a graduate student in Department of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology at UC Riverside and the first author of the research paper that appeared in PLOS ONE. “While major components such as filaments, thick wires, filament-wire joints, air-tubes, and wicks have been preserved across generations, we see newer components in fourth-generation pod products such as connector pins, connector-wire joints, ceramic wicks and chambers that house these wicks.”
University of California Riverside –Â 2021-04-02
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