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How Much Nicotine is in Your Electronic Cigarette Flavored Liquid?
Mignonne C Guy1, Pallav Pokhrel1, Thaddeus A Herzog1
1Mignonne Guy, Assistant Professor, Department of African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Pallav Pokhrel, Associate Professor, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Thaddeus A. Herzog, Associate Professor, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Kevin D. Cassel, Assistant Professor, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Kari-lyn K. Sakuma, Assistant Professor, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, Oregon State University, Waldo Corvallis, OR. Dennis R. Trinidad, Associate Professor, Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA. Sherilyn Palafox, Research Assistant, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI. Matthew S. Halquist, Laboratory Director and Research Assistant Professor, Bioanalytical Lab, School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Thomas Eissenberg, Professor, Department of Psychology, Center for the Study of Tobacco Products, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Susan Bodnar-Deren, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 827 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA. Pebbles Fagan, Professor and Director Center for the Study of Tobacco, Department Health Behavior and Health Education, Fay Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Objectives:
In this study, we examined the concordance of manufacturers' labeled nicotine concentration on flavored electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) liquids with lab measured nicotine concentrations and how nicotine is marketed on product labels.
Methods:
The top 10 selling flavored e-cigarette liquids for 7 brands were purchased from 7 vape shops in 2 major US cities - Richmond, Virginia and Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2015. We examined the nicotine concentration using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (.05mg/mL limit of quantification) and descriptive information on the e-cigarette bottles (N = 40).
Results:
All nicotine-based samples showed discordance between the labeled and lab measured nicotine concentrations. Overall, 27% showed a higher mean level of measured nicotine, and Richmond, VA samples showed the highest levels of discordance (-60% [pipe tobacco]; 39% [green goblin]). Additionally, 90% of the 6 different types of nicotine-related warning statements indicated that the product "may" contain nicotine ("e-liquid may contain nicotine") even when the product contained nicotine. Moreover, 20% of the e-cigarette liquids included descriptors (low, medium, high nicotine).
Conclusions:
The findings show that e-cigarette manufacturers provided inaccurate information about nicotine on product labels. Studies are needed to determine what quality control standards are needed to protect the public from the harms of nicotine.
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