A title that announces the worst as if the e-cigarette had killed thousands of people since its arrival on the market ... This is how Numerama presented his last article which deals with vaping: " Electronic cigarettes: the multiplication of incidents is alarming". Obviously, incidents happen with all objects that can have a battery, but to make it a goodwill… It should perhaps not be abused! We therefore offer you the distressing article of Numerama and we invite you to read later that of Vaping.fr which is a debriefing of the first.
Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are more than just a fad. More than 12 millions of French would have tried them. It does not surprise us, just walk through a downtown to see that specialized shops have multiplied. They are used by more than three million people in France, for pleasure, or to stop smoking (Inpes). They are often touted as safer alternatives to smoking, although some studies tend to show that e-liquids can have harmful effects on the body.
They come in all shapes and at all prices: the less advanced models can start at 20 € and prices climb to several hundred dollars for the most high-end models and connected electronic cigarettes. We must of course add to this the price of consumables.
A DANGEROUS OBJECT?
Electronic cigarettes always include three essential elements for their operation: an atomizer, a tank (or a cartridge) and a battery. It is the latter which could spontaneously catch fire.
According to a study conducted by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Agency (for Federal Emergency Management Agency) for the US market, 80% of accidents occur during charging, often when the charger used is not original. FEMA studied 25 incidents " reported Between 2009 and 2014.
If the agency concludes its report stating that Explosions and fires caused by electronic cigarettes are rare She says, however, that " The shape and construction of electronic cigarettes makes them more likely than other products using lithium-ion batteries to ignite "like rockets" when the battery ill-works ».
But not all incidents occur when the battery is charging. According to FEMA, 12% of incidents occurred when the electronic cigarette was stored or used. If there were no deaths, the report says nine wounded.
JANUARY 2016, BLACK MO
But this month, several sources reported rather serious incidents involving vapers:
In Telford, England, an electronic cigarette exploded in the user's mouth, leaving the user with burns to the face, neck, hands and one missing tooth. Still in England, but in Salford, Kirby Sheen's electronic cigarette exploded in her face as she tested a new battery made by the Chinese company EFEST. The vaper would have started to smoke and exploded in the hand of the young English girl of 24 years old, making a hole in her finger and propelling a piece of the machine into her eye.
In Germany, a young man of 20 years old who was trying a new battery for her e-cigarette in a shop in the center of Cologne. According to reports, it exploded in the face from the first inhalation, causing burns and the loss of several teeth.
The situation is similar for a 16 year old teenager who suffered the same unpleasant experience in Lethbridge, Canada. He was in his father's car when his vape exploded two inches from his face, causing burns and broken teeth. According to the victim's father, the damage could have been much worse if the youngster in question was not wearing his glasses at the time of the incident. The cigarette used was a Wotofo Phantom, a model made in China.
In the United States, a man had to be taken to a Boston hospital when his electronic cigarette burned in his pocket. The man was then at his workplace and the incident was filmed by surveillance cameras. He had to undergo several skin grafts after being burned in the second and third degree
AN ESSENTIAL REGULATION
All of these incidents occur within days of each other and raise the question of whether e-cigarettes should be considered dangerous. If the number of incidents is rare compared to the number of equestrians in circulation, their unpredictability can not be ignored. In most cases, batteries and chargers that are not original seem to be the cause of the incidents.
Given the gravity of this type of incident, it now seems necessary to set safety standards and manufacturing standards in order to protect French consumers, in a market flooded by products made in China, of poor quality or counterfeit. Jean-Philippe Planchon, founder of myVapors Europe told AFP the following: “ 10% of the products we find in our after-sales service are counterfeit ».
In France, The French Standards Association (AFNOR) has published the first standards in the world relating to vapers. However, these are not mandatory, but on a voluntary basis. A dangerous laxity in a very profitable market, still very little structured and where there is a certain opportunism.
Source : Numerama (Original article) - Vaping.fr (Reaction to Numerama)
