Yes, electronic cigarettes are chemical, just like absolutely everything on Earth and across the universe. What matters isn’t whether something is chemical or not, but what’s in it. In fact, since 2015, the British Ministry of Health has considered vaping to be “at least 95% less harmful” than smoking. Finally, if you want proof that everything around us is chemical, please read the label below, which lists all the chemical compounds… in a peach.
Are e-liquids chemical? Without a doubt, yes. Is this a problem? Certainly not. But what do you say to someone who uses it as a reason to criticise vaping? Well, you say that it’s a good thing.
Update!
What’s interesting about this article is reading the comments. Along with the usual arguments, we often get one that’s come up twice in the comments, and we hear it a lot: e-liquids are chemical.
“E-liquids are chemical” is an argument we hear all the time.
And it’s not just for this article or the readers of the Figaro. We read and hear it constantly, everywhere: e-liquids are chemical, so they must be unhealthy and totally unnatural. But what’s really inside an e-liquid? The answer is here.
The alchemy of chemistry
So, the next time you hear someone explaining that vaping is chemical, the simple, straightforward answer to their argument is “It is, so what?” Why? Because the person you’re talking to is confused.
Yes, vaping is chemical, undoubtedly. Like everything else around us.
Everything is chemical. Absolutely everything. Natural medicine, plants, animals, even things never touched by human hand or our products are chemical. Every living thing is a chemical factory.
Here’s one example. Take a look at the image below. It shows a molecular composition.
(Image credit: James Kennedy)
This is the work of James Kennedy, a Professor of Chemistry in Melbourne. As for all those ingredients you wouldn’t want anywhere near your plate? This is the chemical composition of a peach. Yes, the fruit.
This is the chemistry of a peach, even an organic one, even one picked several thousand kilometres from the nearest pesticide factory. Nature, which people compare with man-made chemistry all the time, is itself just a huge, open-air chemical factory.
All animals, plants and minerals are chemical.
So if, like some people, you go by the adage that says “never eat anything that contains a product with a name you can’t pronounce,” get ready to starve to death.
The entire Earth and everything on it is chemical. The Moon is chemical. Mars is chemical. Any star at the edge of the universe, that has never seen life, is chemical. The infinitely small is chemical, since even the most basic particles are primary components.
Let’s be crystal clear: the only difference between a molecule synthesized in nature or in the lab is where it was made.
There’s only one exception, one thing that isn’t chemical or isn’t any more: a black hole. This is because the state of matter in this gravitational singularity is too far beyond the limits of the laws of physics that apply during a reaction to be considered as such. We’re in the territory of mere speculation: perhaps black holes are chemical too, but who knows?
So if you want to eat something that isn’t chemical, you could try eating a black hole, but we’re not sure that’s such a great idea. Enjoy your meal.
What’s behind this confusion?
A molecule from nature and its twin, created in the lab, are identical and have the same properties.
When people talk about chemistry, they’re not talking about two classes of products, but about where those products come from. The term chemical, as opposed to natural, does not differentiate between two molecules of different qualities or with different properties, but simply refers to how they were produced. There is no difference between a molecule found in nature and the same molecule that has been synthesized in a lab. Same properties, same composition, same quality.
Chemistry itself is not bad, but there is bad chemistry.
It’s true, the chemical industry does make harmful products. But these aren’t bad because they were made in a factory instead of in nature. They were simply designed that way for a reason, often to make a profit. The problem is not that they are chemical, but that the manufacturers are cynical.
But this doesn’t answer our question: is it a problem that vaping is chemical? No. E-liquids don’t exist in nature, that’s a fact. But they are made from several components that are found in nature. We know what they contain, we control how they are made, and we know exactly what the end product will be. All in infinitely healthier conditions than exist in nature, and using molecules that exist there.
E-liquids are made in a controlled environment, to precise standards, which guarantees they are safe. That’s only possible in a lab.
One final point: nature makes molecules that are toxic, even deadly for humans. This is also true of the chemical industry, but there it only happens on purpose. It’s called making poison. But e-liquid manufacturers have no interest in poisoning their customers, quite the reverse: they want to keep them alive for as long as possible!
And that’s the sum of it. So the next time someone tells you “Vaping’s chemical!” you can reply, hand on heart, “Thank goodness! That’s wonderful news, I’m so relieved!”
