In the 1936 film "My Man Godfrey," Godfrey the butler (William Powell) must deal with the lady of the house (Carole Lombard), who's often afflicted with a case of the vapors-in other words, she's conveniently prone to fainting. How Godfrey deals with this is pretty funny, but it's not something you see much of these days. Hard to picture a contemporary Laura Dern or Viola Davis character swooning, because women don't really get overcome by the vapors unless it's from vaping.
E-cigs can contain nicotine, along with vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, water and flavorings. When heated, propylene glycol produces the toxic substances acrolein, formaldehyde and benzene. The jury's still out on what the different flavorings emit. And now it's clear that vaping is especially risky for a fetus if a pregnant woman is using nicotine-laced e-cigs or even no-nicotine e-cigs.
A recent study found that when a zebrafish fetus is exposed to e-cigarettes, the result is severe heart malformation. Another study found that mice fetuses reacted to the nicotine with a reduction of neurodevelopmental gene expression in the frontal cortex (brain damage). Yet another study says that frog fetuses showed signs of facial (cartilage and muscle) defects after e-cigarette exposure. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that any product containing nicotine is not safe to use during pregnancy and can damage a developing (human) fetus's brain and lungs.
So if you're pregnant, quit vaping (and smoking!). For help, check out, "What you need to know about e-cigarettes" at doctoroz.com and Dr. Roizen's quit tips at Sharecare.com.
(c) 2017 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.