Study says e-cigarettes may contain carcinogens similar to regular cigarettes

A new study suggests that e-cigarettes may not be as 'healthy' as previously believed (CBS Los Angeles)Hopes for a healthy cigarette may be nothing more than a pipe dream. A new study suggests that e-cigarettes may contain a level of carcinogens comparable to regular cigarettes.

In recent years, e-cigarettes have become a popular alternative for smokers. The devices use heat to vaporize nicotine but do not actually contain tobacco.

For smokers trying to kick their habit, or at least reduce health risks, e-cigarettes appeared to provide a desirable third way, allowing smokers to get their nicotine fixes while avoiding most of the health risks commonly associated with smoking, including cancer.

However, a report released in France’s National Consumer Institute magazine on Monday says that many e-cigarettes actually contain "a significant quantity of carcinogenic molecules."

According to the study, researchers found that 3 in 10 e-cigarettes contain levels of formaldehyde and acrolein that are nearly equal to levels found in standard cigarettes.

"This is not a reason to ban them, but to place them under better control," National Consumer Institute’s editor in chief Thomas Laurenceau said.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is already considering new potential regulations for e-cigarettes, including a ban on online sales. Because e-cigarettes do not actually emit tobacco smoke, users have largely been able to avoid restrictions applied to traditional smokers.

On Tuesday, the Seal Beach, Calif., City Council announced it was placing a 45-day ban on e-cigarette vendors so the city could spend more time examining the potential health risks of the devices.

However, proponents of e-cigarettes say there is just as much, if not more, evidence suggesting that vaporized nicotine is not only less harmful, but has helped countless cigarette smokers give up their habit.

"I am a ex-smoker (35 years). I tried many times to quit with no success," Michael Eveliegh, owner of Oklahoma based Royal Vapor told Yahoo! News in an email interview. "E-cigs are the only thing that worked! Please know that the tobacco company's and their lobbyists are trying to discredit and confuse the issue," he said. "3 in 10 E-cigs contain levels of formaldehyde, which ones? What flavors? What nicotine level? These are vital to understanding if there is really a cause for concern or not."

The e-cigarette market has been booming. In 2012, the e-cigarette industry recorded more than $1 billion in sales, with profits expected to reach $10 billion within five years. Some estimate that e-cigarette sales could surpass traditional cigarette sales in the next few decades.

The Verge notes that a recent report from Wells Fargo pointed to the public’s belief that e-cigarettes are healthier than traditional smoking as the reason behind their surge in popularity, describing their growth potential as a “promising opportunity” for investors.

"E-cigarettes are more than just a fad," reads an excerpt from the report. "E-Cigarettes' appeal stems from a variety of perceived advantages over traditional cigarettes, most commonly the perceptions that e-cigarettes are healthier, cheaper, and can be used almost anywhere."

However, the future of the e-cigarette industry could change with those potential FDA regulations coming as soon as this fall.

"It is true that more research is needed on the health effects of e-cigarettes,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, told the WSJ. “However, we do not need more research on whether e-cigarettes should or should not be included in proposed FDA regulations.”

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Fossil remains may contain the world’s first bird specimen

The Aurornis xui on this fossil might be history's first bird. (Thierry Hubin, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural …

A fossil largely forgotten inside a Chinese museum might actually contain the world’s first bird.

Nature magazine reports that the Aurornis xui specimen was technically discovered by a Chinese farmer several years ago. But it had remained unidentified until paleontologist Pascal Godefroit stumbled across the fossil last year in the museum at the Fossil and Geology Park in Yizhou.

“In my opinion, it's a bird,” Godefroit, who is at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, told Nature. “But these sorts of hypotheses are very controversial. We’re at the origins of a group. The differences between birds and [nonavian] dinosaurs are very thin.”

Godefroit and his team of researchers have written a paper on the Aurornis xui that was published in the latest issue of Nature, where it is described as the "most primitive" bird specimen yet discovered.

So, why is there a debate on whether the specimen should be considered the world’s first bird?

First of all, the Aurornis xui, aka Aurora, most likely didn’t actually fly. Instead, it’s believed its four wings were used to help it glide through forests during the late Jurassic period about 150 million to 160 million years ago.

Luis Chiappe, director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles in California, told Nature that he believes the Archaeopteryx is still the first known “bird” in history, describing Aurora as “something that’s very close to the origin of birds, but it’s not a bird.”

In addition, Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum of London said for now it’s impractical to distinguish which of the two species were in fact birds.

"There's such a gradation in features between them that it's very difficult to tell them apart,” Barrett told Science News. Aurornis xui "is certainly an older member of the bird lineage than Archaeopteryx, and it's fair to call it a very primitive bird. But what you call a bird comes down to what you call a bird, and a lot of definitions depend on Archaeopteryx."

Nonetheless, Godefroit said the Aurora has hip bones that strongly resemble modern birds. And because the feather fossils are not well preserved, researchers cannot say for certain that the 3-foot-long Aurora was a glider rather than a full-fledged flier.

Its length puts it at about the same size as other modern-day pheasants. However, the Aurora is described as having razor-sharp teeth, claws and a long tail that make it sound far more formidable than your average bird.

In April 2012, the remains of a giant feathered dinosaur were discovered in China, marking it as the oldest known feathered dinosaur in history. It was estimated to have lived about 10 million years after Aurora.

In addition, Godefroit says Archaeopteryx is more closely related to nonavian dinosaurs, meaning that birds would have needed to experience two separate forms of evolution to become the flying creatures they are today.

Interestingly, the answer to the debate might lie in the same museum where Aurora was discovered. Godefroit says hundreds of unclassified fossils remain there and at other nearby institutions.

“The biodiversity of these small, birdlike dinosaurs was incredible,” he said.

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