A study published Wednesday shows that dozens of popular e-cigarette products are contaminated with bacterial and fungal toxins that cause lung disease.
Credit: Aaron Favila / AP

Makers of e-cigarettes claim that their products are safe, but a study published Wednesday shows that dozens of popular e-cigarette products are contaminated with bacterial and fungal toxins that cause lung disease.

The impurities found in the e-cigarettes — which are associated with asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease — were found in nearly a quarter of single-use e-cigarette cartridges and in over three quarters of e-liquids, the team at the Harvard School of Public Health found.

“Finding these toxins in e-cigarette products adds to the growing concerns that we have about the safety of e-cigarettes,” said Dr. David Christiani, study author and professor of environmental genetics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public in Boston.

The researchers examined 75 popular e-cigarette products — 37 single-use cartridges and 38 e-liquids from 10 top selling U.S. brands. The […]