Letter to the editor: Of course vaping is dangerous

Is vaping damaging to lungs? Of course it is. The vaping debate is another instance where somebody or some group with an agenda has successfully created a controversy, knowing full well that for every controversy there are at least two points of view. And, very simply, a tidy profit can be had by getting enough people that support terpene inhalation to part with money necessary to support the practice.

Mammalian lungs are constructed of millions of alveoli, which are tiny air sacs lined with a single layer of living cells. Alveoli transfer inhaled oxygen through the monolayer of cells to the red blood cells, circulating in tiny capillaries behind the alveoli, in exchange for carbon dioxide which moves the opposite way to be exhaled. The air we breathe is 78.01% nitrogen and 20.96% oxygen. That leaves about 1.03%, which includes all of the inert gases like argon, helium, neon, xenon, etc., traces of carbon dioxide, and traces of nitrous and sulfurous contaminates.

Inhaling terpenes will very quickly destroy the single layer of alveolar cells and even the healthiest of bodies will fall behind in producing replacement cells. It’s a losing game and only a matter of time until the lungs certainly will be damaged beyond repair.

Joseph G. Cremonese

Hempfield

The writer is chairman of Scientific Industries, a company that makes tools for cell biologists.