URMC Awarded $2.1 Million to Study E-Cigarettes

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have received a $2.1 million federal grant to help them study E-cigarettes.

The five-year study, supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health in conjunction with the FDA, will be used to help shape federal regulations on e-cigarettes, hookahs and miniature cigars.

Lead researchers Dr. Thomas Mariani says, “We know that traditional tobacco cigarettes cause numerous diseases. We intend to determine the disease risk associated with nontraditional tobacco-related products like e-cigarettes.”

Mariani’s team is studying the effects of those products on humans, in rodents and on the cellular level. The studies will place an added emphasis on how these products affect newborns and children.

The research will look at whether the chemical mixes or “juices” that are part of the e-cigarettes would create health problems. Those ‘juices’ contain nicotine, flavoring and some inert substances.