Visit the Laboratory for Forensic Toxicology Research at Virginia Commonwealth University and you’ll find a team of researchers prying open hundreds of e-cigarettes. Their goal: to study their chemical composition and uncover the truth about what youth are inhaling when they use these products.  

The forensic toxicology lab is home to the Chemical Characterization of Confiscated E-Cigarette Products Across Virginia project, a long-running research project that aims to uncover what kids and teens are really inhaling when they vape.  

The project began when some local schools contacted the lab with a concern: Young students were using e-cigarettes in school, and staff and faculty were worried about exactly what they were using.  

A trial project was launched in 2019 to address this problem. Schools would send confiscated vapes to the VCU lab, and the researcher team would take them apart, sample the liquid inside, and analyze its chemical composition. The trial was successful, and grant funding from VFHY allowed the team to continue and expand this work.  

The project first received VFHY funding in 2023. A grant given through VFHY’s partnership with VCU provided one year of funding, recently extended by the VFHY Board of Trustees for another three years.  

Currently, the project works with 14 different schools and school systems from every corner of the commonwealth. To date, they have collected about 340 unique items, “and more are coming in every day,” said Alaina Holt, associate faculty member of VCU’s forensic science department and researcher on the project team.  

This work is essential because a lot of kids are using e-cigarettes – but have no idea what they contain. The 2021 Virginia Youth Survey found 14.3% of high school students and 4.5% of middle school students use e-cigarettes, and the research team has even received products from elementary-aged students.  

66% of teens who vape think they contain “just flavoring” per the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Even if an e-cigarette user wants to know what is in their product, sometimes it is impossible: manufacturers’ labels are often incorrect or incomplete. By analyzing these products, consumers can have a better understanding of what they are using, and more fully evaluate the risks.  

The research has led to some surprising findings. The team has found all kinds of substances beyond the expected nicotine and flavoring chemicals: synthetic cannabinoids, controlled substances like methamphetamine, and other odd ingredients like dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in cough syrup.  

The data tells another fascinating story: Usage evolves in response to legislation. The team has been able to track a decline in the presence of menthol and a rise in synthetic cooling agents in correlation with a proposed federal ban on menthol. Additionally, they noticed a rise in the use of cannabis-based products as recreational marijuana laws have relaxed in recent years.  

They also observed an evolution of the types of products that were most frequently collected, likely in response to flavor bans. In 2020 the FDA began enforcing restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes – but only in pod- or cartridge-based products like Juul. Between 2019 and 2020, the researchers noticed a rise in disposable vapes.  

“Youth just found a loophole and a way to continue to get their flavored products, which is showing that there are shifts in how youth are using and accessing products based on legislation,” Holt explained.  

Looking to the future, Holt hopes to expand the project even further. “The more school systems we can reach, the better the data set will be, particularly if we can start tracking regional trends in product use,” she said.  

Holt and her team hope their findings can help educate youth about the unreliability of labeling of e-cigarettes and the risks they face by using these products. They envision this information being used to inform and improve prevention efforts, empowering youth to stay safe from e-cigarettes for years to come.  

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Do you represent a school system in Virginia that is interested in partnering with VCU to submit confiscated e-cigarettes to the research project? Fill out this form to learn more.