It seems e-cigarettes may not be as healthy as we thought they were

Well, blow me down.

E-cigarettes have taken the country by storm over the past few years, with many smokers choosing them as a 'healthier alternative' to smoking packets of cigarettes. The thing is, when you puff away to your not-so-healthy heart's content on an e-cigarette, you probably think you're only getting your nicotine fix on, along with some harmless flavouring to literally sweeten the deal. Not so, it seems. According to Pallav Pokhrel, a researcher at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, the mix of chemicals in e-cigarettes can actually lead to users inhaling carcinogens. In fact, Pokhrel says that two of the common ingredients in an e-cigarette produce formaldehyde, a chemical compound which is known to cause cancer. Speaking to The Metro, he said:"they usually like to mix propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin." "It seems like it becomes dangerous when the E-liquid is heated at a high temperature, with high voltage, and when the E-liquid is dripped directly to the heating coil. "When flavorings are used in food that we eat, most of them are harmless, but we don’t know what happens if we breathe them." "The most important thing is to impose some sort of quality control over this product so a standard set of products is available in the market." That's right, smokers. All of those dreams of healthy smoking habits are now disappearing in a puff of horrible, unhealthy smoke right before your face.