Vaping, Popcorn Lung, and Cancer: Unmasking the Hidden Dangers of E-Cigarettes

When e-cigarettes first hit the market, they were marketed as the “safer alternative” to traditional smoking. Many people, especially young adults, embraced vaping, thinking they had found a harmless way to enjoy nicotine or even quit smoking altogether. But as more research emerges, the story is proving to be more complicated.

The Rise of Vaping and Popcorn Lung

Beneath the fruity flavors and stylish devices, science is starting to reveal some uncomfortable truths: vaping is not risk-free.

The medical name for popcorn lung is bronchiolitis obliterans. It got its nickname from microwave popcorn factory workers who developed the condition after inhaling diacetyl, a chemical used to create buttery flavor.

Popcorn lung is essentially scarring of the tiny airways in the lungs, which makes it very difficult to breathe. The most concerning part is that it is irreversible. Once those air passages are damaged, they do not heal and return to normal.

This is where vaping comes into focus – Diacetyl has been detected in some e-cigarette flavoring agents. That “cotton candy” or “green apple” flavor that makes vaping appealing might contain the same compound that damaged the lungs of factory workers.

A Real-Life Wake-Up Call

Consider the case of a Canadian teenager who vaped daily for five months, switching between different flavored cartridges and occasionally adding THC. What began as a persistent cough landed him in hospital for 47 days, where he required life support to breathe.1

Doctors found the classic “tree-in-bud” pattern on his scans, a sign of severe airway inflammation. Even months after recovery, his lung function remained at only 31 percent of what it should have been for someone his age. This was not a man with decades of smoking behind him. This was a teenager whose most significant exposure was vaping.

The Cancer Question: It’s Complicated

When it comes to cancer, the picture is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. So far, research has not shown a dramatic spike in cancer cases among vapers, but there is worrying evidence building beneath the surface.

E-cigarette aerosol contains chemicals such as formaldehyde, acrolein, and heavy metals, all of which are linked to cancer. More importantly, studies show that vaping causes oxidative stress, DNA damage, and cellular changes that are known precursors to cancer.2

Laboratory studies repeatedly demonstrate that e-cigarette exposure damages DNA, promotes tumor growth, and triggers cellular changes that often lead to cancer over time.

Why We Do Not See More Cancer Cases Yet

Cancer typically takes 15 to 20 years to develop after exposure to carcinogens. Since e-cigarettes only became popular in the last decade, there simply has not been enough time to see the full picture.

What we can already see are the early warning signs. Studies comparing never-smokers who vape to people who do not use either product show that while cancer rates are not yet dramatically different, vapers consistently have higher levels of inflammatory markers and DNA damage. These are signs that cancer researchers take seriously.

The Bottom Line

The belief that e-cigarettes are harmless is proving to be overly optimistic. The reality is that vaping carries real risks that many people are unaware of.

If you are vaping to quit smoking, it may still be less harmful than continuing to smoke cigarettes. However, if you vape recreationally, especially if you never smoked before, you are exposing yourself to unnecessary risks. Those risks include potentially irreversible lung damage and an increased likelihood of cancer over time.

The research is clear. Vaping is not the risk-free activity it was marketed to be. Understanding these risks allows you to make informed decisions about your health. After all, your lungs have to last a lifetime.

References

1 Landman ST, Dhaliwal I, Mackenzie CA, Martinu T, Steele A, Bosma KJ. Life-threatening bronchiolitis related to electronic cigarette use in a Canadian youth. CMAJ. 2019;191(48):E1321-31. doi:10.1503/cmaj.191402

2 Kundu A, Sachdeva K, Feore A, Sanchez S, Sutton M, Seth S, et al. Evidence update on the cancer risk of vaping e-cigarettes: A systematic review. Tob Induc Dis. 2025;23:6. doi:10.18332/tid/192934

Jacek Antas

Chief Executive Officer

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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James B. Murphy

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Murphy is a certified public accountant with over thirty years of experience in finance and operations management. He is currently a consultant with Danforth Advisors LLC (“Danforth”), a leading provider of outsourced strategic and operational specialists across functions in the life sciences industry. While at Danforth, Mr. Murphy has served over fifteen private and publicly held life sciences companies as CFO and CFO Advisor, helping them secure over USD 0.5 billion in financing and successfully execute pivotal asset transactions. Mr. Murphy functions as a consultant to Helix pursuant to a consulting agreement between the Company and Danforth.

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Thomas Mehrling

Medical Adviser

Thomas Mehrling (PhD in Pharmacology and MD) has over 20 years’ experience in multinational Pharma companies developing novel oncology compounds from preclinical research through to registration. Prior to entering the industry, he spent 13 years as an MD at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, working on preclinical and translational projects. He served as Director of European Oncology at Mundipharma International (2003–2013), building the company’s first European oncology business from the ground up out of Cambridge, UK, and completing the clinical development, registration and launch of two major products in Europe, DepoCyte® and Levact® (Ribomustin® and Treanda®). In 2013, he led the establishment of the Mundipharma Group’s start-up, Mundipharma EDO, developing anti-cancer therapeutics for solid tumours out of Basel, Switzerland.

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Kim Gaspar

Director Quality Assurance

Kim is the Director of Quality Assurance at Helix BioPharma Corp. An experienced quality assurance professional with expertise in Canadian, US, and EU regulations, she has been involved in all aspects of Phase I/II biopharmaceutical product development over the years, including regulatory submissions, QC laboratory compliance, tech transfer and third-party oversight of CMC activities, clinical QA, and bioanalytical data analysis. Kim joined Helix in 2000, transitioning into QA in 2003. She holds a B.Sc in Biochemistry and a Ph.D in Veterinary Physiological Sciences, both from the University of Saskatchewan.

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Brenda Lee

Director Clinical Operations

Brenda is the Clinical Operations Director at Helix Biopharma Corp. A clinical research operations professional with 25 years of experience managing clinical trials, ranging from early Phase I to late Phase IIIb/IV studies, she brings experience in clinical study protocol writing and development, trial start-up and vendor management, and a proven track record in planning and managing clinical trials to quality standards, timelines and budget. Brenda joined Helix Biopharma Corp. in 2018, working to advance the clinical program of L-DOS47. She holds B.Sc and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Toronto, specializing in Nutritional Sciences and Human Biology.

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Jerzy Leszczynski

Director

Jerzy Leszczynski is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 35 years developing businesses and has served in the capacity of board member of various real estate development companies. Mr. Leszczynski obtained his Master of Science in Chemistry from the Warsaw Institute of Technology.

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Janusz Grabski

Director, Chair of Audit Committee

Janusz (John) Grabski is a lawyer specialized in corporate and real estate law with over twenty years of experience.

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Malgorzata Laube

Director

Malgorzata Laube has over 19 years of experience in nuclear medicine. In her last role with Alberta Health Services, she was the Department Supervisor, Nuclear Medicine at Royal Alexandra Hospital. Ms. Laube obtained a MSc degree in Environmental Engineering from the Warsaw University of Technology and is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Jacek Antas

Chairman of the Board

Jacek Antas is a shareholder of the Company, has spent more than 25 years in the financial services industry holding various positions in sales and consulting.

Mr. Antas obtained a master’s degree from the Warsaw School of Economics and has served as a board member of various
companies throughout his career.

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Jonathan Davis

Advisor, ADC Discovery

Jonathan Davis received his Ph.D. from University of California, San Francisco, where he studied protein structure and function using NMR. After a post-doc at Harvard Medical School exploring RNA selection and structure in the labs of Jack Szostak and Gerhard Wagner, he went to work at EMD Serono, where his work involved improving antibody-based therapeutics, inventing a platform technology for generating heterodimeric Fcs as a basis for multifunctional molecules, and developing a novel scaffold based on an artificially-designed protein from David Baker’s lab. In 2008 he took a job at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Waltham/Cambridge MA, working on antibody discovery and platform development in a wide range of therapeutic areas, with a particular focus on multispecific therapeutics. He moved to Madison, WI in 2019 to take on the role of VP of Innovation and Strategy at Invenra, a biotech focused on bispecific antibodies, and where he is currently head of the Scientific Advisory Board. In early 2024 he left the corporate world to found Creative Antibodies, a consulting firm that helps guide companies to successful antibody discovery and development projects, from mAbs to multispecifics, ADCs, and other formats. Outside of science, Jonathan is a conservatory trained cellist, plays numerous other instruments, and founded the UCSF Orchestra (now Symphony Parnassus) in San Francisco, where he was Music Director for six years.

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Davide Guggi

Advisor, CMC

Davide graduated as a pharmacist and received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biotechnology from the University of Vienna. He has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, principally in the field of oncology. At the beginning of his career, Davide led oncology business units and commercial departments at Mundipharma and Gilead across Austria and Eastern Europe. Since over 10 years he has been working as a CMC expert, covering operational and regulatory CMC functions on behalf of over 20 different small- and medium-sized biotech companies across the world. He has served as CMC Director and CSO/CTO for several years, developing both small molecules and biologics (mABs, Fab, ADCs and Radio-immuno-conjugates) from early discovery to NDA/BLA in the US, EU and Canada, with a focus on First-in-Human and Phase I/II studies in oncology indications.

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Tumor Defense Breaker™, L-DOS47

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