--- title: Are E-Cigarettes Safe: Legal Action Challenges E-Cigs description: A health watchdog group will challenge e-cigarette manufacturers in California court over cancer-causing chemicals in their products. canonical: https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-02T16:19:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:38:37.591Z article:section: Health og:title: Health Watchdog Group Will Challenge E-Cig Manufacturers in Court og:description: The group found cancer-causing chemicals in most of the 97 products it tested og:url: https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte09cad10583529e7/69885c2fcd68481fe30a0f06/e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 507 og:image:height: 285 og:image:alt: e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Health Watchdog Group Will Challenge E-Cig Manufacturers in Court twitter:description: The group found cancer-causing chemicals in most of the 97 products it tested twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte09cad10583529e7/69885c2fcd68481fe30a0f06/e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Health Watchdog Group to Challenge E-Cig Manufacturers in Court > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 2, 2015 4:19 PM UTC  A person smokes an e-cigarette. A person smokes an e-cigarette. Victor de Schwanber—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 2, 2015 4:19 PM UTC A health watchdog group will challenge e-cigarette manufacturers in California court over cancer-causing chemicals in their products. The Center for Environmental Health found one or more cancer-causing chemical in the majority of the 97 products tested by its researchers. The findings, which are detailed in a new [report](http://www.ceh.org/news-events/press-releases/content/health-watchdog-finds-high-levels-of-cancer-causing-chemicals-in-the-majority-of-nearly-100-e-cigarettes-tested/) from the group, are the basis of legal action arguing that cigarette manufacturers failed to inform users of their risk under a California consumer protection law. “Anyone who thinks that vaping is harmless needs to know that our testing unequivocally shows that it’s not safe to vape,” said CEH Executive Director Michael Green in a press release. “Our legal action aims to force the industry to comply with the law and create pressure to end their most abusive practices.” **Read More**: [4 Weird Health Effects of E-Cigarettes](http://time.com/3860166/ecigs-research/) The watchdog group purchased 97 e-cigarette products from major retailers and online before sending them to a laboratory for testing. Scientists found high levels of either or both formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in 50 of the products. Recent research has warned of the [health](http://time.com/3822831/ecig-flavors/) [risks](http://time.com/3686557/california-ecigarettes-health-risk/) of e-cigarettes, though many argue that they are an improvement on cigarettes. Scientists need to conduct additional [research](http://time.com/75508/sketchy-things-we-dont-know-about-e-cigarettes/) before a full understanding of their effects can emerge. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/"},"headline":"Health Watchdog Group to Challenge E-Cig Manufacturers in Court","datePublished":"2015-09-02T16:19:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:38:37.591Z","description":"The watchdog group found cancer-causing chemicals in most of the 97 e-cigarette products it tested","url":"https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte09cad10583529e7/69885c2fcd68481fe30a0f06/e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte09cad10583529e7/69885c2fcd68481fe30a0f06/e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette","caption":"e-cigarette-nicotine-vaping-smoking-cigarette","creditText":"Victor de Schwanber—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4020141/health-watchdog-group-to-challenge-e-cig-manufacturers-in-court/","name":"Health Watchdog Group to Challenge E-Cig Manufacturers in Court"}}]}] ```