Interesting, I'm curious why so many people are so adamant about discouraging nonsmokers from starting vaping? Not that I disagree, just wondering what your specific objections are.
As for the original question, yes, there were traces of nicotine found in one of the 18 sample cartridges the FDA tested, and that cartridge was supposed to be zero-nicotine. I wasn't surprised by this, since I'd managed to lower my nicotine exposure to zero many years ago, and when I vaped a supposedly zero-nic cartridge that came with a starter kit a couple of months ago, I definitely had symptoms that suggested nicotine exposure, kind of like that first head rush when you had your first analog. Can't say whether it was trace amounts of nicotine from the tobacco extract used for flavoring, or poor quality control leading to liquids being mixed, or simply a mislabeled/misboxed cart (or heck, even a reaction to something else in the liquid). But I immediately switched to filling my own carts with liquids from trusted manufacturers who (just to be on the safe side) use no tobacco ingredients in their liquids.
If your friend won't be dissuaded by the potential side effects of vaping or the fact that there's no data to show what the long-term health effects might be, I would strongly encourage him to stick to zero-nic liquids from manufacturers who use no tobacco derivatives in their products, such as Johnson Creek and Intellicig (ECOpure liquid, available from InnoVapor and a few other distributors here in the U.S.).
The only thing I can say for sure is that I'd rather he take up vaping than take up smoking.
