I do not have the citation for this. But I did read a report on the effects of long term breathing of propylene glycol vapor, which is the medium for nicotine vaping.
The report was on a live animal study conducted within the United States using monkeys in which monkey breathed air continuously laden with propylene glycol vapor for , I think it was, a year. One-half of the animals died during the course of the study.
See the warnings at https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Propylene-glycol
Oh, and by the way, nicotine is used as an insecticide because it kills a lot of insects.
See the many forms of nicotine at https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=nicotine.
And Propylene-glycol is not bio-degradable, which means, as I understand it the human body can move and excrete it, it cannot break it down.
After all it is petroleum (propane).
11
What a horrendous company and business model, Juul. Let’s call this line of business out for what it is. Purveyance of bad habits, bad health, and death.
6
You wont have a lung issue until you do have a lung issue .
How easily we’re all fooled by big tobacco. Wake up
5
I have seen TV ads for vaping recently, are these not banned like tobacco ads? Our son teaches high school in a rural town in Connecticut where students insidiously hide their tiny vaping devices to "use" in class. The girls attach them to their bra straps near their collarbones to make sure no teacher dare accuse them.
2
I visited California stores and stayed away from buying because none of the vape (thc and tobacco) cartridges listed the ingredients, other than the thc cbd ratios.
What other ingredients are in those products?
Why were they allowed to sell it without listing all the ingredients?
How about people who are allergic to vitamin E oils?
Are the buds organic or not? If not, what is sprayed to grow them?
The same people that meticulously read the ingredients list at Whole Foods were buying buds and vapes without asking what chemicals were used.
Crazy. Time for the class action lawyers to draft the complaints.
If they are going to sell them, they should disclose what they are using to grow, the solvents, what the cartridges are made of, where are they made? In a factory in China or Bangladesh?
All of this is hidden by the sellers, while they market the stores and the products beautifully.
The shops in Aspen and Beverly Hills look like they belong on Madison Avenue, so they have the money, they just don’t want the consumers to know. Sue them.
77
It's disappointing to see so much unscientific scaremongering around vaping. The article offhandedly mentions that these illnesses seem to be tied to specific, most likely non-mainstream products, rather than vaping in general. This is a recent phenomenon, and vaping has been around for many years. The solution here seems obvious: avoid vaping products that are homemade or not from reputable sources. Brands like Juul have a strong incentive to minimize risk of acute illness like this-- just look what happened to Chipotle's stock price after various E.Coli outbreaks.
While vaping may not be a completely risk free activity, ALL scientific evidence to date points to it being much safer than smoking. The UK public health system conducted a comprehensive review finding that (1) e-cigarettes are 95% safer than smoking for users, and pose no identified risk to bystanders (2) Rise in e-cigarette use has been correlated with a decrease in smoking and high-quality evidence shows they are an effective quitting aid. Continued research should be a top priority, but the HSPH editorial flatly claiming that vaping should be discouraged without any regard to patient smoking status or risk of smoking is irresponsible in my view. Over half of people report a belief that vaping is at least as harmful as smoking, a misconception that is on the rise.
Knee-jerk claims that vaping is an "epidemic" or should be banned seem to be based on nothing more than a misinformed puritanical mindset.
83
@Allyson To your point, I believe there are posters here that have not read the entire article.
8
I'm sorry putting the THC mention that deep in is burying the lead and earning you all the complaints in this comment section, ITS ALSO PRETTY UNSAFE FOR YOUR THC USING READERS DON'T YOU THINK
5
And why is it that the NY Times continues to take full page ads (usually A3) claiming Juul is doing all they can to stop teen vaping when Juul specifically targeted teens as pointed out in the NY times great journalism. I know money matters but good journalism does, too. Juul is lying in those ads. The Times has proved it. Back your reporters and tell Juul you will no longer print their propaganda no matter how much they pay. Readers aren’t stupid.
10
Whoopee ding dong. Vapers are having too much fun and are ripe for something new to regulate. So ratchet up the hysteria.
2
As lifelong sufferer of asthma - when I was a boy it kept me hospitalized, and I still carry an inhaler in my backpack, in my guitar case, in my medicine cabinet so I never have to experience that awful feeling of "I can't breathe" -
I look at humans smoking and vaping the way I might look at someone with 20/20 vision spraying their eyeballs with bleach, or someone with perfect hearing repeatedly blasting an air horn into their ear canal. (I am the son of a deaf mother.)
Must be nice to have perfectly functioning lungs that you then choose to destroy.
But, really..."Duh."
143
@K
No, not everyone finds pleasure in risky things.
Sad that you and your friends don’t find pleasure elsewhere
Don’t attack someone with asthma who is astounded that others choose to pollute their unappreciated gift of healthy lungs
19
@Zellickson
I bet if we looked into your life, we would find a dozen risky things you do (eat fast food, not exercise, not get enough sleep, etc) that others would shake their heads at and wonder why you would ever choose to destroy yourself like that.
Life is short. People find pleasure in risky things. Such is humanity.
11
Vaping ban proponents: Regulation civilizes any product/behavior by setting rules on how it should be produced/practiced. Are you sure you want a civilized solution as you simply wish to curtail people's freedoms?
Here's list of some other products and behaviors you might wish to "eliminate" please advise especially if you're an MD:
Sun is unhealthy, will you ban sunbathing between 11am-4pm? Sugar is definitely unhealthy. Sedentary lifestyle, shall we punish those walking fewer than a distance per day? I love wine so tell me when you shall prohibit alcohol which is clearly harmful. How about people who look at screens for too long? Skateboarders are active but still should be punished/banned because it is risky. Skiing? Scuba Diving? How about the NRA?
Before it was "regulated" (secularized during the Renaissance) Christianity has resulted in the death of much more people than vaping, smoking combined and these days similar problems occur in Islam. But I am not going around telling people "stop religion." I am respecting their beliefs and unlike you, I am not trying to limit their freedoms.
3
Vaping is bad! Unless you’re trying to wean yourself off tobacco, vaping is dangerous.
Teenagers are being allured by vaping companies like Juul so these companies can make profits at the expense of those teenagers’ health. The vaping industry is employing the same marketing tactics that tobacco companies had used to get Americans hooked on cigarettes (Marlboro Man, the slim female models in Virginia Slims, etc.)
Educate yourself and your kids on the dangers of vaping and long-term nicotine use. (Yes, nicotine long-term use.)
1
Here's the deal. Regulations in the States are wafer-thin. Do not engage in otherwise risky activities and think the FDA has you covered. If you are going to inhale chemical fumes on a daily basis, you might die. What is more frustrating to me is how this is taking resources from public health concerns that do not involve stupidity.
3
The rising hysteria I see here is beyond hypocritical....
I'll believe that our legislators (including the governor of Michigan) and all these shrill major medical experts actually care about our health when they ban cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, both proven beyond any doubt to be killing us at pandemic rates.
"Studies", indeed.
3
I have been astonished by the amount of smoke that appears from vapers. I smoke, but it is nothing like goes into the air.
I hope my young neighbors give it up. I do not want to see them sick on flavored kee-rap.
2
My 15 year old son has been vaping for nearly a year. I have confiscated numerous vaping devices from him and his friends who brought them into my home. I share news articles on the dangers of vaping with him and had him watch a CNN segment on it last night. I even "ratted" him out to his school vice- principal last year and he received detention for bringing a device to school. NOTHING WORKS. He's a teen and invincible. He says the nicotine helps with his anxiety, all his friends do it, etc. The addiction is real and it terrifies me.
8
Money-shot quote:
"Public health officials have underscored one fundamental point: that the surge in illnesses is a new phenomenon and not merely a recognition of a syndrome that may have been developing for years."
This basically shows that whatever is happening here is NOT a general result of vaping, which has been common for at least a decade now. Some specific product or practice must be to blame here.
Surely this must disappoint those who always want to rush to ban anything they deem less than virtuous, but the evidence points away from this 'epidemic' being due to normal vaping practices.
294
@Tom "Public health officials have underscored one fundamental point: that the surge in illnesses is a new phenomenon and not merely a recognition of a syndrome that may have been developing for years."
NOT something that has been developing for years. Unlike vaping, a relatively new phenomenon with greatly increased nicotine dose strength. Not sure how you could have read this in exactly the opposite way.
13
@Frank
Nah, you're the one that got it wrong. Sorry. Vaping is not new, it's been around for 10 years. What is new is this illness, which is a new phenomena. The illness is not the cumulative result of years of vaping, according to the research.
94
@Frank I started vaping in 2009. This is not new, and these cases are all recent and linked to vaping oils, which nicotine vaping does not use.
26
So with any food poisoning or the Tylenol scare, the products are immediately taken off the shelves.
But I guess with vaping and guns , it’s a different story. Why ? Does the e-cigarette industry have as much power as the NRA?
498
@Diane apples and oranges. If they had narrowed it down to a particular product, there's no question that product would be off the shelves now. But they're still not sure which products are tainted, nor exactly what the taint is, and it may not be a product at all, but rather something happening with certain illicit street blends. It's frustrating, but we have to let the science take its course and in the meantime avoid vaping anything questionable.
24
@M. Vaping products aren’t all that different.
3
@Anne oh yes they are. Vaporizers have been around for more than a decade. Legitimate vape companies make decent and safe products. If they didn't then this sudden surge in lung related illnesses wouldn't be a new thing.
23
Not to dismiss this because it’s serious and unnecessarily causing harm to individuals...but just imagine the lives that could be saved if we reacted with such vigor and concern to gun violence in this country?
35
Let me start by saying unequivocally that it is never a good idea to put anything in your lungs other than clean air.
With that said I find the hype and hysteria around the activity of vaping to be ludicrous. 400+people affected sounds like a big number but I want to know how many people currently use these devices regularly and how long have they been using them? Millions? Tens of millions? One month, six months, 2 years?
Imagine if the medical community tried to use an E. coli outbreak that made a couple hundred people sick as an argument that beef (a known carcinogen that is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease as well) should be illegal. Meat is just too dangerous to eat. And grilling, with all of those PCAHs, dont get me started. An isolated incident of contamination affecting a fraction of a percent of the consumers who use the product. Sounds ridiculous, right?
198
@arusso
The response is entirely appropriate - the situation is very different from what you describe. This is an acute inflammation in young people due to an unknown cause. We don't know if it is cumulative damage over a period of time from vaping in general, or if it is due to some particular kind of contaminant. If it is due to a particular contaminant, the situation is the same as tainted food - are you arguing that we shouldn't recall tainted food?
If it develops over a period of time from vaping in general, then people need to know this in deciding whether to engage in this practice. This is the scariest possibility, as it might mean that these folks are the leading edge of a huge number of cases. We urgently need to understand this.
127
@arusso. Well, the CDC and the FDA have forced food manufacturers and distributors to recall beef, salads and other foodstuff precisely because they had E. coli or salmonella contaminations and made people ill or even killed some. So, your argument actually works just the other way around. This is an acute health crisis, and a measured, but quick response is required to avoid further injuries or fatalities.
88
@arusso
I’m sure the Reagan Administration looked at the total number of Americans have sex compared with those who contracted AIDS and determined that silence and inaction were the proper response.
58
I’m a high schooler. I was on a school trip when this article came out. People saw it, people that did vape, but just scrolled past. We need to have a conversation on parenting in this nation.
4
If you could have a conversation about parenting, what issues do you think are most important? I’m a parent to 2 teens and would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I have to shake my head. All these people that are angry and dismissive of the warnings directed at the use of their precious e-cigs and vaping devices. As if inhaling foreign substances into your lungs is or will ever be "safe". Hey- I am of the last generation where smoking was considered acceptable. My parents were chain smoking fiends. They both died of smoking related illness. It is a horrible addiction no matter how you deliver it into your body. But I quit. Yes- I quit. And so can you.
28
A few deaths and all sorts of alerts and warnings and talk of banning the product.
Good on them!
Where is the outcry and the call for warnings and bans on guns?
2
So, as pulmonary, critical care & transplant physician, a request to all:
Please do not inhale anything into your lungs apart from natural air (though it's fairly polluted now) or sterile water steam, or inhaled medications prescribed by your physicians.
Anything else is NOT welcome inside your lungs.
In 2014, I had an argument with a few of my severe COPD patients not to use e-cigarettes. They said (at the time) there was no evidence, (I answered)... yet. That two of my old colleagues(researchers) were already seeing an ugly pattern of lung injury in mice-control models.
I said, nothing good would come off inhaling propylene glycol with flavors or nicotine or God knows what else. Don't you realize you are still putting money in pockets of these Tobacco companies who have so much blood on their hands, it would fill an ocean or more?
But no one listened then.
A Radiology colleague of mine & I looked at the Chest CT scan images provided here: clockwise Left to Right...
1. Dense basilar consolidation with septal thickening
2. Patchy areas of inflammation, some confluence
3. Mosaic, ground glass pattern
4. Early basilar bronchiectasis ground glass haziness, an early tree in bud pattern(inflammation, possible infection)
(don't need to give a lecture on these findings but I'm trying to make a point)
All of the above point to multiple patterns of lung injury.
When will our population learn to listen to reason, to physicians, and proactively take care of their health?
When?
93
@Ash.
Nobody pays attention to doctors because medical error is the third leading cause of death in the USA and they send patients outrageous bills that force them into bankruptcy. Once upon a time, in recent memory, it was considered unethical, or even illegal, for a physician to profit from a patient's illness.
That's why people don't listen to physicians.
8
Thank you for your very helpful and informative post. I will read your comments to my husband. I am trying to get him to go to the doctor’s.
He started with e-cigs and his cravings have increased and he is now going to vape shops for higher dose options. His coughing is deep and sometimes nearly incapacitating. I am very concerned. He used to smoke cigars but his cough was never this bad. He thought this was a healthier switch but I am not convinced. Igniting oils (no water/steam!!!) and inhaling them into the lungs cannot be good. I liken it to epoxy.
One of the key issues I see with vape is that is so “invisible.” You can fly under the radar in very public places. This unknown consumption factor is adding harm and complexity.
Let’s hope your “Yet” comes soon. This is a case of “Gradually, gradually, gradually, suddenly.” Suddenly is coming even sooner with no regulations or clinical evidence.
I appreciate all you are doing to help your patients and inform NY Times readers. My husband listens to doctors more than me. (Naturally, but important to note.) Your words can have a high impact on patients like him. Those in your shoes can translate loving nagging into a powerful moment of truth if delivered with sincerity and in a caring way (which it sounds like you are doing.) Keep going. You may just breakthrough at the right moment. I hope the doctor I am able to get him to has the capacity for a firm, yet empathetic, approach.
16
@Concerned
What a lovely, insightful response.
I thank you for your kind words.
Please make sure he doesn't just see his PCP, but he sees a pulmonologist (someone who ideally is an ICU physician as well).
I do 'loving-nagging' all the time, esp. make sure to have a personal connection with patients. So many of my patients quit smoking, drugs, alcohol, and (yes) vaping because they realized there was genuine concern involved.
But you said it better...
" firm, yet empathetic, approach."
I wish you and your spouse, good health.
9
It's hard for me to believe this is caused by vaping, rather than some bogus batch of THC people were vaping; some additive in some brand, etc., that they haven't figure out yet. People have been vaping for years with no incidents, and this pops out of the blue, and suddenly they're saying not to vape at all?
1
People have been vaping for a number of years, all over the world. Suddenly there is a patch of medical situations in a particular geographic region, with a large number revolving around people who vaped THC. The vast majority of vapers do not vape THC, but the vast majority of people with the health issues vaped THC. Hmmmm sounds like a junior high school class science project to solve the mystery, maybe using some sort of magical statistical analysis.
I guess they need to go back to smoking joints the old fashioned way, or maybe edibles?
2
Just a thought, but is it possible for second hand vaping fumes getting to those with lung disease?
States have got to act now and ban these products full stop. Before more lives are lost.
Why do we care? If they want to kill themselves, damage their lungs, shorten their lives, that's their right, but just don't expect the rest of us to bear the healthcare costs of that lifestyle choice--at least till Bernie and Warren get hold of the healthcare system. In the meantime, please do it quietly, while "vaping", I'll assume. Thanks.
So as stated like New York and New Jersey contemplate about legalizing recreational marijuana use, how will they control or deem how the product is safely consumed? Will water pipes, bongs and other vaping apparatuses be illegal to purchase and use?
Furthermore will states be stuck with such medical bills if insurance companies void coverage if a patient dies due to vaping marijuana?
How can politicians who support the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in order to collect tax revenue claim to be “protectors of the people” now that people have actually suddenly died from marijuana?
Keep up supporting the legalization and then blame the GOP for the ills of society...
2
Yet I still hear commercials for vaping on the radio...
1
The regulators have been asleep at the wheel, again.
1
We will never stop the slow suicidal urge of some humans to damage their lungs with toxic fumes.
But we must make sure that those who have this desire totally fund their own long term health care.
Increase the tax on this absurd product ( as well as all tobacco products) by a 100% or more. Earmark it for the care of these folks.
Among these "vapers" and traditional smokers are millions of folks who are hoodwinked into thinking universal health care is a socialist plot. But they expect those of us who do not vape or smoke to take care of them from first drag or vape to their grave.
Now that is socialism.
2
Things like this need to be tested and proven safe before they can be sold. The FDA should be supervising such a process like for drugs, but our country is so obsessed with making money that human life is a distant second priority. Some will clamor for gun control, others for or against abortion, all the while vaping for fun and profit. Craziness.
Cannabis vape pens have been around for many years now. No one has reported feeling ill until this past year, so it is clear that the newer flavored products are to blame. Processors have begun adding terpenes and other artificially extracted flavorings, which add chemical complexities similar to those found in nicotine products currently available. It is ironic that health conscious users and regulators have demonized Butane Hash Oil, claiming ill effects from residual butane despite no one reporting illness as such. CO2 oil was peddled as a safe alternative but lacked flavor. The addition of "natural" Vitamin E oil may turn out to be one of several flavor carriers that are in fact causing serious health concerns. Buyer beware.
1
In my view, e-cigarettes are quite obviously terrible. Their purpose is to addict and control for profit. Not unlike opioids. The argument that "hey, at least they're better than cigarettes" is weak. I expect that we are just beginning to find that the health effects of e-cigs surpass even those of tobacco. And now we have a whole new crop of teen addicts who mostly would not have taken up cigarette smoking because the dangers of tobacco are known and there is stigma attached. The cool new device with myriad flavors and ways to customize the experience is obviously going to be a teen magnet. These products should never have been allowed to enter the marketplace, much less promoted to the public as a safer alternative.
More generally, I wish there was far more reputable research, unsponsored by industry, into the health effects of the chemicals in common consumer products. And that their findings were more publicized.
I also wish that new products received far greater scrutiny by FDA and other agencies BEFORE being marketed to the public.
5
@Katherine
Your entire comment is brilliantly on point, except that I don't share your mildness in wishing things had been otherwise.
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride...
Our government fails in its duty when it promotes the development of a large pool of guinea pigs, before starting its research into the safety claims of new and dangerous substances.
Every single thing about what is happening at the moment was predictable.
Every. Single. Thiing.
Vaping or e-cigs are not smoking cessation devices as they still contributes to individuals nicotine addiction! I always say, what’s the main goal, getting people becoming smoke-free or nicotine free?
5
Cigarette smoke might be toxic (and given the number of smokers in my family who died of lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers, of course I know it is) -- but that enormous, opaque cloud of vapor emanating from those who vape looks positively fatal.
Really. It looks awful.
At least in the slender fingers of say, Bette Davis, smoking a cigarette seemed sophisticated.
Vaping? Looks like what used to come out of industrial smokestacks when I was a kid.
9
Those who say 400 or so cases aren't cause for alarm aren't seeing the big picture. I teach at a huge university, and during the first week of school, I walked to class through clouds of cigarette smoke as well as mist from vapers. I have asthma, so getting to class can be an obstacle course; the stuff triggers me. But more important, the lungs into which these toxins are drawn by users are likely healthy and young. Students vape and smoke the same way they experiment with alcohol; it's social, and it spreads. Sometimes students do both. On a campus with students from all over the world, including places without aggressive public health campaigns against the practice, smoking and vaping prevalence is well above the norm. In a few months, students will start to come down with seasonal colds, flu, and respiratory ailments common in dense populations, and they will inhale toxic substances through all of that, because they are young and think they are invincible. The confluence of all these factors mean my classes will thin due to absences. We can't isolate vaping from other harmful practices. I find it deeply alarming. And yes, it is completely avoidable. Just don't do it.
5
@Em
Wow, excellent points you make, Em, and I'm deeply sympathetic, as well, about your having to walk through clouds of vapor to get to class. At my college, all forms of tobacco and vaping use are prohibited on campus.
There may never have been a more opportune moment for starting a discussion at your school to have such a prohibition seriously considered.
1
Can I ask how this ever got ok’d by the FDA? What good is the FDA if they allow us to be poisoned or harmed? How were opioids ever approved, or diet sodas, or in this case, vaping? It seems to me that we cannot rely on our own government to protect us any longer. We know how bad smoking can be to our health, yet we allow cigarettes to continue to be sold. We know we have a gun epidemic, yet the NRA even stopped a bill that would allow the CDC to study gun violence in the United States. All of this in the name of freedom?
6
@Kathy Garland
The FDA has not approved it. The FDA can't stop people from vaping. It's their choice.
@Kathy Garland
All good questions, and I would like to ask the same ones of our so-called "government watchdogs."
Alas, the watchdogs have blunt teeth. Intensive industry lobbies affect many decisions. And too many decisions are permitted by law to be deferred until there is a large enough pool of guinea pigs to "study the problem" . . . once it has become a crisis.
Bass-akwards, true. But it's how these things are done. One can't thwart the movement of progress, after all . . . especially when that would dent corporate profits.
Lest anyone find this too cynical, I give you the current crisis with young men dying after developing "mysterious" lung ailments linked to vaping.
The real killer is: this was all predictable. The corporations themselves, promoting these products, were clearly in the know. And still, vaping has become big, no, HUGE, business.
So yes, Kathy Garland, that is the price of freedom.
The USA is not an isolated country in regards to the use of vaping devices and products. Have there been related illnesses overseas with an equally sudden uptick?
6
I never believed I could quit a pack and a half a day habit and bought an e-cig hoping to cut back a bit. I only committed to having a quick vape before I lit up. That was 8 years ago and I've yet to light up... haven't even felt a craving. I accidentally quit smoking in one day.
If you believe e-cigs ought to be outlawed you are wrong. Period. End of story.
Having said that, we do need to examine the three delivery systems. I've tried the liquid tank, cumbersome; the Green Smoke / Premium brands which I currently prefer; and the Juul and Blue pod systems, which I found to be lung searing.
Many former smoker friends also tried the Green Smoke brand and just drifted away from nicotine all together. Green Smoke was purchased by Nu Mark and subsequently absorbed by Altria, a cigarette manufacturing giant. Altria who also owns Juul, closed down Green Smoke without explanation.
Let's see: Green Smoke was wildly successful as a gateway to nicotine free life. Marlboro owner Altria closed them down and is pushing fruity flavored Juul to kids who never smoked in the first place.
Draw your own conclusions. Let me know what you think when I get back from this hike.
10
@Marc
You make a fair argument about e-cigarettes per se, but alas, that ship has sailed.
Shifting metaphors, with all the horses having galloped out of the barn and made their home amongst the wild mustangs we treasure here Out West, there really is no possibility of wrangling that one little ole' pony called e-cigarettes and riding it all the way to undoing the damage(s) you've so helpfully listed.
In other words, your argument, that e-cigs should not be outlawed, is now almost beside the point. Even if you're 100 percent right, it appears to late to put the evil genie back in the bottle.
I know, I shifting metaphors again, without warning. But I think everyone gets the point.
Hope you had a good hike, breathing that clean Colorado mountain air, Marc. And thanks for the brief history lesson; it was much more useful than anything I found when I tried to do some quick research online.
1
@DameAlys. Thanks for reading and commenting but I'm not sure what your point is. I'm sixty years old, I weigh 20 lbs. less than at 40 and can and do many times more sit ups and push ups than at 40. It's never too late to change to a healthier life style.
2
Inhaling such a large quantity of THC - from TV footage, which could be deceptive - in itself is dangerous. And if the THC is chemically synthesized, worse. Beyond that, what other chemicals?
E-Cigarettes should be regulated like cigarettes to begin with. While CBD is legal even at the Federal level now, THC should remain as a Class I substance. Even when a state has passed Cannabis, it should distinguish regulation weed from chemically synthesized THC and CBD, which should be the domain of pharmaceuticals and not recreation.
Both CDC and FDA are understaffed and underpowered, especially under the current admin. Unfortunately, clarifying state laws don't give pols any career benefits. So they spend times going after J&J opioid involvement instead, tangential it may be.
1
Clearly, people want their intoxicants. Is there a safe way to ingest marijuana or THC? While Juul and its imitators use addictive nicotine to target teens, older cancer survivors have discovered that many minor aches and pains can be managed with marijuana, which can be cheaper, less habit-forming and more effective than prescription painkillers. But safe? Not yet.
State and federal health officials investigating mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping have found the same chemical in samples of marijuana products used by people sickened in different parts of the country and who used different brands of products in recent weeks.
The chemical is an oil derived from vitamin E. It Has NOT BEEN FOUND in any nicotine vape products.
4
Maybe it is time to take Juul and it’s young entrepreneur founders into a class action lawsuit like the Sackler family? Secondly, does the U.S. have any oversight agencies that keep these products off the market as consumer protection before deaths call attention to the dangers?
1
There two types of liquids salt nicotine, which you have vape with atomizers which are 1.3 ohms.
The smoke without nicotine atomizers with 0.2 ohms can be used.
It could be that people are using 0.2- 0.8 ohms for salt nicotine products which will definitely cause massive breathing problems.
Its a lethal combination.
1
Nothing like a good headline. E-cigs have been available in the US since 2006. Suddenly there is a dramatic US health issue which is not seen in other countries. There are reports that underground marijuana is being added by some of the "exploding" number of young people using them. Seems logical to follow that lead, as many are doing, instead of banning E-cigs outright.
4
I work in a high school. I see the vaping everyday. I heard the surgeon general of the United States say, “ there is not a principal in the United States that can call me and say that there is no vaping in their school”. He also said that it is in the power off the FDA to ban vaping substances completely by 2021. Now that we are seeing these deaths and the stark reality that we have a national epidemic, it is time for a full informational attack by health depts, school boards, and health professionals. This article should be e mailed to every school parent in the country.
3
I respectfully disagree that this is an epidemic. My understanding is that fewer teens under 18 are reported to have vaped nicotine in the last 30 days than used alcohol in the same period. These lung illnesses have not been linked to any nicotine vape products, but rather THC vape products to which vitamin e acetate has been added.
4
Two years ago, a young friend of mine got a fissure in his lung from vaping marihuana, when he was sixteen yrs old.
He was in severe pain and hospitalized at the time. A lung fissure is a very serious injury.
My friend was not vaping oil but pure marihuana when the accident happened. He did not consume the marihuana in the intended amount. Instead his friends and he had built a vapour container from empty plastic bottles, and a volume of roughly two gallons was filled up via an electric vaping device. So, my young friend inhaled too much vapour at once and his lungs burst. One might wonder why anyone would want to inhale so much marihuana vapour at once. There is no good answer to the question. One might ask, why did the parents not intervene. Unfortunately, there are too many answers to this particular question. We will see and hope, that life will bring my young friend better times, as for now, he is a lucky man to have made it this far. He grossely abused the substance and consumed it in a highly self-destructive way. Such an incident could not accidentally occur by vaping marihuana for medicinal or recreational use.
8
I'm bewildered by all the comments here dismissing the urgings of the medical researchers for people not to vape until we understand this better, and conjuring up their conclusions. It's climate crisis denial 2.0: "It doesn't make sense to me--somebody with likely zero experience in medical research--so all these people with centuries of combined medical research experience and knowledge among them must be wrong".
This is epitomised in the comment here of the person who said, "A little critical thinking will help here", went on to dismiss the CDC's conclusions, and self-assuredly proclaimed, "Ah, it must be something about the chemicals in the vapes, not the vapes themselves."
Let's wait for all the randomised controlled trials before we infer causality. But before that, I will definitely be listening to medical researchers, the CDC etc. over random people on the Internet who arrogantly wave away their conclusions with a two-minute comment.
12
With five deaths registered, vaping is labeled an epidemic. How is it that gun violence remains immune to such categorization?
28
Rather than just looking at *what* is in these products, authorities need to look at *where* they and their components are made.
4
Critical thinking will help here.
People have been vaping cannabis for more than 30 years. It clearly is some additive / solvent to the mix causing the problem; it is not cannabis.
In fact, until recently vaporizers vaporized only buds not a mix of chemicals, one of which being thc. Smoking pot is like vaping but hotter and causes undesirable chemicals and particulates.
So, in summary, cannabis good, caping cannabis good; the jury is out on vape pens although likely some bootleg junk is the root cause.
12
I have been vaping for over 10 years now. Originally I started smoking at 19 and smoked 1/2 a pack a day for 4 years until I heard about ecigs. Out curiosity I placed an order for them and have never looked back. I've been using the same brand & flavor of ejuice which is made by a small company in Ohio and I never once gotten sick from vaping nor had lung issues. I also find it interesting that we haven't heard of this mysterious lung problem from Europe or other places where vaping is more widely accepted. Between smoking and vaping I'll take vaping any day over all the toxins in cigarettes.
8
Cannabis=NOT good. Believe what you will, but except for two conditions, there is no evidence that cannabis has any medical benefit, and plenty of evidence of harm.
4
Yes, because the EU generally has higher standards and regulations in place are designed to protect people when it comes to these sorts of things. There are plenty of vapers but you don't hear about them - for now - as there isn't a health concern.
2
A typical medication takes 10-15 years of research and clinical trials before it is released into the market. I always find it ludicrous that herbal medications, alternative treatments, vaping etc, are released to the public with no FDA approvals or clinical trials to prove their safety and efficacy.
14
I find it appalling that we stop drugs via air transport andTSA but nothing through our mail system. There are no doubt some nasty chemical substances that come from out of country right to put front doors via Amazon! FDA seems not to be able to touch this but maybe the public postal system could.
I’m surprised. Not about the lung injuries, though. That I expected.
I’m surprised that our public health authorities turned a blind eye to a potentially deadly product that will ultimately maim or kill half its users — or more.
10
Targeting dangerous addictive products to children should outlawed and immediately punished with heavy fines and denying access to federally funded / insured banks loans / insurance / licenses. Most adults (hopefully) can wade through the propaganda and weigh the pros and cons and make their own decision. Kids cant. These companies market to children SPECIFICALLY to get them hooked early.
13
I respectfully disagree that these flavors are designed to attract kids. Adults like these flavors- from fruit and cream brûlée to chocolate. The nicotine vape liquid is tasteless and one of the things that really drove nicotine vaping in the early years was creating new and interesting flavors for ADULT vapers.
Let’s see....inhaling a mix of unknown heated and vaporized chemicals into one of the body’s most susceptible organs.....hmmm.....what could possibly go wrong? Europe uses the precautionary principle. If it might be harmful, don’t allow it or at least go slow. In the US we do the reverse. If it is not specifically outlawed, even if there are no studies initially on which to be informed, go as fast as marketing and sales want to go. Sure, often the risk proves uneventful. But sometimes not. This is shaping up to be a public health disaster in the making. Great job vaping industry and FDA! For what benefit? Oh, yes. To make a few wealthy....great trade off....
13
OK but for perspective, there are what 10 - 50 million people vaping in this country? let's do the math on this for a second. 450 out of 50 million? better chance of winning the lottery
talk about vaping madness
13
That is 1 in every 111,111 people. Those are much, much better odds than winning the lottery.
3
While this is certainly awful and newsworthy, it strikes me how quickly government officials are taking action to confront this issue yet so little is done to address the never ending American carnage of gun slaughter.
I guess the difference I see is that health care officials actually care about doing their jobs to protect us citizens, but many politicians, not so much.
11
And despite reports of lung disease, all TV networks (including CNN) are now running ads for vaping devices. Please explain why networks are happy to take money from companies who are trying to addict and endanger the health of their viewers.
11
I turned off cable news and cancelled cable in 2016. Highly recommended.
My mother has smoked for fifty years. I wanted to encourage her to switch to e-cigs. But with so many sensational articles linking vaping to serious illness and death, there's no way she's going to switch now.
Which is a shame, because there's overwhelming evidence that these illnesses are caused by bootleg T.H.C vaping devices, and not by mass-market e-cig brands like Juul. And so many respondents to this article have ignored this evidence and are now calling for a ban on e-cigarettes.
To paraphrase a respondent to a different article, it's like outlawing alcohol because a batch of moonshine got people sick. We need to regulate these devices, not ban them. It should be obvious that banning such devices will only continue the use of unregulated, dangerous products by teenagers.
14
Who would have thought allowing unknown chemicals to enter your lungs, could have negative health consequences? Then again allowing Americans to have over 300 million guns in their houses, is not directly related to the US, having the highest gun homicide rate in the developed world, by a considerable margin.
6
Why would anyone be told its alright to smoke
soap? That it’s fine to smoke Vegetable Glycerin and Propylene Glycol. It’s not. Why is e-liquid on the open market? It’s because Man will sell you anything. Profit with no care for health of the consumers. Vaping is deadly.
I have one employee that has gone to the hospital for vaping. Same symptoms as stated in this article. We are trying to get her to stop vaping but its been tough going for her and everyone involved. We should all be highly concerned about this addictive and dangerous use of Vaping. Vaping is gambling with your life. Outlaw this poison.
4
We have a federal bureau called ATF - Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (a strange amalgamation). It might as well be called the death bureau because more people die from A-T-F than by heart disease and cancer. It took the government decades to ban cigarette commercials - let's see how long they let vaping corporations like JUUL infect the minds of young people.
1
FDA? Where were they when this was exploding in popularity? Horrible to say it but the fact that this is "acute" can help. What other products are we consuming that the FDA turned a blind eye on that are killing us all slowly in the name of some corporate profit and lobbyist's lunch?
2
Not in the FDA’s jurisdiction.
It is ironic we see so many of the vaping-addicted posters claiming that vaping is harmless.
Does this sound a tad bit familar?
If not look up the following:
cigarette smoking
recreational drug use
unprotected sex
All perfectly "harmless" forms of fun.
Is it the vaping or the Tobacco?
Oh gee, I don't know. Maybe the government should actually do something and ban e-cigarettes. I can't believe the government has allowed this industry to take root by marketing to children.
4
...and how many die from tobacco related diseases? This doesn't seem like 'paid for by some special interest groups', (hint...tobacco and governments who tax tobacco products), at all.
4
As usual the authorities tell us to stop vaping instead of doing their job and finding the culprit. A ridiculous response to a serious problem. Here’s a novel idea. How about the authorities take their heads out of the sand and legalize marijuana and regulate it instead of preaching abstinence. Telling millions of people to stop vaping is a poor and inadequate response at best.
6
I am so SICK of the current fear mongering regarding vaping. Tens of MILLIONS of people have safely vaped for over a decade now and have been saved by the ravages of burning tobacco. Whatever is causing these current illnesses has nothing to do with the vaping of juice from reputable vendors. I understand many of these illnesses have been caused by some type of oil in the lungs resulting from vaping THC. These blanket statements of panic- “stop vaping now”- is irresponsible reporting because millions of people worldwide are living proof that vaping is safe.
15
Oh, I dunno. Let’s all just go about finding new and interesting ways to burn things and inhale the smoke that comes out. What could possibly go wrong?!
7
It's difficult to trace anyone in human history who died smoking or eating marijuana. Vape pens, THC oil, vitamin E acetate, and lithium batteries have only been around a decade. It''s a good time to return to tinctures or smoking bud in a bowl, bong or joint.
5
I will gladly give up the convenience of having my pen and go back to smoking flower. You don’t know what’s in those cartridges and that’s a little frightening. I guess you need to purchase them from a dispensary or reputable dealer...
6
For the record, regarding “vaping” devices:
Early Juul ads did target teens, and its marketing was patently youth-oriented.
A physician MD
6
Please explain why the Marlboro cowboy can no longer ride into the sunset on TV commercials but vap distributors like JUUL can run ads on CNN.
3
Ahhhh. How about the urgent response from 400,000 confirmed deaths from cigarettes?
8
Congress are you paying attention?
Or is it “Caveat Emptor” because Capitalism that kills Americans shouldn’t be regulated.
4
In other news, 1300 people died today from smoking “regular” cigarettes. That’s in the US alone.
9
As a 50 yr. toker my hunch is that it not a THC problem but a "popcorn lung" type of vaporized preservative problem.
Not one person in the history of man has ever died from THC
6
Ethylene glycol and several other toxic solvents are the problem. Makes "theatrical smoke" that vapers like. Not approved for human consumption. Don't fall for the anti-cannabis baloney.
4
No offense, but this is a very poorly written article. It's unclear what affliction these people even have. It it one condition? Or many different random lung problems?
Why does anyone think these different cases are "linked" to vaping? Is it only because the people also vaped? Why is correlation supposedly equal to causation in these cases?
Very odd, cryptic story. Maybe you were too worried about getting sued. But this story wasn't really a story yet. Just random facts plus an implication.
10
Off topic, but while you’re at nejm.org reading about vaping, scroll down and read Perilous Politics—Morbidity and Mortality in the Pre-Roe Era. You’ll need to go out for a cigarette after you read that.
1
News Flash. Smoking causes lung cancer. Sorry, I have no sympathy for irresponsible behavior.
1
Like many illnesses, it is quite possible, and likely, that it takes a certain amount of time, and frequency of consumption for symptoms to manifest themselves. Even so, this is dramatically faster than lung cancer from cigarettes.
Meanwhile it only makes common sense, not hysteria, to stop vaping until we know for sure whether it’s due to tainted products.
I do wonder how e-cigarettes were approved to begin with, that perhaps studies were not conducted for an extended period of time.
I’m a nurse who has cared for many patients desperately gasping for breath. Think of drowning without water. Even worse is being on a ventilator struggling against this mechanical monster that has taken over your very breathing function. If or when will you breathe easily again? Why would anyone desire vaping in light of this gruesome possibility?
8
@Karen Reed Because over 100 MILLION people have SAFELY vaped for over a decade now. Safely being the key word. Vaping helps people kick cigarettes. Why do you disregard 100 million people who have vaped safely when making your assumptions?
The choice is between smoking or vaping and obesity related diseases. I will take my chances with vaping, thank you.
4
Sorry ma’am. Those aren’t you’re only choices.
Where is the hue and cry to criminalize the substances that cause people to gain weight? Many become sick and many die. Diabetes, heart disease, strokes - they are only the most common of a long list of illnesses caused by obesity.
Yet how many in our country are obese? There was a time when nobody weighing 300 lbs. was seen. Nowadays, all you have to do is go into an all-you-can-eat buffet and there they are. Not just 300-pounders, but people weighing 400 or 500 pounds. The problem is so bad that, when I go somewhere and need to use a wheelchair, often the only ones available are the super-sized version. Very difficult for a woman of normal size to use and impossible for smaller people.
But all of the products known to cause obesity are legal and easily purchased anywhere in the country. Even after the diagnosis of one or more of the illnesses caused by obesity, patients are free to buy and eat anything they want, as much as they want.
And alcohol, there's another problematic substance. There are few restrictions on it, just age and the purchaser's level of sobriety. It causes serious illnesses and death. Shouldn't it be made illegal?
Obesity and alcoholism cost taxpayers a lot of money for the health care of those suffering from these problems.
I hope you see the folly of your arguments to make all vaping products illegal.
5
@Country Girl There's another problem with obesity. The side effects of medications and I'm not talking about opioids increase weight. Also excess water that the body holds. So you're stuck with a Hobson's choice.
But yes there are steps you can take to deal with what you can control.
Here we go again. Ban vaping! The hysteric nannies cry, base on a few cases of illnesses related, as far as I can tell, to vaping using THC-derived matter and some associated compounds like Vitamin E acetate. No rational person would claim that vaping is safe. The issue is whether it is a safer alternative to cigarettes, And here the evidence seems to be clear: it is. But dome of the anti-vaping crowd don't want to stop there. They now want to ban "all tobacco products." This is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. For example: I do not smoke cigarettes or vape. Never have. But I do smoke an occasional CIGAR. I have done a deal of research on the hazards associated with light to moderate cigar use, say up to one a day, and can find no statistically significant relationship between sugar use in this manner and health risk, other than a 1-2 % increase in the risk for mouth or tongue cancers, etc.
As much as I would like to see cigarette use reduced drastically, banning them ain't going to happen. Let's take a deep breath here please (no pun intended),
9
@Robert McConnell Good points. They actually solved the problem of people dying from tainted alcohol in the days of Prohibition by legalizing alcohol-use and then regulating alcohol-production to guard against contaminants.
9
"The issue is whether it is a safer alternative to cigarettes, . . . "
That's not the issue. The issue is, why are humans stupid in their actions and remedial in their analysis of just about everything?
2
I think your key word is occasionally. Many vapers are addicted to vaping. Changing one set of poisons for another. So healthy....
2
The CDC shouldn't be telling people to stop using e-cigs. That's not the problem. E-cigs have been around for some time now without issue. What the CDC should be saying is not to vape THC until they get to the bottom of this lung infection, as it is very serious, and users may die.
110
@Ron A
Sorry what? The article says a 'fatality was “associated with the use of e-cigarettes.”' I don't think there should be any outright bans but saying THC is the whole problem is very misguided.
45
@Ron A
THC is not mentioned.
4
@Ron A
"Available for some time now without issue?"
I think marketing an addictive product to children who have never smoked is a huge issue. These kids are now hooked on nicotine. Hooked.
How is it not an issue for corporations to market deliberately addictive and potentially dangerous products to children? Huh?
45
Not a scientist, but is it possible these companies are substituting ethylene glycol for propylene glycol as a coolant? One is non-toxic but the other (ethylene) is and is basically used in automobiles as anti-freeze.
4
No one has asked or provided what I would think a sensible line of inquiry in regards to any adverse effects in other regions that have vaping...
Has Europe had any cases of Lung Damage and symptoms such as happening in the U.S ? If not , why?
Has anybody looked into this approach?
7
Ugh. Please, let’s have an informed conversation. How many of these products are sold and used nationally? What proportion appear to be unsafe? What are the demographics and using habits of those affected with illness? (Hourly/daily/weekly users?) I don’t deny that there may be something terrible going on with vaping products, but we can’t have a conversation about it without some basic information.
7
@Dan Let's not forget that 480,000 Americans die every year from tobacco-related illnesses. Where's Dr. Callahan's call to ban cigarettes?
3
Thank goodness I've never vaped. Article scares me and vaping sounds dangerous. Doesn't sound very healthy.
I will stick to smoking.
36 years and counting...what's better than a cup of java and some 250 chemicals running through my bloodstream first thing in the morning?
9
A very serious public health issue and unfortunately doubt is being sowed by some who comment here, referring to the alarms being raised as hysteria. We don't know their motivation in doing so or their credentials. We do know that an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine by a prominent clinician carries weight in the medical community.
20
yes, hysteria is 450 cases out of tens of millions vaping
2
While looking for additional research I came across a 2016 OSHA study which (in addition to referencing the danger of flavoring chemical —quote below *) contained this gem for all those saying it’s just the THC vapers who need to be concerned:
“We detected the presence of metals, such as chromium, lead, copper, and nickel on surfaces in the shop. This finding was not surprising given that these metals have also been measured by other researchers in e-liquids (chromium, lead, and nickel) and in vapor from e-cigarettes (chromium, nickel, and copper) [Hess et al. 2017; Williams et al. 2013].” Yikes
The report is on the CDC website.
*”Flavoring chemicals such as diacetyl and 2,3-pentanedione have been associated with serious respiratory disease [NIOSH 2016].”
10
@Sarah It's possible to use vaporizing devices with plant material, not processed oils. It would be interesting to know if any of those sickened are vaporizing the actual cannabis plant. This would help pinpoint the actual source of the problem - since both nicotine and THC containing oils are suspect, perhaps it's the refining process that is the source of the problem?
6
That why you stick to good old fashioned rolling paper for pot.
13
Marijuana also causes a number of health problems, particularly for the respiratory system, but people don't want to hear it. They get fragile and defensive, just like the climate change deniers.
9
Someone is feeling spicy tonight
3
@CJ 480,000 Americans die every year from tobacco related illnesses.
1
So , the trump administration has this stuff labeled as a smoke quititng aid ..you know , like gum.
2
Less regulation, less testing, faster sales, more deaths
For the smaller government, faux conservative crowd - is this what you were looking for? The freedom to be stupid, vape and die of ignorance?
25
How ironic you may be better off just smoking a cigarette or joynt.
5
Who's surprised? You're not supposed to inhale anything other than air into your lungs.
6
This summer I was in a crowded ‘facility’ in NY overnight and I developed a terrible flu and high fever for two weeks that culminated in shortness of breath - which I never before experienced since childhood bronchitis - and though it cleared up after antibiotics and exercise my lungs are not 100% for aerobic exercise yet. But No vaping here. So?
2
@Richard
Omg, my friend and I would sit on her screened-in porch and she would vape because she was quitting tobacco cigarettes and I would inhale whatever she was exhaling from that e-cig and I would have the worst sore throat and the back of my throat would get an oily residue. I told her she was gonna have to start smoking tobacco again because I couldn’t take the 2nd hand e-cig smoke.
1
5 deaths from e cigs and a million from smoking. hmmmmm
9
THC not T.H.C.
Minor point but so annoying. Do better NYT.
5
I used to smoke. Why anyone would want to be addicted to nicotine, as delivered by any means, is beyond me. It’s miserable. It’s just a way of sucking money from your wallet, while killing you.
32
I know a few people that vape and they suck on the stick constantly. They'd be better off just smoking a cigarette.
11
Just ban them. Pull all product from shelves and shut it down. As a former smoker that has relied on e cigs to quit when nothing else worked I want them gone now. Get rid of all nicotine products. That includes pharmaceutical grade nicotine. Gum, patches, nicotrol inhalers all need to go. While you’re at it, get rid of that slow turkey commercial advertising a dangerous mind altering drug. I tried Wellbutrin years ago. Forgot what they called it for smoking cessation. Bad drug. Forget anything that helps adults quit the deadly cigarette habit. Ban tobacco, wine, beer, and spirits. Potato chips, sugar,corn, red meat, farm raised salmon. The list of bad stuff is endless.
9
@Lake trash Yes, because prohibition of substances has worked so well in the past.
1
The CDC released a report today of five cases in North Carolina who all had the same symptoms and were given a diagnosis of acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia. In effect, their symptoms were caused by inhaling vast quantities of oil vapor. All cultures and tests for bacterial and viral infection were negative.
People think that if a person can inhale an otherwise healthy oil into their lungs that it won't harm them, but lungs cannot digest or absorb oil the way the digestive tract does.
Empty vape cartridges are widely available on the market and are easily filled with whatever, labeled and sold online quite easily. This is a product of the budding CBD industry which is going mainstream with manufacturers designing machines to easily fill and process these cartridges with whatever one wishes. Vaping of essential oils sold retail has become a thing. Nutmeg oil will provide many hours of hallucinations.
THC and CBD is extracted from the plants with ethyl alcohol or other solvents. It's oil soluble so it is mixed with oil in the final consumer product. Vaping oil is hazardous no matter what is in it. Most conscientious producers use propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine but others use hemp oil and MCT coconut oil. The FDA says propylene glycol is 'generally' safe and is used as a solvent for FDA approved drugs in hospitals and for respiratory therapy.
5
Some people really need to hop off their high horses. Life is hard. Harder still depending on the station you were born into. People seek releases and refuges, many of which are risky, many of which are far safer than eating a charcoal grilled steak. Have some sympathy for the kids who have gotten hooked, the kids who grew up addicted to cigarettes and used juuls to kick their habit, and the people who just want to inhale something other than “clean air” once in a while. Many of my greatest memories are situated around inhaling things that were not clean air.
I hope the medical authorities can get to the bottom of this current “outbreak” —because it appears to carry all the same hallmarks of a salmonella outbreak rather than an epidemic—and that the media can report responsibly and with scientific vigor. This article fails to make several key distinctions, and adds little clarity, other than to say drugs are bad.
17
@Theo Baker I’ll wager that Alex Berenson has been a state of euphoria these last few days.
@Theo Baker Yes, and there's no mention of illness in those that vaporize actual plant material, not refined oils.
If Marijuana is illegal in your state and your vape pen comes with “legitimate packaging” or the same packaging of brands licensed and tested in legal states it is fake. Trust me. Any packaging can be easily obtained on line. If it’s being sold in a state with no regulation then it is because it would not pass regulation in states where there is. Plain and simple. This isn’t legal e cigarette companies who have liability. These are cut vape cartridges posing as legal and tested product. They are cut with propolyene glycol ($50 for a gallon on line and delivered straight to your door) and vitamin E(even cheaper on line). The hardware and packaging are bought on line too. I repeat. These illnesses are from bootleg operations putting unsafe product in copy cat packaging. This is not the legit e cig industry. Asia has very little pot culture and very strict laws. Everyone vapes. No ones lungs have shut down. This is a result of the public’s demand for a legal and safe product and bad people taking advantage of that. Legalize now. End the illegal liquor stills.. I mean fake cartridges. Once again. This is fake thc products with vitamin E. Don’t inhale vitamin E.
15
Thoughts go out to families and people being affected by this. I must say though, what ever happened to just lighting up a Camel or 305 behind the gym after school. Kids these days are really getting it from all directions. Between the devices, cyber bullying, screen time, and vaping, they can’t catch a break.
2
Time to ban this poison that has no benefit!
2
Ironically, while republicans offer nothing but thoughts and prayers every time a bunch of kids get their heads blown off by an AR-15 that happens to be in the hands of a well-regulated militia member full of hate, this vaping thing is likely to turn into a major push against evil marijuana users. Now we'll see some real action, right? A great distraction from the mass murder routinely conducted by America's famously well-regulated militia. Right?
7
I am really taken aback by how many snarky comments being made about people who use any sort of inhaled substance. You don’t smoke? Well good for you! Don’t start!! But please, save us from your incredibly judgmental comments about how superior you are. Remember: people have died and many are sick. Please don’t pile on. It’s unnecessary and unkind.
10
The pattern here doesn't seem to involve a cumulative risk from chronic vaping over a period of years, but rather an acute crisis from a contaminant of some kind. That's certainly how the CDC is treating it. Additionally, it appears that the contaminant is mostly or entirely in illegal cannabis products, although at this early point, nicotine users are still taking a substantial risk.
Still, I think many users hadn't taken into account the risk of a contaminant in the e-liquid. They're poorly regulated and presumably have relatively lax FDA oversight, certainly for something that is taken into one's lungs. And, although many studies have concluded that e-cigarettes are likely considerably safer than cigarettes so that existing smokers are better off switching if they cannot quit, it is far from certain that there won't be delayed-onset lung cancer, emphysema, or other lung ailments not anticipated at this early date.
Time to quit, if I can. Even if nicotine vaping proves to be less harmful than smoking, it's still a dumb addiction and it's still much more dangerous than not regularly inhaling clouds of aerosol particles. I actually studied aerosols in grad school and am in a better position than most to know about how deadly they are!
8
So...in the span of 500 years a Native American plant used in ritual ceremonies has been transformed into an industrialized, mechanized corporate death machine.
Nobody deserves this.
1
@Kradak
It's not the marijuana or the THC. It's contaminants and inhaling oil vapor. But of course the media will create their own fact scant narrative, no doubt as instructed to do.
4
Not saying vaping is safe (a relative concept in the first place, plus I don't know) but I'm sure interested to hear what the "lungs are for air" crowd thinks air is made of.
5
while air certainly isn't as pure as some would like, equivocating it with vaping is just plain wrong.
4
It’s the vitamin E used to thin cannabis oil to either make it look like e-cig fluid or make it work in e-cig cartridges. Viscosity differences between cannabis oil and e-cig juice means different engineered cartridges. Trying to thin oil to make it vape in the wrong cartridges is poor practice. This demonstrates how dangerous it is to assume that any food safe emulsifier is ok to use for another purpose.
9
So what's in this Vape Juice besides nicotine, THC, and yummy flavors? Propylene Glycol, somewhat akin to antifreeze.
From Wikipedia: Recently, propylene glycol (commonly alongside glycerol) has been included as a carrier for nicotine and other additives in e-cigarette liquids, the use of which presents a novel form of exposure. The potential hazards of chronic inhalation of propylene glycol or the latter substance as a whole are as-yet unknown.
From the article: "Medical experts and federal health officials on Friday warned the public about the dangers of vaping and discouraged using the devices as the number of people with a severe lung illness linked to vaping more than doubled to 450 possible cases in 33 states and the number of deaths rose to five.
Has the use of lab rats to study the safety of various chemicals become so ethically compromised we have to use people instead? Young people at that. Kids who never met a limit they didn't want to challenge.
Follow the money. E cigarettes are a cash cow for the tobacco industry and while they are advertised to help people stop smoking, what they really do is to welcome a new generation to nicotine addiction.
8
The irony in this situation! Hysteria over 450 cases in a few months, of lung illness related to vaping... compared to the millions who have died as a result of cigarettes over generations. Because of corporate greed, the sales won’t be stopped any time soon for these products, either. The FDA doesn’t represent the interests of the public; it represents the corporations.
4
@Rebecca HK It doesn't even need a full generation to reach millions of tobacco related deaths - 480,000 per year. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm
I have no sympathy for those who willingly put themselves in danger. If they have no better judgement they are on their own. These epidemics tie up the health and medical profession who have more urgent things to do than saving those who dont care enough about their lives to stay away from things that will kill them.
4
That’s a little harsh, @Joyce, don’t you think? Particularly when one takes into account the fact that vaping has long been sold as a safer alternative to smoking, and given that the current epidemic has taken pretty much everyone by surprise. Most of the people for whom you feel “no sympathy” had absolutely no idea they were apparently putting themselves at such serious risk, at least until the recent news reports to that effect.
A little empathy, or at least sympathy, goes a long way, particularly in today’s overly callous environment.
17
Joyce,
You might if it was your eleventh grader ended up on a respirator. We’ve all done stupid stuff when we were kids. (Or a least most of us have.)
10
People like you sometimes make me think that there's a lot of people who don't deserve empathy
7
Talk about car deaths and almost no one even thinks about banning cars or driving. Even gun deaths that cause blips for stricter laws at the least, never come near banning, Yet, when you find that deaths are occurring from vaping, it immediately happens that people are calling for bans. Just be careful what you vape, everyone. Don't vape and drive. Vape natural products.
3
@marcoslk - You suggest "vape natural products". But it isn't "natural" to aerosolize liquids and inhale them into our lungs. Vegetables are "natural", but that doesn't mean that a liquid made from vegetables is healthy to inhale!
2
Actually, to reduce car-related deaths, we’ve placed increasing restrictions on driving over the years, including banning some people from driving, or at least banned them from driving at certain times of day or with passengers, notably based on age and medical conditions. It’s worked.
1
@Joanne One can use a vaporizer with dried plant materials - cannabis or other herbs.
Why should we lose any sleep over a 100% preventable disease? The cure is simple, STOP VAPING. That's it. No long and expensive studies needed.
4
Ban them. Drive the companies that produce them and advertise for them to bankruptcy. Prosecute the owners and executives. We are paying taxes so people like that are brought to justice for ruining public health.
1
@Blunt Your pro-prohibition zeal would save more lives if it was directed at the cigarette companies. 480,000 people in the US die EVERY YEAR die from tobacco related causes.
480,000. Every year. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm
@Blunt As far as I’m aware, this problem has arisen only from “bootleg” producers.
2
A cancer stick is a cancer stick, whether powered by fire or electricity. Treat them the same way, and make the warning labels as graphic as possible, and raise the taxes on them to help pay for the negative effects and make them increasingly unaffordable. Finally pension funds should jettison tobacco manufacturers and sellers.
2
What would help reduce black market vaping and opioid addiction is for this country to finally legalize and regulate marijuana. Flower. Just let the people have it! It’s so much less harmful than alcohol, cigarettes, pills, sugar, etc, etc, etc. People just want a little Mary Jane—is that really so unconscionable?
8
Cannabis smoke is vaporised tar, which can cause cancer and COPD just as surely as tobacco smoke. Don't be fooled, don't believe the propagandists who peddle the lie that cannabis smoke is harmless to the lugs and upper airways.
2
@ AB
One of the cases mentioned was here in Oregon where cannabis is legal. We have dispensaries galore.
@Lambnoe That doesn't mean that cannabis plant material was being vaporized - it still could be a highly refined oil of dubious quality.
1
I have been vaping since 2003 coming off a two-pack a day habit. if you buy quality products and e-liquid you have nothing to fear. the truth is every injury caused by vaping was from allergies, THC carts, knock-off equipment, tainted e-liquid, and vaping while you have pneumonia or the flu.
4
@nathan
You have no idea if you have nothing to fear. Or do you -- as opposed to the CDC -- know exactly what is killing people who vape?
1
@Barbara According to the CDC, 480,000 Americans die EVERY YEAR from smoking related causes. Statistically, Nathan is on solid ground by using a harm-reduction product and choosing high quality products. 480,000. Every year.
2
Why do people need artificial stimulants so much that they will kill themselves in the process? This is a self- inflicted tragedy. What is wrong with a life that is lived the way life as intended to be lived, a life that does not push the boundaries of existence? These people must be missing something vitally important in their life to turn to these dangerous gadgets for fulfillment. It's nuts.
@Joyce- My first thought to your statement is: so you drink coffee or soda? Do you eat sugar? Both of those are addictive substances sold freely and openly in the marketplace. Not everyone is clearly as strong as you are, since you have never “needed” something to dampen the effect of life and living due to circumstances that perhaps are beyond your ability to cope. I certainly have and I fully sympathize with these poor families that are now changed. A
7
Of could it be that writing multiple comments on the same topic (I'm looking at you Joyce) fills the hole the way that others use substances? Everyone has a vice right?
4
The CDC defines “epidemic” as “an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in that area.” https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section11.html
It’s not a simple mathematical proportion of 450 possible cases divided by the entire vaping population.
These devices must be outlawed. The spike in illnesses and death is only beginning.
1
@SM So should we also ban cigarettes because according to the CDC they are responsible for 480,000 deaths every year?
480,000/year vs. 5/to date. This is not meant to minimize the pain of those that lost their loved ones to vaping, but to try to add some context. 480,000. Every year.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm
It’s probably burnt coils and cotton, so it’s important the vape juices are salt based.
The tobacco industry knows exactly what they were doing. Selling a deadly addictive product. They are as greed filled as much as Purdue Pharma. Both knew what they were doing for profit. Killing unsuspecting people after luring them in. They will pay a big fine down the road that will amount to squat when the cost of all the diseases and death's they purposely caused. It sadly really is buyer beware......so be aware.
1
This article approaches scare-mongering since it is written as if vaping, in general, is the problem.
The writers bury a most vital fact in the middle instead of including it in the lede: 84% of those who are ill with lung disease have used THC-based products to vape.
As written, the article also leaves readers to presume the remaining 16% did not at all use THC products but still have lung disease. However, necessarily, this16% includes those who did not admit or do not know if they used THC products.
In contrast, an article in today's Washington Post is much clearer. With an almost scientific rigor, the Post explains why THC vaping products are more dangerous. Namely, they use an oil-based (specifically Vitamin E oil) solvent.
The Post article explains vaping pens heat products to very high temps in order to produce an inhaled vapor. If, as in the case with THC, an oil-based solvent is used, then once the oil-based vapor reaches the lungs it cools down turns back to oil clogs the lung and can lead to diseased tissue and illness.
Importantly, regulated nicotine based vaping products (unlike THC based products) do not use oils as solvents, but are a mixture of glycol, glycerin and distilled water.
With journalistic specificity, the Post article does what this article does not. It grounds its reporting in science and does not use the problem of THC or cannabis oils to generalize about all vaping products.
I expect better reporting from the Times
17
Somehow it doesn’t seem reassuring that nicotine based vaping products “only” contain glycol and glycerin. Seems that there is so much we don’t know about their safety.
@Tony Glover And of course it’s not the THC that is the problem; it’s the additives found in usually “bootleg” vaping products.
2
I posted above about my experience with this problem. I want to be clear that I don’t endorse anti-JUUL hysteria. I have successfully used one to quit smoking and I continue to advise others to do the same. I have seen older employees with pulmonary issues substantially improve their health with a JUUL. I have also seen younger employees become addicted to nicotine with one. But my personal experience is that the good far outweighs the bad. JUUL should be available to people. I really don’t admire a doctor who stands up and says, “Quit the right way or the highway.” Some people have a very strong aversion to being told what to do. I am disturbed that JUUL has become a social device for many young people, but I am more disturbed by people who downplay the risks of THC dependence and cost for working people. I am talking to you, John Boehner.
3
It should be made clear in the reporting of this story that one can vape marijuana flower or weed, in the parlance of our time. Vaping actual weed appears to be safe but is still called vaping. It is not inhalation of vapors from a chemical cartridge.
5
We're talking about Chinese and homebrew CBD and THC oil here. Zero connection to Juul.
1
@Peter
We don't know that yet. Or do you know something the CDC doesn't?
Wait... inhaling oils, and who knows what chemicals, is BAD for us?
No kidding.
2
Unfortunate but I have little sympathy for people who inhale noxious vapors into their lungs. Thank you.
1
You can really tell which commenters here just read the headline, which kind of read the article but didn’t pay too much attention, and which read the article with their full attention and actually noticed the important kernel of information that for some reason the NYT buried in the article:
Health officials are stressing that this is not directly connected to mainstream commercial vaping or the vaping devices themselves, which have existed for almost a decade with no ill effects, but apparently some adulterant that has very recently found its way into homemade/street preparations.
Hold off with the pitchforks!
13
They thought they were so cool by smoking this product. No matter the warnings they raced to use it. The government allowed the product to be sold for tax revenue. It is kind of funny that this dramatic health problem occurred so fast. Well now the health insurance companies have to pay to treat all the patients which pushes insurance rates higher for us all. Would be better if the health insurance companies were allowed not to cover anyone who chooses to smoke and then lower the rates for everyone else.For the last time don’t smoke anything . It is not healthy for your lungs .
Guess all the cool teenagers and morons in their twenties that chose to smoke didn’t turn out to be so cool.
3
Tobacco. Marijuana. Vaping. The bottom-line is it’s never good to put anything in your lungs, other than fresh air.
3
If it doesn't come close to killing you, what's the point?
1
Oh, what a surprise. I guess all the nicotine addicted vapers out there will need to switch to cigarettes . . .kinda makes you say hmmmmmm..........................
3
According to gov reports smoking causing almost half a million death a year...The leading cause of death in the US is smoking. The SFATA advocates vapor is better for you, wrong. Clean air is only good for you.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/index.htm
1
@Bill Many people have been able to minimize the harm to their health by using e-cigarettes. Let's not overlook the fact that they may escape being one of the 480,000 in the CDC statistic. Safety of vaping devices, cartridges, and liquids may need better regulation, but from a harm reduction perspective, vaping may be an important tool to prevent death.
Injecting drugs into your lungs via vaping is akin to injecting drugs into your veins with a syringe.
The tobacco industry has created another addictive monster, and targeted young men!
All e-cigarette devices should be banned!
1
@As-I-Seeit What about regular cigarettes? They kill 480,000 every year. That's about 100,000 more than e-cigarette devices.
Is it possibly time for Congressional hearings and FDA regulations? If this is from black market products then we need better enforcement and regulation. Some flavor compounds and oils may not be safe for vaping.
More revenues for the disease care industry. More research, more medical visits, more tests, more procedures, more wellness fairs. Higher insurance rates and more taxpayer funded research and public health efforts. More, more, more.
3
So doctors are not supposed to take care if these people?
2
@WJ Yes--exactly. More medical visits, more tests, more procedures. $$$.
2
As with all other trends, vaping is surely to present some never-before-seen effects on our society. However, the article did not sufficiently state what exactly in vaping is causing these adverse effects. Is it the volume being inhaled? Is it the frequency? Is it the quality? It seems like it's a little bit of everything but I simply can't be sold on the banning idea yet without any further evidence. I vape regularly (one hit per day) using a thc product and I can't say I've experienced adverse health effects. In fact, I'm at the best shape I've ever been and in no small part to being able to freely inhale some much-needed THC after a brutal day.
2
Vaping? Best advice don’t. Second best, time yourself while running a mile, do this once a month and make sure you’re improving not worsening. Oh wait, too short of breath to run?
3
As usual new products put out to the masses with out proper thought or testing. And the very same leader of our country when it comes to banning these will probably do all he can to defend the rights of the company (s) to produce them. He simply uncomplicatedly does not care. He has halted all attempts by our citizens to save our children, ourselves , our country’s well being. Wether it’s fossil fuels, polluting products, guns, emissions, Pharma, and now let’s see his reactions to e-cigarettes.
7
If there is "clearly an epidemic" that actually comes from a CONSUMER PRODUCT shouldn't our Consumer Protection Agency be all over this. This is taking laisse faire capitalism to new lows.
6
It’s as if CPA and EPA have been cut off at the knees. Before you know it we will have child labor back. Sad days.
1
@Elly
Thanks! I agree, the current administration may be significantly worse than the previous one, in this regard. But this sorry state of affairs could have easily happened under a democratic administration, too. The difference between the two are MINOR compared to the differences between the US and other developed countries, in terms of restricting the private sector (in public interest). Mainstream democrats here are not the liberals they think they are. Just look how they try to dismiss Bernie Sanders in this paper. Or Tulsi Gabbard, who is one of the few people that, politically, COULD reduce American imperialism and the military industrial complex and redirect this money to the public interest, like the CPA and EPA - and much, much more. Blaming Trump misses the big picture, IMO.
Used to use e-cigs regularly back in 2012. Fun and addictive, but I quit after only a few months, because I could tell it was damaging lungs. I could literally feel, or so it seemed, a slight unnatural fluid building up, and thought how on earth can be anything but bad for one's health. I also got more bronchial infections that spring. I always wondered why I was the only person to notice these effects.
As soon as I quit, I got better. But I always maintained that e-cigs, with their god knows what for solvents, were more dangerous than actual cigarettes. Which have never given me trouble!
5
@Kirby Nominate this man immediately to be Secretary of Health and Human Affairs. Or maybe just Health--we'll let Trump handle the affairs.
1
Stop calling them e-cigarettes. It's sowing a great deal of confusion. Everything thinks this is related to nicotine-delivery devices, not distillates or THC oil which is incredibly different.
3
Had an employee who had a problem and had to go home twice in three days. I was concerned about his mental health and talked to him. He said he had vaped THC for a long time but recently had encountered a somewhat different experience. Asked his dealer where it came from and was told the “dark web”. Then he got sick. Tell your kids and employees to stay away from this stuff. It is bath salts all over again.
5
Vaping is based on the idea that if you heat nicotine/THC to its boiling point, it will evaporate into a vapor, which you inhale. This vapor should contain very few harmful chemicals when compared to tobacco or cannabis smoke, which is produced by burning plant material.
The problem is that there is more than one way of vaping, and this is something none of the articles regarding the recent illnesses have mentioned.
Most people associate vaping with the use of e cigarettes, which use a liquid refill containing nicotine/THC. This is literally the worst possible way of vaping. When you use the liquid refill, you are hoping that the company/person who made the refill cares more about your health than their profits. You have no idea what toxic combination of chemicals are present in your 'e juice'. There are no long term studies regarding the effects of products made by Juul. You are choosing to blindly trust your life and health to a soulless corporation that is in the business of creating the next generation of nicotine addicts. Does that sound like a good idea to you?
The second way of vaping is to buy yourself a dry herb vaporizer and use it with rolling tobacco or your favorite strain of cannabis. Examples would be Volcano vaporizer, PAX 3 or Dynavap M. There are several others. It is guaranteed to be safer than smoking a joint or cigarette. And you are sure to not inhale anything that wouldn't already be in a joint or cigarette.
15
@A Cynic "When you use the liquid refill, you are hoping that the company/person who made the refill cares more about your health than their profits."
I assume that if you use any type of vaping product you care less about your health than you do about getting your fix. Period.
@N8t Your comment ignores the every day reality of those who find relief from cancer-related pain and loss of appetite, anxiety, PTSD symptoms, epilepsy, MS, and other diseases when they vaporize cannabis plant materials. Many people are able to reduce or eliminate reliance on opioid pain medications and other psychotropic medications when they incorporate cannabis into their regimen. For some, a vaporizer is the most efficient way to deliver their medicine - or in your words, their "fix" - because it's less toxic than inhaling the smoked plant materials. Educate yourself.
1
I’m thinking you’re going to see a lot of pushback against vaping on a national level. Imagine if suddenly people who have become addicted to nicotine can’t vape. If only there was another way to satisfy the craving... oh right there is.
2
The surge is not surprising.
Anyone who puts anything in their body such as vaping or cigarettes does so at their own free will and I really cannot
feel too much sympathy here. Bad choice, bad outcome.
Lastly how these vaping devices got approved is beyond me.
Government NOT working for the people!
2
“There is clearly an epidemic that begs for an urgent response,” Dr. Who?
The editorial called on doctors to discourage their patients from using assault weapons and for a broader effort to increase public awareness about “the harmful effects of guns.”
1
Wait a minute... did a candy company license the use of Sour Patch Kids and Runtz to be used on vaping products? That's low.
4
@Luke they are black market products. Read the article.
This is not good news at all, but like some other commentators have noted, it appears that these issues are stemming from black market vape products. Why is this not be acknowledged more up front in the articles? Answer: ultra-liberals love to demonize every activity humans do behind drinking water and breathing air.
6
Sorry to say, but....
Choosing to vape is a sign of extreme lack of basic human intelligence.
3
Without casting judgement or some sort of sanctimonious knee jerk ban of all things bad for you.... Alcoholic beverages is one of those slippery slopes for example, how about some immediate awareness of consumption lifestyles as a reasonable start.
The thing about smoking, vaping, chew, snus, is that most of these legal products contain tobacco. Nicotine is the active ingredient the user is seeking. The delivery system is the killer. Even with the marijuana. Edibles are much safer form of THC delivery.
If we smoked, vaped, chewed coffee for a caffeine fix we would probably be considered insane.
The research has been in on tobacco and marijuana for decades. The active ingredients are what people seek. The safest delivery systems are available with the exact same effect. Tobacco free nicotine pouches, and edible THC products are mainstream and readily available. The benefits are that they drastically lower the users carcinogenic risks and eliminate lung damage.
While I do not advocate neither for addictive substances or being stoned all the time, I do advocate for being at least a "wee bit" hip to the products that are the safest and readily available. Improvements have been made, they should be mentioned and recognized.
1
Well, here we go again. A product on the market that is harmful and a manufacturer that just wants to make as much money as possible. These warnings may go unheeded, advertisers are making vaping look cool and healthier than smoking. People are getting sick and as few people have died. The manufacturers will probably minimize the dangerous effects and fight regulations, they want to make more money. Have these companies studied the long term effects of vaping if so are they hiding the results. After several years of promoting a "safer" alternative to cigarettes these companies will probably never be held accountable for the harm they cause.
3
Before people jump to conclusions, the people who have come with this illness to be studied as what brands they vaped, what brand vaper and whether it was bought in pristine condition, and above all what products they vaped. A lot of people are using vapers to inhale street drugs.
7
"Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2006 – 2010, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years."--CDC
When will we finally address the alcohol crisis? Or put differently, why the panic over these relatively small numbers of people, many of whom were vaping street varieties of THC oil? About 20 people died in Costa Rica from consuming tainted booze; yet there is no panic about alcohol consumption in general. Why?
11
It’s making national headlines because this is a relatively new nicotine delivery device addicting a new generation, and a relatively new industry trying to convince parents they don’t want to addict our teens, and that their product is safe. Neither is true.
16
@Cornelius
The news is about vaping, not alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is another issue, and alcohol-related problems are well-documented. Issues related to vaping are not. This is an important story.
3
You can preach all day about the dangers of these products and people, especially kids, will continue to use them. The best way to reduce their use is to make them expensive. There should be a substantial tax on any product containing nicotine. Also all flavoring in both e-cigs and tobacco products should be banned.
3
@PetePeople were warned that this might be dangerous and went ahead anyway. What is beyond belief is that big tobacco used unknowing Americans as lab rats and guinea pigs
I was still a smoker when vaping came out. It was like 2013. There are easily millions of vape users. the idea that we should be scared by what? 450 some incidents since 2013? This is nothing more than hysteria. I really hate when medical professionals react to the hysteria as well, an epidemic? Gun violence is an epidemic; this however falls under the "duh" category. Vaping isn't safe, but let's not all throw our pens away because a few hundred out of millions of people have had health issues.
7
Yeah...it’s really terrible when medical professionals are upset when people(probably young) die!
2
The NY State Medical Marijuana program only allows eating or vaping stuff made out of Medium Chain Triglycerides.
The vape uses Medium Chain Triglycerides derived from coconut oil and palm oil. I was told this was much safer that smoking the plant. I have never heard of anyone who died or suffocated from the plant.
Why do we have to mess with stuff that never killed anyone?
I would like to know if the state has information proving that MCT oils are safe to vape? It makes me want to break the law to buy the plant. I guess, for now, I will eat the MCT stuff instead of vape it, since planet earth provided plants are illegal in this state.
4
@AP Yes, there doesn't seem to be any problem with raw plant material (which can be vaporized and is safer than smoking) but this article doesn't make that distinction.
Well, tobacco takes decades to kill you, which is why people put quitting off to 'someday', until they have cancer and emphysema. How long has 'vaping' been around? Five, ten years?
Good: now all those kids who think they're bulletproof have proof in real time that they're NOT.
1
Since this is a new phenomenon I must ask. Are you suggesting that these teens have been vaping for a full decade? It seems infinitely more reasonable that they are using bootleg products and getting bootleg results. Especially in the case of THC, there is a huge demand for cartridges that can't be met only by importing from legal states. The answer is legalize and regulate, not clutch our pearls and over react.
6
@Zach thank you, totally agree.
3
@Zach Exactly. They solved the problem of “contaminated” bootleg liquor during Prohibition by legalizing and regulating alcohol production.
1
All tobacco products should be sold by prescription only with the intent of weaning people off of the poison and not introducing them to it.
As for buying illegal vaping materials to inhale...Darwin comes to mind.
3
Am doc and recently saw 40 year old with respiratory distress and his CT scan showed damage that u don’t see even in smokers until years later when they r age 70-80 (or in disease such as cystic fibrosis). This is a health crisis don’t fool yourself. There is something In vaping that causes severe rapid respiratory long term damage. Spread word don’t let anyone you know vape until we find out more.
12
To me, it seems more manly to hear that someone became unwell after a lifetime of smoking unfiltered Camels, as opposed to having been felled by what amounts to inserting into one's mouth and "vaping" from what for all intents and purposes is the equivalent of the reproductive organ of a male robot. But hey, that's just me.
1
FACT: said products are illegal for minors to buy or use, in all 50 states.
FACT: adults constantly make choices to follow non-healthy lifestyles.. no matter what is done to inform and encourage a healthier lifestyle.
FACT: tobacco vape products have indeed helped people wean off of other tobacco products, even though nicotine is considered a poison if over used.
FACT: THC cartridges are one of the safest methods to use THC in states where it is legal to do so. The temperature controls on the pens, combined with the required additive free formulations and formal lab testing of every lot makes cartridges safer to consume then smoking the actual plant. That said.. edibles are safer for the lungs, but carry their own safe use requirements.
Banning these products, in the absence of clear scientific findings that they are generally harmful.. is wrong in a free society.
11
Arusso below beat me to it, but may I echo that these conclusions are tentative. Let's not draw any conclusions yet.
Keep on vaping; common sense says it's less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
3
No,
Common sense says don’t inhale anything other than fresh air.
@Hmmmmmm..... A good conclusion from the available evidence so far is “Don’t vape using “bootleg” products.”
@Hmmmmmm..... If you're dependent on nicotine and want to minimize potential harm, common sense says using a vaporizer may help you prolong your life - particularly if you are using a quality product.
1
Until we really know what is going on with vaping, it should just be banned unilaterally.
The companies that are seducing teens and others into this vice are too greedy to police themselves.
5
I fail to understand why you think banning something unilaterally leads to understanding it. It has always worked the opposite way
2
@Zach Well, unilaterally banning alcohol worked except for those poisoned by bathtub gin. Banning heroin in the 1920s prevented the current opioid crisis. Banning...wait. Maybe prohibition doesn't actually work...
Hey, as long as billionaires continue to make billions for themselves and their shareholders, who cares? It’s supposedly great for our capitalist economy, right? Can’t you feel the trickle down? Buyer beware.
Who needs regulations or oversight or consumer protections when there are billions to be made?! Keep government out of my vaping (and guns)! Let’s market harmful and addictive products covertly to children! Who cares?
And while we’re at it, let’s dismantle public services and health care and increase private insurance rates (to help other billionaire buddies in that industry).
What else can we let billionaires do to destroy the world? I’m feeling giddy! Where to begin...
Sarcasm, btw.
2
Doctors need to put their “law and order” hats on. 500 new cases amongst a technology that’s been used for at least a decade and sees millions of people “vape” in some form daily, including Asia where it is much more popular then in North America, certainly have to have a common thread somewhere. The answer is bootleg thc vapes in “legitimate” packaging that are sold as “from the west coast” where quality controls of the recreational industry serve as a safety voucher for the dealer.
3
4 deaths from vaping = walking.
Exponentially more gun deaths = chewing gum.
Can we do something about both please?
It’s curious that in this day of runaway healthcare costs, people are actually striving to inhale combustion byproducts and other gaseous materials. Having your own personal pollution and global warming device must be a “Thing” now.
1
According to the CDC an average of 1,300 Americans die each day from cigarettes. I have three family members that switched from smoking cigarettes to vaping. When they don't have access to vaping they go back to smoking cigarettes. Banning vaping is completely insane from a public health standpoint.
12
Can someone enlighten me as to exactly what's in the vapor i besides the nicotine or THC? Not since the early seventies in Afghanistan have I seen such massive clouds issue forth from the lungs of imbibers. It just can't be good, no matter what the actual product might be.
I've tried the vape with my favorite herb, but absolutely hated the way it felt in my throat and lungs - a completely inorganic experience. Kids being what they are with their as yet unformed brains will do everything to excess. EXTREME vape! Man did you see the size of his cloud? Totally dope!
Here's my uneducated guess. It's the vape itself when smoked in the quantities these kids are doing it, but I'm willing to reconsider if presented with some studies that prove otherwise.
3
Two questions from someone with zero medical background. First, is it not possible to identify high levels of any possible toxins, either with some sort of tox screen during autopsy? I guess they must be doing something along those lines if they've identified the vitamin E. If people are getting sick from vaping bootleg vape liquids, to which I suppose the "manufacturers" can add just about anything, wouldn't it be fairly easy to find out what, other than nicotine or THC, people were inhaling when they got sick?
Also, is it possible that some people simply have allergic reactions to some ingredient/component in the vaping device?
These might be dumb questions, but I've just been wondering...
4
Cigarettes ,vaping all toxic and deadly . All of these toxic products should be banned. I can’t wait until next year when graphic photos will be displayed on packs of cigarettes. They should do that now to vaping also. Why the people will smoke it when they all the bad news about both toxins is very sad. I quit smoking when cigarettes were 50 cents a pack. Glad i did and never went back.
@D.j.j.k. please add alcohol to the list. Roughly 88,000 Americans die from it each year. And while we're at it, might as well go after sugar, fried foods, etc. The Ministry of Plenty will assure that all Americans stay healthy!
2
But without this wonderful invention, how will young Americans ever get—as advertised ad nauseam—their “real nicotine satisfaction”?
1
Doesn't anybody remember the saying, "Anything that good must be bad for you!"
For crying out loud! In the 1960's DDT was a household item! It's only a matter of time before Trump rolls that back too....
2
I could almost make an analogy between the proclaimed smokers'/vapers' rights and gun-owners' rights.
A physician MD
3
Yes, because you can take you vape pen to the mall and instantly kill 20 people. You may be a physician, but that was a truly awful analogy
2
This is a regulation issue that the media is inflaming into a overblown, over-reported “public health crisis”. Major problems exist here. Teen usage, black market manufacturing, all of this easily rectified by legalizing, regulating and taxing cannabis and THC federally. Kind of surprised this article didn’t really talk about that. Instead it fear mongers broadly, about vaping, but the truth is these people who got sick here bought tainted cannabis oil from corner stores illegally selling them from behind the counter with code words. The money is too good for this not to happen. Its no different than a tainted batch of heroin hitting the streets. Stop the hysteria NY Times.
3
The moral of the story: Buy your products from a licensed dispensary.
7
Ban it! Ban it! Banning things works so well, right? Like alcohol. Like abortion. Like marijuana. People who want to will find a way. And it will be a dangerous way, because what they want to do is illegal, and criminals will take advantage of them. Legalize it, then have appropriate government testing and oversight for safety. All you “ban it” people — so quick to judge and control others.
7
The vape industry lobbyists obviously failed to grease the correct Trump administration palms.
1
So 450 people getting sick from vaping is an "epidemic" but 2,000 mass shootings since Sandy Hook is the price we pay for free-dumb. Got it.
5
So glad you understand!
The writers submitting these articles need to be clear about what this is not. Vaping refers to vaporizing the active ingredient without causing combustion and thus you imbibe through inhaling at much lower temperatures, which is an advantage. There is no evidence whatsoever that there is a problem when using unadulterated leaf product. This is about the materials used to create cartridges which introduces a range of ingredients not found in the plant. Grow your own and smoke or vape your own and this issue is irrelevant.
5
Who would have thought that inhaling chemicals was a bad idea.
2
First thing you know they will be coming in the middle of the night for your vaping equipment.
1
To all the finger-wagging scolds here, people have been smoking pipes for years and years. Now that marijuana is legal in some states those consumers should have the same protection/regulation that Tylenol has as it related to our FDA..
2
Cigarettes, when used properly and for their manufactured and intended use will kill you. Vaping is no different. It's just a timing issue.
But hey, this is 'Merica. Do what you want and society will pay the bills!
2
Now this is something the “president “ should declare a national emergency!
People have been smoking hash oil for decades w/o this particular problem ...
2
A discouraging number of NYT commentators apparently lack basic reading comprehension skills:
“Public health officials have underscored one fundamental point: that the surge in illnesses is a new phenomenon and not merely a recognition of a syndrome that may have been developing for years.”
7
@Read a Book, People
I know right. Hello people...
Read something other than the headlines.
Let’s not confuse the disease and cause. The narrative reads folks vaped THC and their lungs rebelled. Who’s mixing the cocktail in your vape pen?
4
Umm... what about gun deaths?
@Birbal: There is a lot of coverage about gun deaths. We can pay attention to multiple issues at a time.
We have no right to intervene with the workings of Darwin - as such we have too many people destroying this planet.
Wow, this is scary. In the high school where I teach, vaping incidents with students were up 80% last year. I used to think it was just stupid. Now I see it’s downright dangerous.
1
Sour Patch Kids vaping products? These evil people are marketing their poison to 5-year-olds.
1
If the purpose here is to disseminate the pertinent information it should be made clear this is only regarding liquid cartridge vaping and not dry herb vaping. Please add a line at the top of the article somewhere.
1
Great work, FDA! Too blinded by big tobacco money, they let this public health scourge roar across the country, killing people.
Take these murderous devices off the market immediately.
Then ban cigarettes totally.
1
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." We've been down this road once with cigarettes. Why go down it again?
And no, this has nothing to do with alcohol or any other poisonous substance. It is about banning something before people get addicted rather than after.
1
The people in the comments here who seem to be indicating that those afflicted deserve health issues are examples of the low moral character of the average Times reader. This paper should feel as uneasy about its comments sections as anyone at reddit / twitter / facebook etc. Heavy moderation here and you still have such misplaced anger and drivel. I also think they don't have the honesty to publish critiques of their business such as this.
1
Probably these are people who are buying the oral form of the marijuana extract and using it in a nicotine vaporizer. Also, many of the nicotine products sold for vaping contain a wide variety of flavoring agents that may also contain oils. Oils can be vaporized but they condense in the lungs and can cause an inflammatory reaction. Really you are better off not inhaling.
2
As a college student, it pains me to see how widespread vaping is among emerging adults and adolescents. Yet, knowing the influence of social/peer pressure, I don't foresee the problem ceasing anytime soon. Medical reports will warn of the harmful effects but to many individuals, the "coolness factor" of seeing a cloud of smoke emerging from your breath overshadows the harmful effects that medical officials have warned us about for the past few months. What the experts say doesn't matter - the pressure of fitting in overshadows how risky the behavior is.
3
I am certain the problem is broader than vaping. Millions of households and workplaces now have "essential oil diffusers". These devices spread extremely concentrated untested chemical compounds into the airspace.
I am a lifelong asthma sufferer and I can tell within minutes (if not seconds) if I have entered a space with a diffuser. I have to leave immediately and if I don't I will have restricted breathing for days afterwards.
My perfectly healthy and non-asthmatic daughter had a diffuser in her classroom last year. It took a little while to identify the problem and correct the situation. During that time she missed tons of school. She could only tolerate two or three days there a week before coming home Wednesday afternoons to curl up in a ball and spend the next four days recovering. Now she is borderline asthmatic and, like me, avoids smoke and fragrances like the plague.
Please protect yourself and others who may be harmed by mystery chemical cocktails in the airspace.
Signed,
Your Canary in the Coal Mine
10
@Katherine scented candles too eh? It’s disappointing the research on the negative health implications of these products hasn’t gotten more press.
(1) I suspect vaping, on a net basis, has saved lives
(2) it seems this is from tainted THC refills, not vaping per se
this seemingly hasn't happened with regular marijuana as it's more difficult and there's less incentive to mix a physical plant with anything...
7
@David
Vaping has helped some people quit smoking. There is no doubt about that. But there is no way of knowing specifically how many lives it has or has not saved. And now, thanks to vaping, we have a new generation of nicotine addicts. It is far, far too early know anything about what will happen in the future when it comes to vaping. Smoking was on the way out, and along came vaping. Sorry, but from my perspective, vaping is an epidemic.
8
The doctor says "we need a call to ban these things." Is that because prohibitionary "drug war" style policies have worked so exceptionally well for other substances, like opiates, marijuana, and ethyl alcohol (from 1920-1933)? Is it because these devices would be safer if they were sold in an unregulated black market? When will people learn that prohibition does not work?
8
@Robert Jenkins banning vaping and not doing the same for cigarettes, which kill close to 500,000 Americans each year according to the CDC, is utterly ludicrous.
2
I've been vaping for over two years and never had any health issues from it. If these people are tinkering with these e-cigarettes by adding THC, etc. that may be the problem. I smoked cigarettes for over 45 years and vaping helped me quit cigarettes.
9
astonishing that so many comments write that statistically this is no big deal. 450 young people suddenly showing up in an unexpected wave of acute respiratory failure with acutely abnormal lung X-rays is a very big deal: ask their parents.
something isn't safe just because we failed to understand its dangers. just as we have climate change deniers, it seems we now also have vaping and THC/cannabis side effects deniers.
6
@Aubrey Well, you know for alcoholism, the first sign is denial so is it any wonder that people are defending their vaping practices? I've try to counsel people who smoke or take cocaine or are alcoholics to quit and it is extremely difficult. Sometimes, they rationalize their actions all the way to their death beds.
Nothing like this has ever happened with nicotine gum (which has been around for 35 years), which is just as satisfying but takes a little longer to enter the bloodstream. Why aren't people of any age using that instead, given the obvious risk of inhaling any sort of heated compound?
5
That’s a good question, which you sort of answered yourself I believe - it takes longer to hit the bloodstream. Personally, I find that gum is nowhere near as satisfying as vaping. The appeal of vaping over gum, at least to my inner addict, is the instant and ferocious gratification of a hit. A single pull from a Juul is euphoric, while gum merely take an edge off. With vaping, I get a plume of smoke, a heavy sensation in my throat and lungs, a faint sweet smell, a subtle crackling noise - the act ignites all the senses, further sinking it’s teeth into the wiring of addiction.
Is vaping stupid? Absolutely. Reason goes out the window with addiction though, compounded by a lack of self control that helped create the addict in the first place.
2
@Pat O'Hern Substances that enter the bloodstream quicker put people at a higher risk of addiction as well, which is why methadone (slower acting, longer lasting without the same peaks as some opium products) has been used for decades to help wean people off of heroin. I suspect that the gum doesn't hit people quick or fast enough or give them the same "high" as vaping.
Also, some people like the novelty and glamour of vaping.
2
Am I amazed at the findings ... NO!
After decades of smoking, finally we made significant progress reducing the addiction; eliminating smoking from airports, bars, and public places. As a society, with support of medical professionals and businesses we made great informed decisions concerning the reduction and elimination of smoking.
Now the next wave is upon us. A new generation is smoking pot. States are encouraging this by changing laws to make it more legal and accessible. I am sure the driver is collecting tax revenue for the marijuana sales. [sad!] Along with this throw in the vaping, another iteration of addictive, unhealthy habits.
I am not a medical professional, but I’m pretty sure smoking pot and vaping will have the same negative health effects that took us 3 decades to realize and admit to as with smoking.
Come on everyone ... let’s stop the madness.
7
Actually smoking has been a public health emergency for years, and now we have vaping. All forms of tobacco use, vaping, etc should have been banned years ago. Nicotine addiction has led to millions of deaths and billions of dollars of health care costs. What are we waiting for?
6
A totalitarian regime, apparently. Why not also ban alcohol and sugar while we're at it. Just ban everything that's addictive and we'll be on track to a sanitized utopian paradise.
Meanwhile, the CDC estimates that tobacco cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day
Lets see, 450 vaping illnesses verses 480,000 deaths due to tobacco. The fact we are not hearing an ongoing alarm about the continued availability of tobacco when there is a much safer alternative is shocking. Sure we want to address these 450 illnesses, but we are missing the 1,000 times greater number of deaths.
8
With tocopheryl acetate (a synthetic form of vitamin E) now a key suspect agent for these lung injuries , I wonder if this indicates that some of these weed/THC vaping cartridges were filled with oils intended for so-called edibles. Tocopheryl acetate is widely used in the food industry to keep oils from going rancid. Of course, eating this form of vitamin E is very different from inhaling it. In the meantime, the best strategy is to not vape, or, if you must vape, don't buy stuff from the guy on the corner or the dark web. You literally don't know what's in it.
9
The problem is really quite simple. Over a million years, lungs evolved to breathe air. They did not evolve to smoke, huff, snort, or vape.
The solution to the problem on the other hand is extremely complex and probably can only be dealt with in part, because another aspect of our evolution prioritizes today over tomorrow, the short-term over the long-term. For 99% of our evolutionary history the imperatives were to find our next meal and to protect ourselves from another person trying to take our meal or an animal making us a meal.
5
Remember the Tylenol scare in the early 1980s? People wouldn't go near the drug. The scariest thing ever. Even people who never took Tylenol acted as though the pills would jump out of the bottle and get them; this was a national health hazard.
Yet here is death by vaping, and people just keep vaping.
4
Overlooked however is how these cases of Vape related illness/death are linked to THC vaping. These cases are spread across 33 states many of which do not have a legal market for THC oil cartridges. The black market which does not answer to the same regulatory authorities as big tobacco or legal cannabis is filling the void while producing their products as cheaply as possible. Looking back at history we can see a similar trend during prohibition. People were going blind or dying from alcohol cut with additives by the black market. I believe this is a red herring intended to make all vape products look harmful when in fact the problem is lack of oversight. Is vaping good for your health? No. Is it more dangerous than other forms of nicotine? No. Is Marijuana prohibition causing more trouble than it is worth? In my opinion, yes.
46
This is why I'm disappointed in this article, and in the coverage of this topic in general. The majority of these cases have involved THC vape cartridges distributed in illegal, unregulated states. That should be at the top, not an aside toward the end of this article. Legalization will save lives.
11
This is I think the key, and it explains why this started happened only now, despite e-cigarettes having been around for so many years: “Eighty-four percent had vaped a product including T.H.C., the high-inducing chemical in marijuana.” Such things only became available this past year.
6
Vaping cannabis has been around for years.
I never knew! And here I thought I’d been vaping legal marijuana for years here in Washington with zero ill effects. I guess I didn’t realize weed would kill me because I was high!
Warning for T.H.C users who consume carts/concentrates, or cannabis in general:
Marijuana in general has loads of pesticides within it, and aside from the use of pesticides growers also use plant growth regulators which include many dangerous chemicals. These chemicals stay within the plant, regardless if the growers flush their plants in the final growing stage. Now, intertwine these chemicals into a concentrated extract, and users are consuming these chemicals at increased exponential levels, compared to merely smoking the plant variation. It takes a heft amount of plant matter to make a gram of the concentrated oil, hence the increased levels of chemicals. All of the chemicals are contained within the concentrate, and when you vape them, your body absorbs these chemicals.
16
@Jason - You should try getting a new supplier. All of my stuff is grown in dirt, has nothing but Neem oil, lady bugs, or Preying Mantis for pesticides and I make my own concentrates.
I have been growing for medical reasons for a long, long time and have a couple of friends who run good sized medical dispensaries here in town. I have met hundreds of cannabis growers living in Seattle and have never heard of "growth regulators". Maybe its because they all grow in big bags of dirt and complain that their ladybugs keep flying up into the lights and dying?
@Jason
I grow my own, without pesticides or excess chemical fertilizers or "growth regulators" that use dangerous chemicals.
And acquired "chemicals" don't work that way. When you eat "food" it's turned by your body into feces, and that doesn't mean you ate feces to begin with.
Does not the FDA have the authority to require a list of ingredients in nicotine vaping products? Why isn't this information being sent to the CDC?
8
@Slann propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, food flavorings, nicotine. there is your list, that's all there is. Its not some big mystery
4
It appears that one of the main concerns is that these are not originating from products manufactured by regulated producers but are aftermarket/black market goods. This would mean that any number of other ingredients could be in these products.
4
"The patients studied in Illinois and Wisconsin were typically “healthy, young, with a median age of 19 years and a majority have been men..."
This group of healthy young men don't see many doctors at that age.
Recalling my own behavior at age 19, they probably think bad things only happen to others.
7
As a mother to a 19 year old who attends college in Colorado and owns a vape pen for weed. Yep. He thinks I’m over reacting and because he’s using legally grown product so he’s “fine”.
@Bartolo What's sad is that that is the MEDIAN age meaning 50% of the people who are affected are less than 19, i.e. teenagers in high school.
1
PS I’m not saying e-cigs or vaping are without health risks, but tobacco cigarettes have long been the enemy we do know that causes multiple serious diseases and we’ve not seen a media blitz like this one!
5
I'm a 45-year-old adult. Never smoked. I started vaping nicotine about 4 years ago when I was under a lot of stress. My sister was vaping and I tried it and loved it. My husband is an ICU doc and sent me the OHSU public health notice 2 days ago. It scared the daylights out of me. I always felt like it was probably not safe but I don't drink, do drugs, I ear healthful food. Vaping E-cigarettes is my one guilty pleasure. I bought a bunch of nicotine gum and I'm going to try to kick this thing. It's like the devil on my back. Shaming people into healthy behavior doesn't work.
188
But shaming does work apparently. You’re going to stop vaping.
22
@Lambnoe
I'm not sure how to break to you the news that nicotine is a drug so that you actually do "do" drugs.
19
@Lambnoe I am sorry you took to vaping to alleviate stress. It was, as it turns out, an uninformed and also dangerous decision. I am sorry that you needed to be scared to seek an exit from the "guilty pleasure." You took it as an unguided "therapy" against your condition, but it is not a pleasure, but self-destruction.
I hope you'll be strong in your resolve and successful in overcoming your addiction. Nobody should succumb to their weaknesses. My very best wishes that you'll kick the habit. I'm not shaming you; rather, the opposite: I'm sending you encouragement and praise to free yourself and regain your self-respect fully, totally.
23
It sounds like vaping met legalization of marijuana. I wouldn't be surprised if the cause lies there.
I still worry about nicotine's effect on the developing brain.
But I worry about a lot of people riding electric scooters without helmets, too.
Don't smoke. Walk more.
Do medical marijuana vaping products get the right level of scrutiny or should users be concerned? I assume it's a whole different universe, as it is regulated by state laws. Just wondering out loud. This is very scary and I don't know how it went unchecked for so long.
2
Did anyone really think that inhaling vaporized nicotine and other chemicals into one's lungs was innocuous? C'mon, be honest.
13
@Working Mama Compared to other stuff we put into our bodies (most foods, etc.), vaping is extremely benign. The most dangerous thing that gets into our lungs is oxygen. It is one of the classic can't live with it and can't live without it. Oxygen reacts with all sorts of biological molecules to cause damage, including DNA. But, cells are really good at dealing with the damage caused by most chemicals (including oxygen).
@Working Mama it's been pretty.much proven to be mostly innocuous. they followed a.group of people who vaped but never smoked for 3.5 and found absolutely no lung damage when compared to people who never smoked or vaped.
1
@Jared Yeah, and I'm sure most people who vape stop vaping after 3.5 years. It also depends on a bunch of other factors like how much people vape and what they vape and how frequent, etc. I am a medical researcher and once you get into the details, you realize how little we know about vaping. Lung cancer doesn't show up until decades later and lung damage from abestos takes decades also.
2
Who thought vaping is totally safe and a smart alternative for cigarette smoking? The way I see it, I, for one, didn't.
5
@uji10jo it is absolutely a better alternative to smoking cigarettes, sure maybe not 100% safe but unquestionably vastly safer than inhaling organic combustion products
2
At least can we ban Vaping products? There is not confusing legacy amendment to support it and also no domestic terrorist organization supporting it.
What's bigger: Public health(and here health of our future citizens) or profit for few companies?
1
I have been vaping everyday since 1/1/14. Four deaths to date. I like my odds.
13
Well clearly it’s had an effect on your gray matter… If I were you I would give it up immediately until more is known!
1
@Beth...if you like your odds, you are potentially betting your life on inhaling God knows what into and out of your lungs. Life vs a likely toxic pleasure. You only have one life. Use your common sense in making your decision.
Heating oils, especially long chain fatty acids and contaminants, to high temperatures (risking break-down to who-knows-what toxic reactive subunit)—directly inhaling, and then redepositing in the fine airways of the lung when it cools—
Sounds like a chemical weapon of war!
Please don’t tell me this has been going on in our primary and secondary schools, abetted by money-mongering advertising and special flavors. And also pedaled at every convenience store and highway stop.
A physician MD
8
@srwdm
Yes, it has been. I've never smoked anything in my life, yet my 2-year-old recently picked up someone's pen off of a table and put it in her mouth like she was vaping. She said that her nanny does it.
3
@srwdm noone has been advertising these devices for underage use, in fact noone advertises it as anything other than a better alternative to cigarettes for nicotine delivery
@Jared
Early Juul ads did target teens, and its marketing was patently youth-oriented.
A physician MD
2
What a shock that inhaling chemicals into your lungs, including those that are used as insecticides, might cause a health issue. I know, let’s wait 20 years and see what the chronic effects are!
3
Life is precious. We are born for some good reason. Please don’t waste the lives quite unnecessarily. You think that you get some kick out of it but it eventually kicks out your life. Please take care of it.
As it’s life has become difficult due to modern way of living. There’s no reason why to complicate it further. If you are an youngster, please think about your parents for a while. You will understand in what state you will be putting them throughout their lives. Just because you want some temporary kick, you will make suffer your parents forever for no reason.
If you are parent, please think about children and aged parents, what they might be undergoing for life. What right have you got to snatch children’s future and happiness permanently ?
If you are depressed, there are plenty of ways to recover and improve in life. Simply succumbing to it doesn’t make sense.
2
@Sivaram Pochiraju life is exceedingly easy than it was in the past, and does nothing but get easier.
@Sivaram Pochiraju
"Life is precious. We are born for some good reason."
Well, that is pure conjecture.
"As it’s life has become difficult due to modern way of living."
Try living any other period before this one and you might find yourself disagreeing with this statement.
"Just because you want some temporary kick, you will make suffer your parents forever for no reason."
So now we're supposed to live our lives through some giant guilt-trip filter. No thanks.
"If you are depressed, there are plenty of ways to recover and improve in life. Simply succumbing to it doesn’t make sense."
How people react to their depression is none of your business nor should it receive your judgement.
There should basically be a message to vape at your own risk.
I don't understand spending government funds for this testing, it's not a communicable disease, this is coming from a for-profit product.
The company's themselves should be held accountable, or have to disprove themselves that the product is not causing this.
Anyone with asthma is smoking pot or nicotine at their own risk already.
Smoke your pot by rolling it yourself or eating edibles and if you are still smoking you are killing yourself anyway.
1
@marie you live life at youre own risk. Do want you want with yours without telling me how to live mine
Around 4.9M high school students vaping nowadays, and 450 possible illnesses from it? That suggests that 0.000009% of people who vape, get ill from it.
2
So why is this only happening in the US? The entire world is vaping.
6
@Swissy
That's a very, very good question.
Also, why is it only happening now? This is a product that has been on the mainstream market for over a decade now.
4
@Swissy
It's the combination of vaping and having Trump as a president
2
450 cases in 33 states, but cigarettes continue to give people lung cancer and we turn the other cheek? I think we've got our priorities out of line, wouldn't ya say?
3
@DJM, life is complicated. Sometimes, you have to deal with more than one problem at the same time. This appears to be something Americans don't want to do. Everything must be reduced to its simplest.
The question for me is, "who didn't see this coming?"
Why don’t the cartridges list all the ingredients?
Why don’t we know where they are being made? (A factory in China or Bangladesh?)
What is being sprayed on the buds? Are they organic, or chemical filled? Weed-whacker used, or what other growing chemicals? Monsanto stuff?
The legal stores all over California and Colorado are beautifully designed, yet they hide any and all ingredients. They only list the thc/cbd ratios.
People who read every ingredients list at Whole Foods are buying this with absolutely no knowledge of the ingredients going into lungs.
This is crazy. The pot sellers have sold us a cartridge of lies and obfuscation.
1
@Lily
"Why don’t the cartridges list all the ingredients?"
Because, like cigarette packages, they're not big enough.
1
Remember when tylenol was laced w cyanide? Keep up the excellent work ER providers/ICUs/ CDC. I'm not surprised this is escalating so rapidly given how difficult it is to figure out what is the root cause.
Recent memory: rat poison laced in bath salts!
Let’s underscore that these are all TOBACCO related vape issues.
2
Actually, you are incorrect. Set your confirmation bias aside and reread the article (and the CDC release).
GONZO, indicted alpine, ca. congressman duncan hunter jr. was recently aggressively endorsing and recommending these vaping products; indeed he even vaped in congress in session while drunk!
1
Real health emergency here. If only these same folks could care about gun deaths too.
2
Though not everyone who has become ill was using tobacco products, this development points up the need to consider vaping a temporary solution to quitting tobacco, not a crossover product without smoke.
Every state offers help to tobacco users who want to quit. It can be done, even though there will be cravings from time to time for a while. A counselor can help anyone develop strategies for dealing with cravings.
I taught smoke-ending and I quit smoking over half my life ago, when I was 32. I still ended up with asthma, but at least I don't have COPD or the lung diseases showing up from vaping. Please stop tobacco use. You'll be so glad you did.
Humans normally do not pay attention to problems that are way downstream as cigarette smoking was. Vaping appears to cause problems (death) that are not so far downstream. This may aid in getting rid of this vice.
Some thoughts....
I though the FDA had authority to regulate tobacco vaping products. If so, why weren't the ingredients tested by the FDA for safety?
Second, this prima facia evidence that cannabis needs to be removed from Schedule 1 immediately. With 66% of the United States having some form of legal use, it is an outrage that research is prohibited. Again, the FDA should be evaluating and approving vaping components in all products including cannabis.
2
I know this might read harsh, but why is this any sort of revelation? Weren’t e-cigarettes (the first incarnation) originally marketed as smoking alternatives that were BETTER? Perhaps harkening back to the ‘50s or whenever cigarettes were promoted by {{gasp}} doctors as healthy.
Most or all contain nicotine or are used for weed, and I don’t imply any judgment. I know it’s hard to quit and even more significant, for a lot of people in recovery, smoking or vaping is for now, a better thing to do than use and while I’m sure it’s not recommended, I’ve seen it and I totally understand the why of it.
That said, for all the other users, quitting takes time, or, they don’t want to. I was never a militant anti-smoker so long as it’s not right up in my face and it isn’t anymore. But when it wasn’t, we were kind of in a jam. As a child I had to live with nothing but smokers. It was awful. Lots of hacking coughs. And health problems.
Awareness is always important but sounding critical alarms in the same way as with another health crisis or compared to the persistently under reported mental health crisis (which directly or indirectly connects to many things wrong today) there’s a piece focused on something focusing on the health of the users. Wrong angle.
Go after it as with oxy-the manufacturers and anyone associated that promotes it for what it ends up costing even though they know it’s harmful, because they know. They definitely know.
But money is money.
1
so I've dealt with this same issue with my dad.. you can easily tell the problem is a type of pneumonia that can withstand high heat and travels via water vapor.. this has been known by many doctors for a long time and my father and I were told by the doctor that this is the only problem with vaping and that there's really not much unknown being that the same chemicals in e cigrettes have been used for decades in products like inhalers.it is often treated properly they help you breath and give you steroids and antibiotics..
the reason that nicotine e juice producers have the regulations that say they cannot have any water in there e juice and that it has to be sterile and sealed is because doctors know about it.. yet thc products do not have those regulations and may contain not sterilized water..vaping has saved many people's lives..so it's my personal opinion that the fear of the unknown is being used as propaganda by big tabbaco to scare vapers back into smoking..
5
I have an idea where the source of the issue originated, based on prior incidents of toxins being sold to American consumers without regard for the consequences to those consumers... Why? The almost vertical line graph of incidents in such a short time...
2
FWIW, I have been smoking cannabis for decades without ever having lung issues. I tried vaping it about a year ago with a friend's device (just cannabis, not THC liquid) and immediately experienced serious lung pain and trouble breathing. The sensations passed within 10-15 minutes (just before I was prompted to call 911) but it was alarming, to say the least. I can't say I've researched this extensively, but I believe it may be the difference between how pot smokers inhale compared to cigarette smokers. From what I know, tobacco smokers draw a relatively small amount of smoke into their lungs and release it quickly, while pot smokers tend to inhale deeply and hold it for a long time.
5
The problem is really quite simple. Over a million years, lungs evolved to breathe air. They did not evolve to smoke, huff, snort, or vape.
The solution to the problem on the other hand is extremely complex and probably can only be dealt with in part, because another aspect of our evolution prioritizes today over tomorrow, the short-term over the long-term. For 99% of our evolutionary history the imperatives were to find our next meal and to protect ourselves from another person trying to take our meal or an animal making us a meal.
8
What could possibly go wrong with inhaling dense smoke containing a powerfully addictive substance, as well as other unknown chemicals?
4
@Mike It's not 'smoke' and it's not dense. It's vapor and it's very light (hence vaping, not smoking). Whereas smoking ignites the substance, vaping only heats it to create vapor. You can inhale it and not even know it's there. Second, if you're referring to THC, it's less addictive than nicotine, and I would argue neither are 'powerfully' addictive. I think when this is all figured out it will be from a combination of street bought substances, the oils in them and the heavy metals from the junk/modified vape pens that these kids are using. They're mostly teenaged and I'm sure are not buying high quality products.
5
Good grief. Thank you so much for your clear, accurate, and concise reply. I can’t seem to put my emotions in check to write a similar statement, as I take the criticism almost personally; I quit smoking and started vaping about 5 years ago, and have felt great since then. I buy only premium e-juice manufactured in a lab in CA, a state with some of the most stringent labeling regulations. Further, I NEVER fiddle around with any of my devices, because that’s just asking for an explosion in your face. Don’t even get me started on the hypocrisy of wingnuts running around hysterically calling for vaping and related products to be outlawed - these manufacturers should be held accountable! But raise the same concerns and solution applied to guns and gun manufacturers and it’s all “Personal responsibility! The knew the risks! Blah blah blah...”.
3
So many of these articles on vaping-related illnesses conflate vaping nicotine and vaping THC, which does little to help the already confusing discussion around it.
I don't quite understand the appeal of vaping nicotine. But maybe if the FDA actually regulated it like they have with nicotine patches and gum it could be used for one of its original purposes, which was to wean smokers off actual cigarettes. I can, however, understand the appeal of vaping THC -- it's a relatively discreet and portable way to consume it versus notoriously smelly marijuana smoke. But frighteningly, even cartridges purchased legally at dispensaries in marijuana friendly states have contributed to some of these illnesses, which makes it impossible to trust any THC cartridge at all.
Until there is someone leading a discussion that separates the safer, more regulated THC products (like the trending wave of CBDs, or just good old flower) from vape cartridges there will continue to be ignorance and fear from multiple channels. AK, CA, CO, ME, MI, NV, OR, VT, WA, DC -- you pushed to make it legal. Now push for regulations.
3
@CA - I agree that these products need to be regulated. But hopefully not regulated into oblivion. In NY, the medical cannabis trade has been so over-regulated that the price of the product (medicine not covered by your insurance -- this too needs to change) quickly sends people to alternate suppliers whose product is of unknown quality, and may be adulterated in some way that is harmful (as we are seeing with these vaping products).
Not addressed is the question of whether these vaping products are "recreational" rather than medical. Were these supplied by a licensed medical dispensary or bought at a gas station? These incidents are being used by the authorities to sow fear of vaping products indiscriminately.
3
@CA ...
"...I can, however, understand the appeal of vaping THC -- it's a relatively discreet and portable way to consume it..."
Oh, yes. It's so discreet to belch out a billowing cloud of white smoke that encompasses an entire sidewalk width on a city street. I've had to walk through these disgusting clouds many a time. Such discretion.
@P H
It's relatively discreet compared to walking around with a joint and reeking of weed.
Or did you miss the word "relatively"?
1
E cigs or vaping devices should only contain nicotine and should only be dispensed by prescription for the sole purpose of assisting tobacco smokers to cease smoking. The devices should be made tamper proof. There is a public purpose for these devices but only as a cessation device and to never be sold to kids.
5
So several people died and vaping is banned - not that I partake - but assault weapons are still legal? Vaping only hurts the person actually doing the deed. I just don’t understand.
74
@Ican’tdrive55
I agree to a certain extent. I don't care if people choose risky behaviors that are harmful. But a different argument is that these products are attractive to (and marketed to) an underage audience that (1) don't understand their choices and (2) are not prepared to deal with the health consequences and associated costs of use. That is where laws and protections are needed.
2
In the era of deregulation and defunding government, I'd like to point out the crucial role public health agencies are playing here.
Our public health surveillance is really often taken for granted here in the US. It isn't shiny or new or exciting.
But, it is still very much needed and plays an important role in the overall health of our citizens.
11
The presence of GI symptoms ( nausea, vomiting, diarrhea ) suggest that the illness is not just due to inhalation of a substance and may be the result of cholinergic overstimulation, as nicotine is a cholinergic agonist. Cholinergic excess can also cause fever and shortness of breath and can be fatal.
As to why vaping-related illness is only now being recognized it's likely that any adults previously using these devices were former or current smokers and any such symptoms would have been considered a result of smoking-related lung damage, stress, nicotine withdrawal and not as rigorously investigated.
3
If only they had vaped Arm & Hammer instead of Tide, they might have made it. More seriously, I don’t recall reading about anyone being forced to vape at gunpoint. These people made decisions. Those decisions were not very good. Decisions have consequences. Bad decisions frequently have bad consequences. It’s not a new phenomenon.
Say what you want about markets, but when they are legal and regulated, while still being relatively free, you have a reputation to keep and you are incentivized to spend money to prevent stuff like this from happening. When a black market emerges stuff like this is inevitable.
8
@C. M. Jones
Exactly, which is why I don't understand why people are pushing to ban vaping. I don't have a dog in this fight (I only vaped briefly and stopped a couple years ago) but if the problem is black market products, won't banning it just push more people onto the black market?
1
Not saying this is a conspiracy, but why the sudden influx of cases? Vaping has been popular for years, and suddenly we get all these life-threatening illnesses?
The investigations should focus on what has changed recently. Is this an accumulation from extended use or a new substance that was never in vaping products earlier?
8
Nothing is 100% safe, so it's remarkable that there are NY Times readers writing comments demanding the banning of this product. Personal choice and responsibility, anyone?
Nonetheless, it is quite surprising to me that it is only now, some 5 years at least since vaping became widespread that we are seeing some kind of illness associated with it. I suspect a bad batch of THC or a bad batch of delivery systems.
Having said that, vaping is infinitely safer than smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco and I know several people who have been able to ween themselves off tobacco products using a vape pen. It need not be banned.
My suggestion, which undoubtedly will bring howls from the puritans (and doctors) in this forum is to bring this industry out of the shadows and allow major companies such as Philip Morris or Budweiser to manufacture, distribute and sell these products.
Without the benefit of reputable companies being involved with what is legal (for nicotine) in every state (and THC in an ever-increasing number of states) is a recipe for serious problems.
Vaping nicotine or THC isn't going away, it's here to stay. The products people choose to use should be made as safe as possible through some government regulation.
The sooner, the better.
4
@Americus
As far as I understand, Altria, the maker of Marlboro, is already a significant investor in Juul. And many more big tobacco companies are jumping in to the market. They seem to be plenty out of the shadows, but the long-term effects of vaping just aren't known.
4
@Americus -I totally agree. Can we all stop and count to ten? Some of the comments here seem to border on hysteria. When legionnaires disease first appeared it was a total mystery. Eventually epidemiologists figured out the cause. I suspect this will be the case with these mysterious vape illnesses. Until then it’s probably best not to gamble something you can’t afford to lose.
2
File the class action lawsuits. Money is the only thing that matters. Until the corporations have to pay hefty awards nothing will happen.
5
This reminds me of people going blind from drinking methanol in bootleg alcohol during Prohibition. People are ignoring the bulk of the evidence that vaping has few/no short term health effect and we don't see any clear sign of long term damage yet.
The authors point out many times that this is an outbreak, likely coming from bootleg THC vape cartridges. Like methanol, moonshine, and Prohibition, we now have an unidentified something, black market THC pens, and the crumbling cannabis prohibition.
This convinces me even more that we need to lift more bans, not double down, and pull more of the black market into the regulated economy.
13
@Tige, right. Should we repeal speed limit laws since so few actually obey them? Repeal legislation against murder since it doesn't prevent people killing people?
1
@Bike Fanatic
I don't know, do speed limits and legislation against murder tend to make people shop on black markets more, thus endangering their health?
Research shows that when speed limits are lifted people still drive at the same speed.
The numbers here (“450 possible cases in 33 states”) are still dwarfed by the number of medical cases associated with gun violence (in general) and mass shootings (specifically).
There’s no doubt in my mind that unregulated vaping products are yielding a medical emergency in the US. But it’s barely a drop in the ocean compared to what firearms have wrought.
23
@Paul
That may be true but the Federal government is big enough to focus on multiple issues at the same time. While both regulations for vaping and gun deaths are hindered by Congressional inaction, agencies like the FDA can propose new rules to make vaping safer without Congress.
12
@Paul We know why people die from gun violence (the bullet and its consequences) but not with this outbreak. That makes it more concerning in spite of the relatively lower numbers (though I will tell you as a doctor, one death is meaningful when it's your family or friend). Until they find out why, they numbers may continue to go up. I'm also concerned for NON-vapers who still get exposed to the aerosolized substances. And without smell or sight, they many not even know they are exposed.
3
@Paul The key words in your comment are "medical emergency". All medical emergencies are worthy of attention and a focus on a cure.
2
You'd think this would be happening in 2013 or 2014 when it was new-ish. I remember there were shops that made stuff in-house then and never heard of anything like this. Maybe foreign interference?...
3
@TK
It's been on the market since 2007, but the part about foreign interference may be closer to the mark than we would hope.
@TK - paraquat?
"Cases of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Surge" "officials are working urgently to understand the causes." Pretty much I don't need to be a forensic scientist to understand that the answer is in the first sentence. And I am curious, it seems that a BAN on the sale of the products would be in order. Boeing still has it's planes grounded, right?
5
@DB
Yes, but what you're suggesting is that ALL planes, of every known type from F-16s to hang gliders - are grounded - not just the 737 MAX.
It's unlikely to be vaping per se that's causing pneumonitis - the number of cases is tiny compared with the number of vapers worldwide.
The correct question is what ARE some people vaping?
11
@DB - 7 million people are killed each year through use of tobacco, 3 million people are killed each year through use of alcohol. Both of those products are perfectly legal to use in most countries, including this one.
3
This is the result of prohibition creating a black market for untested, unregulated THC cartridges. With their compact size and low oder they are especially popular in places where you still have to smoke in secret or risk jail. They are appealing to black market dealers because they are more compact than flower cannabis, and it's nearly impossible to know the quality of what's inside them. Cutting oil with vitamin e acetate, or homemade dirty oil isn't a new health hazard, indeed it was taken into consideration in many legal cannabis state laws. It's no surprise the part of the country most enthusiastically enforcing the prohibition of cannabis are seeing the most damage.
49
@El Beno Yep. I’m agreeing w you. It is definitely the bootleg thc cartridges. Kinda like when inexperienced people try to make moonshine. Everyone gets poisoned cause they don’t know to pour off.
1
And when will the companies pull their products off the market? Only after criminal charges?
3
This article is about the extra regulation required for some vaping products but it is misleadingly titled as if all vaping products are or could be problematic.
This attitude will make the world unlivable and down through this road we shall have epidemiological police/apps monitoring daily fresh food intake or punishing those who love and eat lots of bacon.
I quit smoking 25 years ago at a very young age after becoming aware that I was deeply addicted to smoking cigarettes. Now, I enjoy an occasional cigar that I do not inhale (nevertheless, some smoke still goes to my lungs) and this should be my freedom to smoke a cigar as long as others are not harmed. I would wish to be informed about the outcomes of my actions and indeed would be grateful to anyone giving me good info. However, I do not need a doctor/journalist/politician to police me.
Vaping is a safer alternative to smoking and given humanity's worldwide affliction with chewing, eating or smoking pleasure-inducing or calming plants since eons, I can understand the scare. However, it is simply wrong to demonize or prohibit pleasure-inducing substances, especially FDA approved mainstream vaping products.
11
@Blackbird Cigarettes are getting a boost from the way this story about vaping has been distorted. It should never have been a story about vaping perse, but only a story about some substance that is causing lung diseases in relatively small numbers of people. The emphasis on vaping perse in the current coverage of the recent assessment of lung problems may be driven by elements whose business it is to operate on the mass media. Public relations people beholden to giant corporate interests may be driving the current story against vaping perse.
2
@Blackbird
But others immediately around you “are harmed” when you smoke the filthy cigar.
A physician MD
2
@Blackbird
But others "are harmed" by the filthy cigar smoke if they are nearby.
A physician MD
2
I was surprised and a bit angry to see ads for Juul and Blu on the TV recently. Cigarette ads have long been banned, and these products contain nicotine. The government should certainly also ban their ads.
43
@Roz I still see ads for beer and alcoholic beverages, too, despite the thousands or hundreds of thousands affected annually by the negative effects of drinking. Prohibition didn't work, but it's past time for the advertisements showing drinkers as sophisticated people having a wonderful time need to stop. ALL ads for alcohol need to be limited to the inside of bars, restaurants and anywhere else selling it.
So far, this mysterious "vaping illness" has caused only 450 or so reports of sickness and 3 deaths. And it appears to be limited to only a few areas. That's merely a drop in the bucket.
Sounds like bootleg and homemade cartridges are to blame, not established brands. I use vaping as a substitute for cigarettes several times a day. My son works in a shop that specializes in smoking products such as cigarettes, tobacco, tubes (I make all of my cigarettes, saving quite a lot of money) and vaping supplies, so I buy everything there and know that it's all above board.
Anyone purchasing bootleg vaping fluids or making them at home should be made aware of the dangers. I doubt that they will ever find the cause of this illness to be legitimate products.
4
@Roz I still see ads for beer and alcoholic beverages, too, despite the thousands or hundreds of thousands affected annually by the negative effects of drinking. Prohibition didn't work, but it's past time for the advertisements showing drinkers as sophisticated people having a wonderful time need to stop. ALL ads for alcohol need to be limited to the inside of bars, restaurants and anywhere else selling it.
So far, this mysterious "vaping illness" has caused only 450 or so reports of sickness and 3 deaths. And it appears to be limited to only a few areas. That's merely a drop in the bucket.
Sounds like bootleg and homemade cartridges are to blame, not established brands. I use vaping as a substitute for cigarettes several times a day. My son works in a shop that specializes in smoking products such as cigarettes, tobacco, tubes (I make all of my cigarettes, saving quite a lot of money) and vaping supplies, so I buy everything there and know that it's all above board.
Anyone purchasing bootleg vaping fluids or making them at home should be made aware of the dangers. I doubt that they will ever find the cause of this illness to be legitimate products.
BTW, vaping fluid is made in a variety of nicotine content, from none at all to the same as cigarettes. Vaping is a great way to wean oneself off cigarettes and nicotine completely and costs less than the nicotine patches and gums.
1
@Roz I still see ads for beer and alcoholic beverages, too, despite the thousands or hundreds of thousands affected annually by the negative effects of drinking. Prohibition didn't work, but it's past time for the advertisements showing drinkers as sophisticated people having a wonderful time to stop. ALL ads for alcohol need to be limited to the interior of bars, restaurants and anywhere else selling it. In my state (PA) retail sales of liquor are limited to stores run by the government!
So far, this mysterious "vaping illness" has caused only 450 or so reports of sickness and 3 deaths. And it appears to be limited to only a few areas. That's merely a drop in the bucket.
Sounds like bootleg and homemade cartridges are to blame, not established brands. I use vaping as a substitute for cigarettes several times a day. My son works in a shop that specializes in smoking products such as cigarettes, tobacco, tubes (I make all of my cigarettes, saving quite a lot of money) and vaping supplies, so I buy everything there and know that it's all above board.
Anyone purchasing bootleg vaping fluids or making them at home should be made aware of the dangers. I doubt that they will ever find the cause of this illness to be legitimate products.
BTW, vaping fluid is made in a variety of nicotine content, from none at all to the same as cigarettes. Vaping is a great way to wean oneself off cigarettes and nicotine completely and costs less than the nicotine patches and gums.
1
People will do anything to get high or a buzz. As some defenders note in these comments, vaping is not new. For example, I recall people discovering sniffing glue and paint thinner generations ago. You can add vaporizing coke or heroin (crack and free base). The point is to vaporize the thing you want to get high on and have it get into the blood stream rapidly through the lungs. As others have noted, using the lungs as a drug delivery system whether it is in the form of sooty smoke or purer vapors is not good for the lungs. While the new lung syndrome may be a new phenomenon, the huge number of people starting to vape anything thinking it is a good idea is more troubling.
16
@Ken C, you fail to appreciate the fact that cigarettes and vape alternatives contain a highly addictive substance that isn't found in glue, cannabis, paint thinner and many other substances people consume. Nicotine is the insidious drug that offers little, but with a very high price. It also happens to legally enrich those who sell this drug. Hook a kid and you have a customer for life.
Crack cocaine, meth, heroin and many other addictive drugs are illegal for a reason. Nicotine should be too. Black markets or not, you don't dispose of rules because they're broken. Such an inane argument.
1
I have been vaping THC heavily for years and fortunately haven’t experienced any negative affects (yet). For any health professionals out there, is there a specific lung exam/test that people can ask for? Scary stuff. Thank you for this reporting.
9
Because this is such a new phenomena there is no specific test. However, you should absolutely let your primary are doctor know that you have been vaping heavily for years. There are definitely ways that they can assess your current lung function. More importantly, they will likely advise you to stop vaping!
9
With young people smoking real cigarettes declining the industry has found a new market by favoring vape products to appeal to children. It is of course unconscionable, but legal, at least for now. Hopefully states will start to take action and regulate this industry as it should be. Teens are too immature to realize how they are being harmed, parents need to step in at a young age here. Ingesting vape/smoke into your lungs is dangerous, not candy.
158
@georgiadem that's just not true. I've been vaping for 3 years after smoking for 22 and I have never felt.better. vaping has never been marketed as anything other than an alternative method to cigarettes for nicotine delivery.
4
@georgiadem
Your right it's not candy.. candy is much more harmful to children..heart deasese from ingesting sugar is the leading cause of death in the US.
3
@georgiadem actually the tobacco companies tried to get vaping products banned because they knew that it was a safer alternative to their deadly cigarettes and millions of their customers were leaving them. Well they didn’t want that, they would rather keep killing people and knew if they could ban vaping that those addicted to nicotine would keep smoking their product. When they couldn’t achieve their evil goal they decided to jump on the vaping bandwagon
5
"E-cigarette fluids..contain “at least six groups of potentially toxic compounds,”... suggested that the mixed-up stew of chemicals might create new toxins.
" ...jury-rigged by vaping retailers, or tampered with or mixed by consumers themselves".
There is one additional factor I suspect that adds to the cause. Too much. I think people take in huge lung expanding gulps rather than sipping.
Every picture I see of a vapor user shows a large cloud of smoke. I think safe use would produce a bare wisp.
Other factors could be mold spores and mildew from the curing source...
www.webmd.com/women/mold-mildew#1
3
@Anne
"Every picture I see of a vapor user shows a large cloud of smoke. I think safe use would produce a bare wisp."
It doesn't take much to get a large cloud, especially if you "push" the vapors so they spread out. I could produce that without even trying, and due to a childhood illness, I don't even have a full set of lungs.
Also, keep in mind that those photos are specifically used because it's visually-interesting to see a large cloud of vapor, not because it is particularly representative of how vaping usually occurs.
2
@K Thanks for your great comment. Vaping and legal but not cannabis and nicotine e-cigs are new still.
In the current concern regarding lung illness from vaping causation, your experience is invaluable.
The proliferation of additive unregulated chemicals are clearly suspect, but I still think unsophisticated curing and growing methods could breed organic pathogens. I most fear mass market big business chemicals and methods.
I have limited experience with vape clouds. I recall from the oldy days that sometimes a $10 ounce was enhanced with oregano leaf.
The best by far cannabis I ever experienced was grown by a close friend/student of botanist, R. Clarke. Rob also provided the seeds.
RC wrote Marijuana Botany: An Advanced Study: The Propagation and Breeding of Distinctive Cannabis...
...nearly 40 years ago. I have never had any cannabis that compared. Super creative. Wonderful. The most gorgeous plants with large globs of sap. Smelled like heaven.
Manicuring should barely touch buds, just the large outer shake leaves removed and must be carefully dried avoiding molds.
The problem is “vaping” is a generic word that doesn’t accurately describe a specific practice or product that may be causing this illness. Most likely it is bootleg THC cartridges in fake packaging (easily obtained off alibaba or DHgate) of the legit and tested brands from the west coast where products are tested by law. Brands that market their purity all over social media, creating demand in the rest of the country. These fake products in imposter packaging then get sent out to the rest of the country where it is still illegal and the public still buys off the black market. To them “legitimate” packaging means that it’s a “legitimate” product with a company behind it. This is patently false. Until we know specifically what (and how!) these people were vaping it’s impossible to know what to avoid. E cigarettes are not new. The question is why is this happening now and why hasn’t it happened sooner? Judging from the demographics described as being inflicted (young men) it is almost certainly the result of inhaling the pesticides contained in bootleg weed cartridges that can be outfitted on vaping devices. Millions of people vape in Asia, especially in Korea and Japan and have been for many years. Have they had similar incidents? I doubt it.
11
@Mat The Oregon death was from a legitimate source.
1
As a range of professionals study what is the single or multiple cause of death from vaping,among a population diverse in many ways, using various products differing in types, levels and qualities, in a range of environments, given current states of valid information, with inadequate understanding because of lack of relevant necessary information and technologies, as well as many unknowables, we continue to be confronted by the reality that people choose to engage in risks to their bodies, states of psychological, social and spiritual health, wellbeing, coping, adaptiveness and functioning.Daily.
People continue NOT to learn from outcomes.
People continue NOT to “Fail better.” People continue to choose to be willfully blind about...
People continue to choose to be will deaf about...
People continue to deny, lie to ourselves, not pay attention, be indifferent about...
People continue to choose to be ignorant about...
The research will continue.
The relevant data will be determined and collected.
The necessary data analysis will be completed; even repeated.
Generalizable information will be derived. Made available and accessible.
Understanding will be created. Policies, laws and regulations will BE!
Ranges of individual and systemic stakeholders, with agendas will operate.
The process of commodification will BE. Profits will be made.
Numbers of “ vaped” will die. Will be buried.
We may, or may not, know WHY.
1
"The majority, Dr. Layden said, vaped a product including T.H.C., the high-inducing chemical in marijuana, but a majority also used a “nicotine-based product,” noting that there were “a range of products and devices.” "
Do these people even know what they're talking about? You can't have 2 majorities like this: is it the THC products or the nicotine based products?
OR is it the vaporized chemicals, no matter if it's cannibis or nicotine based? Maybe Depts of Health and medical professionals should stop trying so hard to vilify cannibis and look at the chemicals and delivery system involved.
7
I believe this implies that many people use both nicotine and cannabis. I had to read it twice myself.
1
@CaliNative
Doctors are trying to warn people about a new illness that is killing people. We don’t know if it’s the THC or nicotine products, and we don’t know which chemicals are responsible. But people are being killed by these products. That’s not some fictional conspiracy made up to ‘demonize’ vaping. This is real and we don’t know the exact causes. But not publicizing this could lead to more deaths. No one is attacking you for your use, just trying to warn people that there is potential danger. People are working hard to find out which chemical(s) is/are the culprit Waiting to warn people until all the details are known would be irresponsible.
1
@CaliNative A subgroup have recently vaped both nicotine and THC?
If vaping THC were legal and regulated these deaths could have been avoided.
These illegal THC juice pods are modern moonshine. Modern prohibition on drugs in dangerous and a travesty. Same for thousands of addicts who have died from fentanyl laced in their drugs.
17
@Russell
Oh please, the fancy legal stores in aspen and Beverly Hills do NOT list any ingredients in their cartridges. They charge top dollars, have beautiful bags and hide what they are using to grow the buds, what chemicals they are using in the vapes.
Having no ingredients list, even at the fanciest stores, has led to deaths. They are hiding the chemicals they’re using.
If the products were organic they would surely be advertising that.
2
@Lily
That's because it's up to the state to decide what regulations are required for marijuana products. If there was federal regulation with similar scrutiny as medicinal marijuana products, those stores in Aspen and elsewhere would most probably be required to list ingredients and potentially lab results.
It starts with flu like symptoms? Maybe a vap version of clarinet sickness, where clarinet and bag pipe players develop lung problems because they don't clean their instruments properly and inhaling a cocktail of germs and vira every-time they play. Maybe just cleaning the devices will do the trick.
2
@really18: . . .interesting hypothesis.
@really18
I agree it's an interesting hypothesis, but it doesn't explain why it's only happening recently. Vaping, and its associated devices, have been around for over a decade. I find it hard to believe that people only just now have been been neglectful in cleaning their vaporizers.
@BBB
Your statement that this phenomenon seems related primarily to THC may be incorrect:
The majority, Dr. Layden said, vaped a product including T.H.C., the high-inducing chemical in marijuana, but a majority also used a “nicotine-based product,” noting that there were “a range of products and devices.”
1
@colorado
They are independent variables. A majority of respondents said they used nicotine. A majority of the respondents said they use THC. No contradiction!
Really? You want to save kids? Note that we're still well below the number of deaths in school shootings.
That doesn't make vaping safe, but it does make you wonder where these state legislatures priorities lie.
12
The lungs are for inhaling gases, namely air, and not electronically heated vaporous compounds that liquify as they cool.
The Michigan ban on flavored vapes is a good idea that should be applied everywhere.
7
@Robert Gravatt
the problem seems to be stemming from products purchased from online retailers that aren't regulated.
Banning flavored e-liquids will make people turn more towards those online retailers. Is that really what we want?
1
Can we please have an exhaustive study done on the effects of vaping ANY product or chemical?
Aren't we supposed to have a FDA for this exact kind of situation?
Hard to tell if this is scare, or a real threat...and that inability to tell is terrifying in of itself.
Small government - you get what you pay for.
6
@Nick
FDA doesn't do studies.
Ask Congress to fund medical ressearch at levels it did 20 years ago (adjusted for inflation) and we'd be closer to some answers.
1
Shocking. Incredible. Who could have seen this coming. Who could ever have guessed.
12
This crisis is from allowing products to be sold with unknown ingredients that are hazardous to lungs...you can EAT just about anything, but your lungs are fragile and not able to be repaired. So cannabis plus mango flavor or vitamin E or whatever is just going to be unsafe.
Nicotine is a long term hazard but this seems to be very acute...vaping just isn't worth the threat to life. Go back to smoking the old fashioned way and die slowly or get high on cannabis.
4
It's a good thing that we as a society view vaping and opioid abuse as healthcare crisis. Hopefully, politicians will care enough to do something about it.
But let's not forget drug abuse generally. For decades now, crack cocaine and marijuana addiction within the African American and minority communities is viewed as criminal activity rather than a healthcare concern. Long prison sentences have been handed out as a consequence.
If crack addiction was seen as a healthcare issue decades ago when it first started, solutions devised to combat the problem probably would have prevented the current opioid and vaping epidemic that is killing a bunch of suburban and rural white kids.
4
Really? Why do we spend research dollars on this? Users know the risks for ingesting anything.
Easy solution is to not use the devices.
Spend the money and angst on dementia or cancer. People can’t choose to not have those. Smokers have a choice.
4
@Mike Tierney. Millions of people suffer from chronic pain, seizure disorders, and other ailments, the symptoms of which are controlled and improved with the aid of THC vaporizers. I’m sure they would like to know what’s causing the spike in lung ailments.
1
@LS From the media reports, it seems like vaporized oils are the problem, not vaporized plant materials. I wish the NYT and other media outlets reporting this story would take the time to distinguish that.
Sounds like either adulterated product or possibly even a deliberate poisoning attack on vape users.
1
Regulation of public health threats, public safety threats and corporate predators is one of the primary roles of government.
Too bad so many Americans have been duped into thinking and voting for 'government is the problem' when it's obvious that corporations, corporate chemicals, corporate lobbyists, and corporate predators are the problem.
D to go forward; R for reverse.
November 3 2020
8
I've been mixing my own vaping liquid since 2009; I've done my research and know exactly what I'm mixing. The hysteria around this is ridiculous, and when they run the numbers, they ought to also say how many people die of cigarette-related deaths a day.
I'm all for public health, but I am not for the puritanical notion that a country that still sells cigarettes and alcohol in ready, easy quantities gets to say vaping is somehow the devil.
6
It’s not hysteria when teenagers or others in the prime of health start dying.
1
@Abigail
Ofcourse cigarette smokers die daily, but how many die after 1 year of smoking? Probably few, if any. I think that's the difference.
1
@Abigail: it takes decades for cigarettes to kill you. Vaping may cause much more significant harm more quickly.
1
To break this dangerous addiction, try switching to tobacco-based nicotine products!
4
@Terremotito I see what you did there! ;-)
I would argue that the lawsuits that will surely follow and will, hopefully, bankrupt this industry of death.
4
@Richard Plaintiff product liability lawyers will have a field day with this, and for once I'll be glad.
1
@Richard - I imagine the Juul people are quaking in their boots. Serves them right.
1
People choose to smoke and some get ill and we are supposed to act like we are seeing an ad for St. Jude’s?
Let’s get real. These victims are drug users. Simple. Nicotine and marijuana are mood altering drugs. Let’s switch our empathy to embrace children with cancer. That is a group of innocent victims. Smoking dope doesn’t get my empathy.
5
@Sophia. My daughter survived cancer at age 5. 3 years later I developed a debilitating chronic pain disease called CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome). Look it up - it’s brutal. My THC vaporizer got me off of opioids, improving my overall health and function. Is it ok with you that I raised over $100K for the St Baldrick’s Foundation for pediatric cancer research AND used my THC vaporizer to manage my pain on my trips into NYC to shave my head? Did I deserve to get CRPS? Am I a dope smoker?
Oh, the answer to those last 2 questions is No. Try to understand that, if you can.
4
@Sophia
I imagine few things do.
1
It’s not an either or proposition. You can have empathy for both. I presume you never did anything foolish when younger? I know I did lots of foolish things when I was younger and if it’s sold legally it shouldn’t lead to a quick death.
Repeatedly inhaling droplets of oil has long been known to cause lung disease . . . the only surprise is that there haven't been more cases of this disease from vaping . . .
4
Those organizations who took the Vaping Company's money to produce research that said "Vaping is safer and better for you than smoking." Are now shown for the shills they are. Compared to the 100+ years of smoking and millions of people who are users, the rapid onset of Vape related illness and death points to one of two things:
Vaping is much more deadly than smoking. It just took a large enough cohort to show it.
Someone in the supply chain changed the formula on something that is common to almost all vaping products.
All of this shows that there has been a complete lack of oversight by the regulators responsible for public health. You have allowed the introduction and use of a product that is deadly. Now you are playing catch up while people are dying.
4
@Bruce1253
I think this is the "hysteria" another person mentioned above.
Four people have died, most likely from black market products, and suddenly vaping is not only more deadly than smoking, but MUCH more deadly? You can't be serious.
1
@K
If you think about this for a moment with an open mind, we are this serious in the effects of vaping relatively early in the exposure, and with a relatively small group of addicts. Smoking typically takes 20 years or so for its addicts to get to this stage. There are tens of millions more smokers than vapers. So yes, I think I am reasonable in saying that vaping appears much more deadly than smoking.
@Bruce1253
Don't think about statistics with an open mind, Bruce, just don't. Think about statistics with actual mathematics and logic.
480,000/year = 1315/day, every day die smoking related causes
5 (known to date but let's just say for a year) = .01693 per day die from vaping related causes.
People used to go blind or die from drinking contaminated alcohol during prohibition. That all ended when prohibition ended.
Sounds like a good reason to legalize and regulate marijuana nationally.
5
Will we find out the share of these sickened individuals who smoked weed on vaping devices? I get the feeling it's quite a high share.
Another thing we seem to be learning is that ingesting Vitamin E is geat UNLESS you are taking it into your lungs from vaping; then, you have trouble.
1
@L osservatore According to the article, people who vaporized THC oils did get sick. I see no mention of those who vaporized the actual plant material.
The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for protecting the safety and efficacy of things we are offered to ingest. Who was paid for the FDA to ignore what could only be called a disgusting habit rife with clues for harming our lungs, and poisoning our bodies. And WHO were they paid by.
Follow the money being made from this abomination, and we will find out who is responsible for all of the deaths that have been reported, and those yet to die.
1
Three people die as a result of voluntarily inhaling foreign substances into their lungs, which common sense will tell you is not healthy: “Let’s mobilize resources on a national level to address this apparent public health crisis.”
Dozens of innocents die in three mass shootings as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time while living their lives in America: Silence from our leaders, yet again.
6
Why is the CDC researching this and infringing on people’s right to vape? I ask because the CDC is forbidden from researching deaths by guns, so what’s the difference? Is the NRA that much more powerful than the NVA?
1
@Tom Schaefer Yes, the NRA helped past legislation years ago to prohibit the CDC from doing much gun violence related research.
Look up the Dickey Amendment.
Big tobacco (and I say that because as this article mentions they are buying up stakes in vaping companies or producing their own) is powerful but it's hard to argue against hundreds of thousands of deaths and the weight of scientific evidence. Even so, it took DECADES to get anything done.
@Tom Schaefer. There's a fundamental difference between bullets and vaping: Bullets are meant to kill and maim.
It will be like climate change. Congress will not act till multiple deaths and them be slow due to big oil lobby $. Lining congress pocket with lobby $'s is how congress works.
Mr. Cuomo-It is high time for New York State to LEGALIZE natural weed. You almost got it done-now finish the job. What more evidence do you need? Problem solved.
2
We are always looking for the easy way out
Smoke? Now you can safely vape
Not!
2
@FerCry'nTears This article doesn't mention any issues arising from vaporized plant material, just refined oils.
I'm bothered by all the comments saying things along the lines of "anyone with half a brain could've told you that pulling anything besides air into your lungs is bad news. Darwinism at its finest." Get off your high horse and have some empathy. Have you ever had an addiction?
Lungs are for air and air only, just like stomachs are for water and...what again? We study the things we ingest in order to determine what's good for us, what kills us, and what's so-so -- oftentimes it's non-obvious or defies intuition! Leave the "told you so"s to the scientists, many of whom support vaping as a healthier alternative to smoking [1].
Everything lies on a spectrum. This seems likely to be a problem with a certain additive being added to certain vape liquids, so let's find the root cause and not throw out the baby with the bathwater.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/e-cigarettes-around-95-less-harmful-than-tobacco-estimates-landmark-review
7
@Andrew
Exactly. Another person here bemoaned why anyone would give up their perfectly good lungs, when they would give anything for healthy lungs that aren't affected by asthma.
Yet, I bet that person has absolutely no problem wolfing down all sorts of fast "food" that barely holds any resemblance to actual food, without any thought of how many people suffer from debilitating gastro-intestinal illnesses. They may even drink copious amounts of liquor without a thought of those suffering from liver disease, or consume all sorts of sugary foods without even a passing consideration of those suffering from diabetes.
It's just an excuse to feel superior to someone, I think.
On the other hand, cigarettes kill over 450,000 Americans annually. Please address this first if anything is to be made illegal...
5
Vaping should be banned immediately, followed by a ban on all tobacco products. It is beyond ridiculous that in America you can promote and peddle (and make huge amounts of money) poisoning and killing our citizens in the name of consumer choice (and spare me all the blather about lost jobs if we ban these heinous industries). Why anyone would take up vaping is beyond my comprehension - who in their right mind thinks vaporizing and inhaling flavored chemicals could be "safer" than smoking (let alone safe in the first place). San Francisco recently banned them, and now there is a massive campaign to get it overturned via proposition (using the specious argument that it's "absurd" to ban vaping while letting cigarettes be sold). My rejoinder is to ban them all. It is beyond absurd that America continues to bear the financial burden of providing healthcare to all the ignorant citizens who choose to fill their own bodies with poison.
326
@Mark Hawkins
Sugar imposes more costs on healthcare and no talk about banning it
Guns pose more of an externality risk and no talk about banning it
The recommendation you propose is reactionary and dangerous
95
@J
There are several organizations calling for a ban on high-fructose corn syrup.
More people in this country petition to ban guns than to keep them.
39
@Mark Hawkins
“who in their right mind thinks vaporizing and inhaling flavored chemicals could be "safer" than smoking ”
Pretty much everyone. Your can read reports from various agencies around the world - they will all point that out.
I do agree that’s tobacco products should be banned. But it doesn’t make what you are saying any less wrong.
25
What part of inhaling things (smoke, nicotine, dust, chemicals, etc.) does any sentient human not understand. For decades Federal and State Health officials have warned everyone of the dangers of smoking and the likely consequences. ANYONE who still takes things into their lungs intentionally is putting their own health at risk. The fact that people still do this is simply Darwinism at work.
10
The tobacco industry promoted cigarettes as “healthful” for decades. Then they promoted them as “harmless.” Now they are promoting baking as the “better alternative.”
A large portion (on a bell curve) of sentient humans are not very bright. But that doesn’t mean that billionaire corporations are entitled to take advantage of those humans. That’s why we have used to have government oversight, protections and regulations.
1
"The patients were typically “healthy, young, with a median age of 19 years and a majority have been men". When it's all said and done, between this epidemic or soon to be epidemic, the opioid epidemic and the mass shootings there's going to be a seriously messed up generation of Americans walking around.
16
@M Well, since 480,000 Americans die every year from smoking related causes I wouldn't expect the FDA to ban e-cigarettes over 450 illnesses and 5 deaths.
When will the FDA stop the sale of vaping products? How many more need to die or become damaged for life?
6
@Jacquie
The problem seems to be more a lack of regulation period. When has banning anything ever led to people not using that product?
If you will notice, most of the illnesses have been attributed to THC cartridges in states where marijuana does not enjoy legal status.
I live in Colorado, where marijuana is legal and vaping IS an epidemic problem. This state has the highest percentage of underage users of vaping products anywhere, however I have not heard of any cases of this epidemic here.
4
That is a remarkably low number. Lower than deaths by hammer. Thousands of times less than tobacco smoking or eating too many potato chips. Hundreds of times less than tons of different commonly prescribed medications and even over the counter medications.
The hysteria would make you believe it was the end of the world.
62
I’m sure the for the parents of the children with permanent lung damage or in intensive care it is the end of the world
6
This is why it's important for attention to be payed:
"Public health officials have underscored one fundamental point: that the surge in illnesses is a new phenomenon and not merely a recognition of a syndrome that may have been developing for years."
It's something new happening... nip it in the bud before it becomes a remarkably high number.
2
@John
So was the number in the US, or even worldwide, affected by Ebola. Or the Tylenol poisoning many years ago. But it needs to addressed quickly and the cause found, or the numbers could rise quickly. In short, it is a public health emergency -due to the severity of the illness, and the potential number of people at risk.
2
I suspect it's the cannabis plus nicotine. A major, large sample study once found highest lung cancer rates among cannabis/tobacco smokers, higher than tobacco only. Cannabis only had very low, really a negative correlation with lung cancer rates. But the combination is no good. The cannabis opens the lung cells/sacs, improving the absorption of tobacco. Toxicity is thus increased. Theses e-products probably make it worse.
9
Vape kiosks appear in my local strip mall and my local high-end mall on a regular basis. The products sold at these kiosks look to be non-brand name (so not official Juul-branded products, etc.) with graphics and labels that are enticing and eye catching. Eye catching enough that I've stopped to look and I've never smoked traditional cigarettes nor do I vape. I grew up in a house of power chain smokers and have zero desire to smoke anything at all. Though Juul has made many poor marketing choices, such as targeting teens, I think if the focus was shifted to these shops and kiosks selling cut-rate vape juice many issues could be avoided. I hate walking through cigarette smoke just as much as I hate walking through a cloud of vape vapor. You can destroy your lungs, please leave my lungs out of it.
3
There have been millions worldwide, over 10 years vaping juice made up of the main four ingredients, pg, vg, nicotine and flavor. With of course a few not handling the atomized juice well, but on the whole no outbreak of diseases like this.
A sudden outbreak of lung disease and death is obviously horrible but the public should know for sure if the products were bought and sold in the usual way, and from what I can tell so far, they were not.
It has been an unregulated industry in which makers of juice and atomizer devices have fought FOR regulations and safeguards, not just in standards for quality and safety of juice but also to keep them out of mini-marts, and away from kids.
It was only a matter of time before someone's batch of cartridge pens not sold in stores and carrying some dodgy carriers in the liquid made people ill. That's tragic, but after all these years of immense improvement in health and life quality for millions of former smokers, it is not "time to ban all vaping products"
39
@whowhatwhere Thank you. I've been a part of vaping forums for years now, and they are all calling for common-sense regulation and always have. Age checks, studies, how to wean yourself off of nicotine entirely, which devices are as safe as can be and how to use them correctly. I've never once seen them advocate for black market vaping devices or products.
9
@Abigail
Great to talk about "common sense". What kind of common sense leads a person to use this junk?
1
@Mike Tierney The common sense needed to free one's self from the much more lethal cigarette?
1
No one has tagged the fact that the illegality of the THC vape may be hindering progress on this. If a patient is asked if they used THC and they live in a state where it is illegal, what are the odds that the patient is honest?
9
People have been vaping for years. As the article noted, this is an entirely new phenomenon. Clearly something harmful hit the streets recently, which would also explain why so many of the victims here are under 21 (too young to buy official products from a legit seller). The obvious solution is to stop vaping and smoking altogether, but people have been addicted to nicotine for centuries and we're not going to stop anytime soon. Regulate regulate regulate.
19
"nicotine and marijuana"
Nicotine is a chemical compound. Marijuana is a pejorative term for a plant or part of it. Using the terms together causes cognitive dissonance.
6
@civiletti - And using the substances together causes cognitive problems.
Dr. Mitch Zeller said particular concern is developing around products that are jury-rigged by vaping retailers, or tampered with or mixed by consumers themselves. “Think twice,” he said, urging consumers to avoid vaping products purchased off the street or purchasing informally mixed or made devices.
Clear problem here is that the government has been slow and unwilling to regulate this category. Vaping is clearly cleaner than smoking cigarettes but vaping bootlegged products is a danger and will continue to happen if the government doesn’t regulate this.
The answer isn’t to scare people away from vaping and back to inhaling combusted tobacco and marijuana. It’s to scare people away from vaping products produced by shoddy manufacturers using cheap ingredients and sketchy processes
40
@J
Think twice? This once and never use the stuff.
1
Quitting smoking is difficult. Took me perhaps seven times, but finally cold turkey worked. That was 25 years ago. Started in the Navy, boot camp, Vietnam era, at a time when the "smoking lamp is lit" was in practice in bootcamp. Maybe 70% of my fellow boots smoked. Finally quit before the age of 40, and have the CAT scans to show the damage but so far, I'm lucky.
The younger generation doesn't want to hear from older folks like me. They don't want to hear the regrets. I get it. I didn't listen either.
17
It was reported yesterday that government testing found heavy amounts of Vitamin E in suspect cartridges of those who died or were sickened.
Not conclusive yet as cause... but it should be noted that Vitamin E is a thick viscous oily like substance which would be easy for bootleggers to use to "cut" product. Same could be said for nefarious producers of THC oils and cartridges in locales where they are not legal and not tested for purity.
In addition... not readily known.. but some consumers have been "vaping" vitamins for the better part of a decade.. and that alone could lead to a disaster of using Vitamin E in cartridges... as some consumers think inhaling vitamins is a good thing.. even though there is little or no understanding as to what vaporized Vitamin E actually results in when it enters the lungs. Could be vaporizing Vitamin E = a resulting toxin to lung tissue.
5
@Chuck . If you read the full article, you'll note that SOME of the samples had Vitamin E. There has yet to be one substance that is in most or all the products.
3
@MariaR
A majority of those tested had Vitamin E in them.
But yes, the government has not concluded that as cause yet. But it makes complete sense if you look at it.
Regarding Cannabis, it is far safer to just smoke flower. The quantity of smoke that is inhaled is minimal. It is very easy to evaluate if the flower bud is clean. For those seeking the effect of all cannabinoids (not just THC and CBD), smoking is more effective.
Many of the vaping substances have residual compounds such as butane and other solvents.
11
@Brynniemo....Smoke is a colloidal suspension of small solid particles in a gas. Inhaling small solid particles into your lungs is a good way to cause permanent lung damage that will show up later in life. Inhaling any chemicals, if you can avoid them, whether they are natural or unnatural, is also less than brilliant.
3
@Brynniemo
Go with the edibles!
@W.A. Spitzer
Yet, safer than breathing Butane. That was the point
1
This emerging health crisis is a consequence of allowing the consumption of age old drugs like nicotine and THC with never tested new excipient formulations and medical device technologies. All this without FDA regulation.
No one should be surprised.
16
General rule: Lung tissue is fragile, very fragile. Breathing in toxins on purpose for recreation is not smart. Hasnt been for a 100 years and still isnt. You should expect issues with vaping. It wouldnt make sense for it to be harmless. Everyone saw this coming. We dont get any smarter.
58
@StevieY19 We ex-smokers aren't worried about harmless. Just less harmful. And it has been, at least for me. Now, the people who are trying to vape THC or CBDs or vitamins, they need to really reconsider some things.
9
@Abigail Less harmful is still harmful. Which means when someone engages in less harmful behavior there will be consequences.
10
@Annie
"Less harmful is still harmful. Which means when someone engages in less harmful behavior there will be consequences."
... that will be lesser than the consequences of the more-harmful behavior. That's the whole point.
Let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
4
The vaping devices should be taken permanently off the market and those that are now in possession be banned from use.
12
@experience How about you ban cigarettes and alcohol first? Both of those cause more deaths per year by far, and more collateral damage, too.
3
@experience literally millions of people have been using vaporizers for more than a decade without issues. This sudden surge in lung issues has to do with junk products sold with liquids and cartridges cut with garbage chemicals. This is a new problem, vaporizers are not.
3
@JJ
Vaporizers are the delivery system that are the root of the problem.
1
It should not surprise anyone that inhaling chemical substances into your lungs from products that really have not been vetted is dangerous. While it's very unfortunate, I am having kind of a difficult time feeling sorry for these folks. I mean who would think these products are completely safe? We need some action by the FDA here though. And the companies selling these products must produce all the facts about what is in them. I saw one young man on the news this morning, who started vaping at 16 and was using products he bought on the street. Again, no surprise they are dangerous.
16
@Dairyfarmersdaughter
We now know that the brain isn't completely developed until age 25. I have 2 high school-aged kids and vaping both THC and nicotine is an epidemic. Walk into a high school restroom and see you will see a tons kids vaping mango, cotton candy-flavored nicotine. There are now advertisements on tv for E-Cigarettes. Reading this public health message scared me. I've been hearing for years that vaping is far safer than smoking tobacco. This crisis is new and I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who gets sick or dies from ”seemingly harmless” vaping. Nicotine is one of the most highly addictive substances. Have a heart.
4
@dairyfarmersdaughter I do feel sorry for the kids who were and are targeted by JUUL and other vape manufacturers. The number of kids who vape in our area -- coincidentally where JUUL was started by two Stanford studnets -- is at epidemic levels. Two years ago when my daughter was a freshman in high school, she came home and said all the freshman at her school vape. It's a criminal how Juul and others have gotten away with targeting kids to create nicotine addicts with flavors specifically to appeal to kids.
7
It is time to investigate this phenomenon, not panic and legislate. Compare these 3 deaths with the 400,000 per year due to smoking.
47
@dr. c.c.
Their approval was based on bogus studies to government agencies like the NHS and Health Canada.
They are tobacco products and yet conveniently not regulated as such.
7
@dr c c
The temporary 6 month ban by the Michigan governor is appropriate considering that:
(1) 3 deaths will dramatically climb with teenagers if unabated and is avoidable,
(2) the "tool" to inhale can be easily be hidden within ones clothes and hand,
(3) the use of the tool for other more dangerous products is occuring,
(4) the school year is now in session causing more socialization and use, and
(5) teenagers do not comprehend the danger that "most" of us adults do.
This product should have been banned from the start for teenager use. We need to rectify this matter and quickly. Otherwise, it's just another version of the opiod crisis. Other states should be following Michigan's lead.
4
@Michael Kenny
that is conjecture. In all likelihood, these deaths are being caused by black-market products. How will this temporary ban stop those? Won't making safe products unavailable push people towards the potentially unsafe products?
"This product should have been banned from the start for teenager use."
If by teenager you mean anyone under 18, it has been. Which is why they're buying it online and/or through unofficial sources.
2
Legal companies in states where pot is legal have to have any concentrate they sell tested and approved by state approved labs. These companies make a safe product. The companies then market their product on social media. People from states see the product and see celebrities using them and want a safe, tested product. This creates demand for the brand and not the product. When that demand is created, people will put a fake product in the same packaging that is easily obtained on line, especially from Chinese websites like alibaba. This fake product is not tested. Untested products will inevitably cause issues because their creators are not worried about liability. The answer to this is to legalize marijuana federally so the states with enacted quality control measures can meet consumer demand safely with a tested product. This isn’t juuls problem. This is a systematic result of the double standard we have towards legalization in this country.
101
@Mat
If they are so safe, why don’t they list all the ingredients? They do not call the buds or the cartridges “organic”, so what chemicals are they using?
There is no transparency for the buyer/user.
2
@Lily I figure that THC oils derived from marijuana cannot legally use the organic label because organic is a federal standard...and marijuana is still illegal federally. Marijuana growers can still follow organic practices though, but I have no idea how common that is.
Hemp-derived CBD oils could use the organic label.
@Mat no form of inhaling a substance into your lungs is safe.
1
There is a case of a young man who is comatose because of damage done by vaping. He was asthmatic to begin with. Now, I'm sorry for his situation, but he shouldn't have been vaping in the first place; it would be even more dangerous for him than for the average person. People really ought to give some thought to what they're doing to their bodies BEFORE they take up a new notion.
20
@Palladia
That would include people without asthma too BTW.
1
@Palladia: "People really ought to give some thought to what they're doing to their bodies BEFORE they take up a new notion." And when have teenagers EVER done THAT?
5
@Rupert
Well, when I was a teenager, I considered that if you could die from acute smoke inhalation, you could probably die from chronic smoke inhalation.
Guess what? I have never smoked, and my health is doing pretty well.
1
Vape pen was the only way I was able to quit a 45 yr cigarette habit, after trying hypnosis in 1994, untold amounts of patches,gums,lozenges, books,inhaler,classes at local hospital! I never vaped cannabis however, and have used reputable places for purchase. I know so many people in my city who have been now finally able to quit smoking, by using vapes and slowly lowered nicotine levels, to zero. Nothing else, in my extreme stress, trauma filled smoking yrs, was able to help.i would even smoke while on patches. I have taught my kids, and others, to never,ever,smoke even 1 cigarette, for that's all it took for me, as it was love at first puff, and I never coughed,and still don't. I'm a lucky one to say the least. I began cigarettes age 14 when it was considered cool, and the Marlboro man was advertised. My best friend, who was 3 yrs older than I started my first addiction, and nothing else in my previous yrs of fun experiments I would say while younger, could compare to cigarette addiction in any way,shape or form. And after living some very dangerous living yrs in New Orleans, that should say it all! I'm still vaping with the same juice, and hope to stop before its empty. Dont ever, ever, touch nicotine, as you'll regret it, the rest of your lufe!
98
@Faith
Oddly enough, vaping got me through a particularly bad bout of anxiety. I'm not sure why... it could be because it was giving me something to focus on and/or forcing me to take slow deep breaths, not sure... but it certainly did the trick. Eventually, I no longer needed it, but it was there for me when I did.
I made sure, however, to consult with someone who'd been vaping for a while and knew what products and "juice" (hate that term) to buy. I only used zero nicotine, and the "juice" had only a couple simple ingredients.
6
As a physician that regularly counsels smoking cessation I’ve been asked by many patients if vaping is safer. I am glad I’ve always been skeptical with my answers. I’ve always wondered how safe a chemical mist with smaller particles than cigarettes inhaled into the lungs could be safe. I’m saddened now to read of the number of complications from vaping. It’s frightening how fast this moving in the community, especially with so many teens adopting vaping as safer than cigarettes. I’m afraid this epidemic will become much worse before we get a handle on it.
113
@Rebecca R this is a very recent phenomenon - 4 or 5 months. The article makes a point of noting this. People have been vaping for at least a decade. Clearly, something new has been introduced into the vape supply chain - either “street” or through some THC delivery (it’s also looking like almost all cases are linked to THC vaping).
27
@Rebecca R So far the numbers and pattern indicate a small scale problem with adulterated fake product. Definitely not a reason to counsel people to avoid nicotine cessation by the most effective method.
10
You shouldn't be a doctor if you can't even figure out that something that has caused millions of fewer deaths than smoking is safer.
9
These should be banned, at least for use in the public. Could there be a risk to by-standers from "second-hand vaping?" The clouds of vaporized chemicals hang in the air and waft down sidewalks in cities crowded with people. If individuals are being told by health officials to choose not to vape, and that's a matter of personal choice, then those who choose not to vape shouldn't be forced to breathe it in second-hand just because someone wants to vape on a city sidewalk.
54
@Chris What about cigarettes?
4
@Chris Go do your research. There has been no risk to bystanders in so-called 'second hand vaping'. And my closest friend, who is violently allergic to tobacco smoke, has never once coughed when within ten feet of me while I vaped.
4
@Chris My question as well. I live in a condominium and the woman below me smokes and vapes on her balcony. The fumes of both come into my unit and I'm concerned now about the effects on my own health.
5
Wouldn't it be interesting if they pulled vaping devices off the market but left the far more dangerous cigarettes alone?
76
@Resident of
Smart to start somewhere. Cigs would be long gone if not for the tax dollars generated.
Both forms should have a health tax that would cover ailments caused by the use.
4
@Resident of
Well 450 kids who have been hospitalized from vaping would disagree with you. As dangerous as cigarettes are they won't kill you in a few years.
10
@Resident of Far more dangerous? How much more dangerous can the risk of dying be and at a much faster rate than just smoking?
7
One of the atomizing compounds used in vaping is Benzine, a known carcinogen. People need to know that even vaping water poses a health risk because of the activation chemicals.
53
@XXX
I tried googling anything about "benzine" related to vaping and only got a few scattered second-hand reports from local news websites which didn't go into any details or provide links to their sources.
There is a lot to say about benzene, though, including articles that point out that benzene and benzine are often confused. The study I ready from the Portland State University showed that BENZENE can be present when vaping, but your exposure to it while vaping (if it is even present at all) is actually lower than your exposure just breathing normal air during the course of the day. It is far, FAR lower than the exposure if you smoke cigarettes. To add to this, in the study I read, benzene was only found in higher-wattage settings on custom units (the most popular vape pens don't go that high) and the duration of the "puffs" they used was much longer (5 seconds) than normal people vaping non-cannabis e-liquids would use.
Also, it's not an "atomizing compound" (it's a byproduct), and "vaping water" is simply steam, the same as you get when you boil a pot of water. There is no such thing as "activation chemicals"... vaping occurs when the product is heated, not because chemicals are reacting to or "activating" one another.
7
@XXX
Benzene, a known carcinogen, is NOT a legal additive. If any producer is doing what you allege they are criminals and need to be arrested tried and sentenced to long prison terms.
3
@Federalist:
See "Vaping 'pumps' cancer-causing substances into the lungs" (2018)
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323036.php
And there are known carcinogens in regular cigarettes, too and no one is arresting the producers of them.
1
It will be interesting to see if this is caused by any chemicals which are currently tested for in states with legalized cannabis.
That being said, extraction methods for cannabis are not all clean, and the government's foot-dragging on recognizing the reality of cannabis consumption across the country puts people in harm's way. People will consume untested black-market products unless the legal products are better researched and shown to be "safer." If they even *are* safer...
5
A side issue is how are legal marijuana, and illegal marijuana, businesses cloning the plants? Federal law prohibits root hormone powder for food or consumption, but only allows its use for decorative plant propagation. Is this the next health issue? I called a marijuana store and they won’t answer.
5
@Richard, can you cite the federal regulation that only permits rooting hormone for decorative plants? Plenty of people clone vegetable plants and fruit trees with rooting hormone. I've purchased rooting hormone several times and do not recall anything on the labels that prohibited their use in food plants.
@Richard - "Federal law prohibits root hormone powder for food or consumption, but only allows its use for decorative plant propagation."
Do you have a citation for this law/regulation? I could not find anything.
Marijuana growers have been using rooting hormone to clone cuttings for decades and no one ever raised a concern. Moreover, it kind of defies common sense that something that is used in a minute quantity on a small cutting that will eventually propagate to 1000s of times its original mass would be a problem unless it is extremely toxic to begin with.
This has come on quite suddenly.
It appears that this new way of taking vapor
into your lungs has allowed something very
dangerous to hitch a ride.
Fortunately, vaping is completely optional.
Were this illness to make the jump to transmission
by breathing, well...
No one seems to know, but I certainly hope vapers aren't
accidentally culturing a pandemic.
10
@C. Whiting Vaporizers have been around for more than a decade, they are not new. What is new are the cut rate trash products of unknown origin sold online and in kiosks.
1
I suppose it is a rather harsh irony that they would have been better off smoking cigarettes.
25
So maybe we don’t intentionally breath in (any) smoke?? Have we figured that one out yet?
15
@Hmmm If that includes auto exhaust, then no. And we never will. Defecating where we dine is the new American pastime.
Martha Coakley, the former attorney general of Massachusetts and failed senate candidate (bringing us Scott Walker), has just joined Juul as their general counsel.
How much money did it take to buy her soul?
175
@Cousy wow, I never knew this! However, I do know a lot when it comes to Walker, and most all GOP. Thanks for this writing. Its great.
8
@Cousy Trick question: There is no such thing as a soul.
2
@Cousy
I think you mean Scott Brown.
5
Inhale unk chemicals into your lungs with aerosol device electrically operated and designed by capitalists. What could possibly go wrong!? This should be a Darwin test.
334
@T. Lum
+1.
3
@T. Lum are you suggesting young adults who vape deserve to die before they procreate? Aren’t you (and the 26 people so far recommending this sentiment) a real asset to humanity.
4
@T. Lum
Dude, most people vape so they can stop smoking tobacco. So you're the one killing people if you ban vaping.
In any event, what happened to "my body, my choice."
1
I remember a time when an untainted and regulated FDA would thoroughly test a product to make sure it was safe before releasing it to the general public. With all the conflicts of interest/corporate lobbyists embedded in current cabinet positions, we have all become guinea pigs for corporate America.
Ask your doctor if deregulation is right for you.
546
@Grateful Dude
I agree with your sentiment... the FDA is so corrupt now it isn't funny... but I'm not sure this is what's going on. We have a strange batch of laws right now where marijuana is being legalized at the state level but not the federal level, creating a pseudo-black market for the types of products that might be used in conjunction with vaporizers. We may very well find out that the culprit isn't the products being provided to us by "corporate America", but rather by the Chinese and/or unscrupulous individuals trying to capitalize on a legal gray area by cutting corners.
14
@Grateful Dude President Obama and his FDA had 8 years to deal with this. Why is it just the conflicts in this cabinet that you have a problem with?
@Grateful Dude - As with "dietary supplements" FDA's hands are tied by an industry-compliant Congress.
10
I feel like most of us have been politely ignoring this story because it's insulting to anyone's intelligence to think anyone ever thought pulling foreign substances into your lungs would somehow be safe if it was done with water vapor as a vehicle rather than by the process of oxidization (burning into smoke)
Listen, anything that's not air, even polluted air, that is drawn into the lungs, is going to cause a problem. That's true if it's air pollution, if it's smoke, if it's water, or even blood from your own body. Lungs are built for air and nothing else.
This seems blazingly obvious to me, as it does to 90% of the mothers on the planet, but once again, nobody asked us and you're all so into this stuff that there really is no point in trying to alert people to the dangers.
Do you want to know why your Mom doesn't like you to vape? Same reason she doesn't want you to smoke, same reason she doesn't want you to take drugs or get yourself punctured or whatever - your body is going to react to all of that stuff and it's not going to be as easy or as pleasant as your mom might be.
This story is not surprising. The warning for this should have been built in as soon as the product hit the market. Nobody with a lick of common sense ever thought vaping was safe.
241
@Stephanie
Tom below said it best. I'll quote him here.
Money-shot quote:
"Public health officials have underscored one fundamental point: that the surge in illnesses is a new phenomenon and not merely a recognition of a syndrome that may have been developing for years."
This basically shows that whatever is happening here is NOT a general result of vaping, which has been common for at least a decade now. Some specific product or practice must be to blame here.
Surely this must disappoint those who always want to rush to ban anything they deem less than virtuous, but the evidence points away from this 'epidemic' being due to normal vaping practices.
42
@Stephanie - This is another thing that schools will end up taking on, many already have. The joke in high schools these days is why are there toilets in the vape room?
3
@B Overall vaping may not be the cause of this current outbreak but if anyone had common sense, it would at least give them pause and serious consideration to stop vaping in general.
This is especially true for people who NEVER smoked cigarettes in the first places so vaping wasn't even about trying to quit icnotine.
And that's for short-term consequences.
The long-term consequences we don't know anything about. What I've noticed about dangerous habits is people will rationalize it all the way to their death beds.
22
The theme in these articles seems to be oil inhalation. Shouldn't we have better information about the impacts of oil inhalation? There's been teenagers manning deep fryers for decades.
9
Man has been deep frying in oils (animal or plant based) for probably over 50 thousand years. Man has been inhaling petroleum based synthetics for 150? Not a part of any health regimen I have encountered. But plenty of induced disease documented.
1
@T. Lum I take the long view as well but 50k years? What were the oils resting in to reach deep frying temperatures, mammoth bones?
I'm thinking maybe since the iron age, have we been deep frying.
1
@Stevie B.
The difference may be in the temperature of the deep fryer compared to that of the heating element in the vaping device. Obviously the deep fat fryer is boiling hot, but not potentially incandescent-hot like the heating element. Otherwise the oil in the deep fryer would likewise vaporize away during normal use.
No one should be shocked by the fact that breathing in vaporized chemicals (other than clean air) would harm your lungs. People wanted to believe they could smoke without harm - it's not how it works, and we now have a vaping epidemic among teenagers and others who are addicted to these devices. This is likely on the tip of the iceberg.
334
@BMD We also have people like me who have quit regular tobacco using vaping and are much, much healthier for it.
9
@BMD This is an unnecessary fear-mongering comment. As stated in the article, severe lung damage related to vaping is a new phenomena, not a product of an increase in vaping as a whole.
13
@BMD vaping is not new, garbage products cut with trash chemicals marketed to kids is new. Legit companies have been asking for the market and these products to be tested and regulated. Good companies make safe products, and that's what millions of people have been using for more than a decade. This is not a side effect of vaping, this is a side effect of garbage black market products made by unknown sources.
6