Vape bans and lung disease: Picking through the Feds’ framing
A marijuana-related vaping disease outbreak gave the Trump administration the perfect opportunity to tackle another public health problem: teen e-cigarette use
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
The feds have been finessing their approach to vaping, amid outcries over both an outbreak of lung disease and the impact of bans of vape flavors on former smokers. The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data on the outbreak of lung disease associated with “vaping” indicate that 77 percent of over 800 reported cases (which included at least 13 reported deaths) involve patients who used unregulated cannabis-derived products. Substances including vitamin E acetate or hydrogen cyanide mixed with illicit THC oils have been implicated. CannaSafe, a testing firm, conducted independent analyses on 10 sample products linked to lung disease, and found that all contained a fungicide that could turn into hydrogen cyanide, which is extremely poisonous and flammable, when heated.
