Black market, toxins and cannabis: what vapers in the USA die from

Vitamin E acetate was found in alveolar lavage samples, which “caused concern” among specialists. According to experts, further work may reveal other toxic substances. Writes about this DW.

Фото: Depositphotos

Experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency within the US Department of Health, have concluded that one of the possible causes of health problems and deaths among smokers is electronic cigarettes and vapes the content of vitamin E acetate could have become in them. This was announced on Friday, November 8, said Ann Shuchat, deputy director of CDC.

According to the latest data, 39 people have died and over 2000 have gotten sick from the effects of vaping—inhaling steam with aromatic additives. This caused real panic in the United States, especially since the cause could not be immediately established.

“We have moved forward in searching for the most likely culprit of these consequences,” Schuchat emphasized. In CDC laboratory tests conducted on bronchoalveolar lavage samples (or fluid samples collected directly from the lungs) from 29 patients with EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury) from 10 states, acetate was detected in all samples vitamin E.

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Experts noted that during the research they first discovered a “concerning” chemical agent.

Further tests needed

At the same time, according to experts, they do not exclude that in the course of further work they can detect other toxic substances. In addition, it seems that further studies on animals are to be carried out in order to fully prove the connection of acetate with lung damage.

Doctors have so far recommended that buyers refrain from electronic cigarettes or vapes, used to inhale tetrahydrocannabinol, a derivative of cannabis.

Vitamin E acetate is often part of skin care products and is not harmful when applied topically or swallowed. However, heating and inhaling it with vapes can lead to lung disease.

Deaths from the effects of vaping

The average age of vaping smokers who died in the United States was 50 years old, the youngest of them was 27, the oldest was 71 years old. They lived in 15 different US states. About 70 percent of the 2000 cases are men, and about 80 percent are under 35 years of age.

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E-cigarettes were previously considered less dangerous because they avoid exposing smokers to nearly 7000 chemicals found in regular cigarettes. E-liquids, on the other hand, contain nicotine and traces of various metals, either from the heating charcoal or other components of the device. In addition, they add a variety of aromatic substances and essences, the effect of which on human lungs in combination with steam has not been studied.

In 2018, 3,6 million schoolchildren in the United States were addicted to vaping—one and a half million more than the year before.

From what it all began

First posts about outbreak of severe lung disease among vapers appeared in early August, although it later became clear that in some patients symptoms began to appear in April.

Smokers of electronic cigarettes - mostly young people around 20 years old - began to see a doctor complaining of difficulty breathing, coughing and chest pain, and the symptoms worsened every day. In some, the disease was accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain.

By the middle of the month, a total of almost 14 people had already been hospitalized in 100 states. Some of them had to be placed in intensive care and even connected to an artificial respiration apparatus.

In late August, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded first death from vaping. The patient died of a severe respiratory illness.

Number of victims growing rapidly, and in less than 3 months, CDC recorded 37 Confirmed Deaths Due to Smoking Electronic Cigarettes and about Xnumx sick.

IMPORTANT! Health officials still don’t know how flu or other respiratory diseases, which increase in winter, can affect patients with lung disease associated with vaping.

Opinions of scientists are divided

There are several opinions about what causes the death of vapers.

As a result, first study of five North Carolina patients, the CDC classified the disease as lipoid pneumonia. In the lungs of patients, immune cells were found to be filled with fat. Doctors from the University of Utah also made this diagnosis; they found similar cells, “lipodibi macrophages” in six patients. This is a rare form of pneumonia commonly found in older people who accidentally inhale oil. Scientists published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Recently published in a magazine another study by Mayo Clinic pathologistswho studied lung biopsies of 17 patients with a history of smoking marijuana or cannabis oil. However, their results did not confirm the preliminary theory of the disease. One of the main authors of the CDC study explained that the mismatch may be related to the way a number of biopsies are processed.

IMPORTANT! Most patients claim to have purchased all the necessary vaping supplies. on the black market. The CDC notes that with checking dubious goods from the black market, they found a wide range of chemical components harmful to health - from nicotine, THC, and other cannabinoids including opioids, diluents, in additives such as pesticides, poisons, toxins and chemicals.

Using an MRI scan, the researchers found that after just one use of an electronic cigarette, a person’s blood flow changed in the femoral artery in the leg. At the same time, after a few minutes, everything returned to normal, but scientists could not determine which chemical substance led to these changes.

Changes were recorded in the blood vessels of the 31 study participant - and not one of them had ever vaped or smoked before. As the researchers noted, these changes reflect the same processes that are observed with the development of cardiovascular diseases, including chronic arterial disease - atherosclerosis.

Mid October Scientists give official name to vaping-related illness: EVALI. This means “e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury” associated with the use of electronic cigarettes or vaping products.

What happens to the lungs

Vape-induced lung disease (also called “vape-associated disease”) is distinguished by an acute onset. Disease develops suddenly and is accompanied not only by standard symptoms - coughing and general weakness, but also specific: shortness of breath, growing respiratory failure and the formation of bilateral lung infiltrates.

"Thus, the clinical picture somewhat reminiscent of pneumonia, so initially such patients receive an appropriate diagnosis and antibiotic treatment. The problem is that antibiotics in the case of vape disease do not work, because the cause of its occurrence is not infectious, ”explains pulmonologist Vasily Stabnitsky.

According to him, as a result, the majority of patients were helped by systemic hormones: a powerful anti-inflammatory drug that can stop a fairly aggressive inflammatory process and prevent its transition to a severe stage, leading to irreversible changes in the respiratory system.

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“From the point of view of anatomy, the described changes in the lungs so far do not fit into the options for diseases associated with classical smoking,” the doctor emphasizes. “Although cigarettes, in addition to the long-term health effects of lung cancer and emphysema, can also, in rarer cases, lead to diseases that are acute, including in the early stages of smoking, such as respiratory bronchitis and interstitial pneumonia.”

In order to find out the cause of the disease, patients underwent bronchoscopy, lavage and biopsy. As a result of studies, fat molecules were found in their lungs: as it turned out, their accumulation also causes tissue damage and active inflammation.

18-year-old Illinois student suing vaping sues Juul e-cigarette company after doctors say the state of his lungs corresponds to the state of this organ in an 70-year-old man.

Hergenreder received a disappointing diagnosis of his lungs after he was hospitalized in late August due to nausea and breathing problems. A student wrestler told the station that he used both nicotine and THC (tetrahydrocanabinol is the main psychoactive component of cannabis). when vaping - and now it’s not clear whether his lungs will ever be able to recover.

Doctors talking about “Vaping epidemic”, manufacturers of electronic cigarettes claim that their health hazard is still less than the harmful effects of traditional smoking. They fund research that confirms the "benefits" of vapes for smokers. The key message of tobacco companies is that they do not offer electronic cigarettes to non-smokers, but only want to reduce harm to those who already smoke.

Vape bans

Since the US government does not have time to control the e-cigarette industry and the thriving black market, the US Department of Health in September announced a total ban for flavored vapes, a nationwide investigation is ongoing. In some states where cannabis is legalized, the ban also covers marijuana products.

Flavored Electronic Cigarettes officially banned in new york state.

Prior to this ban on electronic cigarettes was introduced in san francisco, which made it the first city in the United States to take such a step.

In Massachusetts, similar bans on electronic cigarettes have also been introduced as a result of a number of lung diseases that are thought to be related to vaping.

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Los Angeles County has already banned flavored electronic cigarettes and menthol supplements, which Michigan also did. US Presidential Administration Donald Trump such a solution supports.

Trump also said that the United States is planning raise the age limit for the purchase of electronic cigarettes and related products for vaping until 21 year.

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Death and hospitalization of vapers: what really happens

Scientists have found a possible cause of death due to electronic cigarettes: now vapes want to ban in the US

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