Luis Montgomery
Staff Writer
The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that 450 people have succumbed to an unknown illness, believed to be linked to e-cigarettes or “vaping.” The death toll from the illness has now risen to four, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Though it remains unclear what exactly is causing the outbreak, those affected have found the use of e-cigarettes as a common denominator.
“While the investigation is ongoing, CDC has advised that individuals consider not using e-cigarettes — because as of now, this is the primary means of preventing this severe lung disease,” Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) official overseeing the disease, said in a statement to the LA Times.
Shonterrious Black, a senior psychology major from Carthage, Miss. said, “Smoking in general is not healthy. We have seen what smoking cigarettes can do and the harmful effects it has. Why would anyone think that an electronic version would make it any better? The machines are essentially dumping oils from the smoke in the lungs, just like cigarettes leave smut.”
Vaping works by heating liquid and turning it into steam to be inhaled. In general, e-cigarettes are considered less harmful than traditional cigarettes, which work through the ignition of tobacco that sends thousands of chemicals, many carcinogenic, into the lungs.
According to an article by the New York Times, many vaping ingredients are not listed on the products. Vitamin E oil appears to have been a common substance associated with the severe and sudden respiratory problems in some of the New York cases, according to state health officials.
These outbreaks are causing the e-cigarettes and legal cannabis industries major controversy with their contradicting public safety efforts. Both industries have marketed themselves as healthier alternatives.
According to the Independent, the Vapor Technology Association, an e-cigarette and vaping industry trade group, asked public officials to “thoroughly investigate the circumstances which might have led to each reported hospitalization before making statements to the public as to whether certain products are implicated in these incidents.”
Dosha Carson, a sophomore political science major from Chicago, Ill., shared, “We have seen this before with cigarettes. Once people start facing illness or even worse, death, the public safety committee will just come in and slap a label on it and somehow that makes it okay.”
While e-cigarettes have been assumed less hurtful as time goes on than cigarettes, a definitive effect from long stretches of vaping is not yet known.
According to the Food and Drug Safety website, the FDA is analyzing samples submitted by a number of states for the presence of a broad range of chemicals, including nicotine, THC and other cannabinoids along with cutting agents/diluents and other additives, pesticides, opioids, poisons, heavy metals and toxins.
However, no one substance has been identified in all of the samples tested.
The multiple deaths have been reported in Ind., Ill. and Ore. A fourth fatality was announced Fri. Sept. 6, 2019 by the Minnesota Department of Health.
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