7 dead, 530 sickened by vaping-related illness in US
September 20, 2019
WASHINGTON:
More than 500 people have been sickened in an outbreak of vaping-related
illness in the United States, health authorities said Thursday, as Los Angeles
became the latest city to take steps to ban flavored e-cigarettes.
The
known tally from the mysterious lung disease has jumped from 380 to 530, though
the number of deaths stood unchanged at seven, according to a weekly report
from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More
than half the cases involved patients under 25 years of age and three-quarters
were men, Anne Schuchat, the centers’ principal deputy director, said. Sixteen
per cent of those taken ill were under age 18.
E-cigarettes
have been touted as a safer alternative to smoking. But critics say the risks
are insufficiently understood, while flavoured vaping liquids appeal
particularly to children and risk getting them addicted to nicotine.
The
US Food and Drug Administration’s laboratories are testing more than 150 samples
of suspect product, but have yet to identify the substance responsible for the
patients’ severe pulmonary disease, said Mitch Zeller, who directs the agency’s
Center for Tobacco Products.
“There
is no consistent pattern when it comes to ... what products plural are being
used, how they’re being used, where they might have been purchased, and what
might have happened to the products along the way, from the time that they were
put into the hands of the end user, to the moment of aerosolisation, and, inhalation,”
Zeller said.
Investigators
have so far been careful not to point the finger at any one brand, product or
source.
In
many cases, vaping refills containing THC, the principal psychoactive compound
in cannabis, were linked to those taken ill.
Refills
are often purchased on the street or internet, since cannabis remains illegal
in many parts of the United States. Counterfeit refills whose ingredients are
unknown could also be at cause.
The
FDA, whose Office of Criminal Investigations is now involved in the inquiry, is
running tests to determine with what substances the nicotine or THC was cut, as
well as whether any additional diluents, additives, pesticides, poison or
toxins were used.
Health
authorities first realised in July that vaping was linked to the severe
breathing difficulties, coughing, chest pain and even nausea being reported by
young people.
Most
reported that they had vaped cannabis-laced e-liquids, but some said they had
used only nicotine products.
Reacting
swiftly to the health scare, the state of New York banned flavoured
e-cigarettes Tuesday, effective immediately, following in the footsteps of
Michigan which declared a ban earlier this month that has yet to go into
effect.
On
Thursday, the city attorney for Los Angeles, Mike Feuer, likewise recommend a
citywide ban on flavoured tobacco products.
And
in India, authorities announced on Wednesday a ban on the sale of all
electronic cigarettes.
Concerns
have reached the halls of the US Congress, prompting Democratic and Republican
lawmakers to take the rare step Thursday of launching a bipartisan group to
reduce youth vaping.
“The
victims cut across party lines, ethnic lines, socio-economic lines, geography,
race and ethnicity,” House Democrat and group co-founder Raja Krishnamoorthi
told AFP.
“It’s
such a big epidemic that everybody’s affected at this point.”
Krishnamoorthi
welcomed the recent announcement by President Donald Trump’s administration to
soon implement a national ban on flavoured e-cigarette products.
That
would be an important first step, provided mint flavors are also banned, the
congressman said at a press event.
“We
have to stop this epidemic of youth vaping,” added Republican congressman Peter
King. “This is a serious health epidemic“ -- AFP
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