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Tag: vitamin e acetate

  • American Medical Association Calls For Ban On Vaping Products, E-Cigs

    American Medical Association Calls For Ban On Vaping Products, E-Cigs

    The AMA’s full-court press on vaping comes as a wave of illnesses continue to afflict vape users across the country.

    The American Medical Association has gone on the record against vaping and are calling for a total ban of all vaping products and e-cigarettes that are unapproved by the FDA to be used as “cessation tools.”

    On Monday, the organization published a press release announcing the call for a ban as well as new vaping-related policies.

    The new policies include:

    • Urgently advocate for regulatory, legislative, and/or legal action at the federal and/or state levels to ban the sale and distribution of all e-cigarette and vaping products, with the exception of those approved by the FDA for tobacco cessation purposes and made available by prescription only;
    • Advocate for research funding to study the safety and effectiveness of e-cigarette and vaping products for tobacco cessation purposes;
    • Call for immediate and thorough study of the use of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment strategies for tobacco use disorder and nicotine dependence resulting from the use of non-combustible and combustible tobacco products in populations under the age of 18;
    • Actively collaborate with health care professionals, particularly pharmacists and other health care team members, to persuade retail pharmacies to immediately cease sales of tobacco products;
    • Advocate for diagnostic codes for e-cigarette and vaping associated illnesses, including pulmonary toxicity.

    “The recent lung illness outbreak has alarmed physicians and the broader public health community and shined a light on the fact that we have very little evidence about the short- and long-term health consequences of e-cigarettes and vaping products,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A. “It’s simple – we must keep nicotine products out of the hands of young people and that’s why we are calling for an immediate ban on all e-cigarette and vaping products from the market. With the number of young people using e-cigarettes spiking it is not only critical that there is research into nicotine addiction treatments for this population, but it is imperative that we continue efforts to prevent youth from ever using nicotine.”

    The AMA’s full-court press on vaping comes as a wave of illnesses continue to afflict vape users across the country. The CDC announced in early November that vitamine e oil acetate has been found in a high number of  e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) cases. 

    Here is the CDC’s Latest Outbreak Information on vaping-related illnesses and deaths:

    • As of November 13, 2019, 2,172* cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI) have been reported to CDC from 49 states (all except Alaska), the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).
    • Forty-two deaths have been confirmed in 24 states and the District of Columbia (as of November 13, 2019):
    • Alabama, California (4), Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia (3), Illinois (4), Indiana (4), Kansas (2), Massachusetts (2), Michigan, Minnesota (3), Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon (2), Pennsylvania, Tennessee (2), Texas, Utah, and Virginia
    • The median age of deceased patients was 52 years and ranged from 17 to 75 years (as of November 13, 2019).
    • CDC continues to work closely with FDA, states, public health partners, and clinicians on this investigation. 

    Youth Vaping Epidemic

    There is another vaping-related epidemic wreaking havoc across the country and it is affecting teens and adolescents at worrisome rates. Around 2.1 million adolescents were using e-cigarettes in 2017 alone. E-cigarette company Juul has been accused of creating the youth vaping epidemic by deceptively marketing their products to underage individuals. Juul denies these allegations.

    Government officials have reportedly been meeting behind the scenes to discuss new regulations, potential bans on vaping products, specifically flavored ones. This week Trump is set to meet with the vaping industry executives and public health advocates as he decides whether or not to ban flavoring products. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • CDC May Have Found Possible Cause Of Deadly Vaping Illness

    CDC May Have Found Possible Cause Of Deadly Vaping Illness

    Many believe that the product featuring the deadly thickening agent are only from counterfeit seller and wouldn’t be found in a legal dispensary.

    It’s been a few months since the Illinois Department of Public Health reported the first death from vaping-related causes and now the CDC is reporting that it may have found one of the potential causes of the mysterious illnesses and deaths: Vitamin E acetate.

    In an update posted on Friday November 8th, the CDC reported:

    Recent CDC laboratory testing of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid samples (or samples of fluid collected from the lungs) from 29 patients with EVALI submitted to CDC from 10 states found vitamin E acetate in all of the BAL fluid samples. Vitamin E acetate is used as an additive in the production of e-cigarette, or vaping, products. This is the first time that we have detected a potential chemical of concern in biologic samples from patients with these lung injuries.

    As of November 5th, there have been 39 deaths and 2,051 reported cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI). Health officials believe it is possible that there are other causes and their focus is now on getting confirmation that it is causing the illnesses.

    Leafly detailed the various uses of Vitamin E acetate, most of which are topical, and spoke to medical experts about its potential toxicity.

    You Shouldn’t Be Inhaling Vitamin E Acetate

    “Just the lack of toxicity data for inhaled Vitamin E acetate should raise red flags,” said Dr. Sven-Eric Jordt of Duke University School of Medicine.

    “No vitamin E should be vaped regardless of its chemical structure,” said Eliana Golberstein Rubashkyn, a pharmaceutical chemist.

    Many believe that the product causing the illnesses are counterfeit and wouldn’t be found in your local dispensary. Dumas de Rauly, chair of the ISO Committee on Vaping Standards and CEN Vaping Standards Committee who also runs a vaporizer company, minced no words when discussing the inhalation of Vitamin E acetate and where he thinks the tainted vapes are coming from.

    “In no case is this a product that you should be inhaling,” de Rauly told Marijuana Business Daily. “When you add products like vitamin E … when you add different kinds of lipid solvents to the mix, you’re making all of that oil stickier, and that stickiness is going to create these lung illnesses we’re seeing.”

    Cracking Down On Black Market Product

    de Rauly maintains that the vape oil made with Vitamin E acetate is from the black market.

    “All of the patients are saying they bought it off the street. They didn’t buy it in legal, regulated environments,” Dumas de Rauly said.“This is just basic math. … We have substantial data that shows that these products and these vaping illnesses come from the black market.”

    Dispensary owners are warning customers about buying unregulated vape oils off the street.

    “We inform all of our customers to steer clear from the black market completely and trust the licensed, reputable facilities that are springing up all over now,” a dispensary manager told Fox17. 

    Will there be a crackdown on the vaping black market? Michael Elias, the CEO of Marshall-based Michigan Pure Med, sure hopes so.

    “There have been more than 2,000 vaping-related lung injuries and more than three dozen deaths because of harmful cutting-agents found in illicit vape products, and this is unacceptable, which is why we need stronger enforcement of the illicit cannabis market.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • There’s More Than One Vape Crisis To Solve

    There’s More Than One Vape Crisis To Solve

    “I see it as three trains on three parallel train tracks,” says one medical expert.

    While the nation is focused on finding a solution to the vaping health emergency, one health professional says that we need to focus on addressing three separate vaping-related issues, rather than lumping them together into one problem. 

    “I see it as three trains on three parallel train tracks,” lung medical oncologist Dr. Peter Shields told Rolling Stone. “One of the trains is what’s going on right now, with these people getting really sick, really fast. The second train is the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes or THC cigarettes… and the third train is kids and flavors.”

    Shields, the deputy director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, said that it’s yet unclear how the problems relate to each other, and whether they intersect. 

    He said, “We know almost nothing about this right now,” including, “where these train tracks merge.”

    Vaping-Related Illness

    In regards to what’s causing the vaping crisis, there is come consensus that vitamin E acetate is at least in part to blame. Although vitamin E acetate is harmless in most circumstances, it can be poison in the lungs. The substance has been found in many of the cartridges used by people with vape-related illness.  

    However, vitamin E can’t be the only explanation, since it’s not present in all cases. In addition, most cases have involved people who vape THC, but 22% of cases do not involve THC products. 

    Other reports indicated that the damage to vape-users’ lungs resembles chemical burns, not damage caused by vitamin E acetate. 

    Long-Term Effects Of E-Cig Use

    Shields said that all of this is complicated by the fact that e-cigarettes have not been around very long, and it could take decades to truly understand their harms.

    “With smoking-related diseases, you don’t know the effects til 20 years or more. So we won’t know the effects of e-cigarettes for 20 years or more,” he said. 

    Vapes have been praised as a safer way for adult smokers to indulge. However, Shields cautioned, “safer is different than safe.”

    Alex Clark, CEO of the lobbying group Consumer Advocates for a Smoke-Free Alternatives Association, said that he expects some people will return to traditional cigarette use, because they are concerned about the safety of vapes. Many others will keep vaping, he said. 

    “These products have helped millions of people quit smoking and that alone is enough to preserve them [on the market],” said Clark.

    Even with all the mystery around vaping, Shields said that bans on the products are a knee-jerk reaction. 

    He said, “So many people think ‘Oh, with this lung toxicity we should ban e-cigs.’ But we’re mixing issues because we don’t even have all the science yet.”

    View the original article at thefix.com