‘There Is No Safe Tobacco Product’: CDC Declares Vaping the Cause of Lung Disease ‘Outbreak’

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For many years, the loosely regulated vaping industry cast itself as the smokers’ best friend, helping them quit cigarettes with a safe alternative. That optimistic narrative, which permitted companies to market flavored vaping products that became all the rage among teenagers, is now in question as case after case of serious lung disease and death related to vaping has emerged.

As of Nov. 20, 2019, what the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has termed an “outbreak” has affected some 2,290 people across the United States, killing 47.

The healthcare agency has labeled the condition “e-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury (EVALI)” and identified vitamin E acetate, an additive in some THC-containing vaping products, as the culprit. While doctors and researchers are still looking into the cause, they advise avoiding any products of this kind.

Even more groundbreaking, the CDC has directly contradicted the vaping industry’s safety claims. “There is no safe tobacco product. All tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, carry a risk,” the CDC website states.

The vaping outbreak came most directly to the attention of the public as unsuspecting parents found that their children had been vaping in secret, sometimes for years. Often, the revelation came when their children, some as young as 12 or 13, were hospitalized with clogged lungs and were put on ventilators.

The CDC notes that it is specifically vaping products with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive chemical in marijuana that gives smokers a “high,” that also tends to have vitamin E acetate mixed in. Manufacturers used it as a thickening agent, but when it is inhaled, it appears to cause injury to the lungs.

A review over 1,000 of the EVALI cases in the medical journal The Lancet found that patients had labored breathing (dyspnea), persistent coughing, and sometimes dangerously low blood oxygen levels (hypoxemia). The good news the researchers had was that “[a]ll patients recovered with cessation of vaping, supportive care, and steroid therapy and remained symptom free at follow up.”

E-cigarette and vaping products are largely unregulated by the FDA and often contain misleading labels that do not reflect the real content of the products. Illustration - Getty Images | Justin Sullivan

But it’s not just vitamin E acetate in THC-laced products that has been shown to cause injury to the lungs. Some of the patients hospitalized had consumed flavored vaping products and had inhaled diacetyl, a chemical that is used to simulate the buttery taste of popcorn, and is sometimes used in vanilla, maple, and other e-cigarette flavorings that appeal especially to younger demographics who have never smoked cigarettes.

As the American Lung Association (ALA) notes, “When inhaled, diacetyl causes bronchiolitis obliterans—more commonly referred to as ‘popcorn lung’—a scarring of the tiny air sacs in the lungs resulting in the thickening and narrowing of the airways.”

Comparing the symptoms of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the ALA notes that despite being a dangerous substance, diacetyl shows up in a shocking number of flavored vaping products.

For now, many cities and states such as Massachusetts are moving ahead to protect public health by banning the sale of flavored vaping products, especially to minors. Organizations like the American Medical Association are calling for much more dramatic action: a total ban on e-cigarette and vaping products.

The FDA is especially concerned about non-tobacco e-cigarette products that are very popular with teenagers. Acting Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless said in a press release that “The tremendous progress we’ve made in reducing youth tobacco use in the U.S. is jeopardized by this onslaught of e-cigarette use. Nobody wants to see children becoming addicted to nicotine.”