While e-cigarettes used to vape nicotine liquids known as e-liquids have come under fire in the wake up of over 1,000 reported cases of vaping-related lung injuries, U.S. health officials suspect that THC oils cut with vitamin E acetate may shoulder at least some of the blame, if not the bulk or entirety of it.
The majority of those who have become sick after vaping have reported vaping THC. Ned Sharpless, the acting commissioner of the FDA, said that a “significant” percentage of the THC products that they tested were found to be “contaminated with vitamin E acetate,” which has “no business being in a pulmonary products.”
Unfortunately for those who vape cannabis either recreationally or medicinally, THC products such as THC oil cartridges designed to be used with vape pens are not regulated by the federal government. The reason for this is due to the fact that such products are currently illegal under federal law. Subsequently, there is no oversight of such products by agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a result, federal officials have indicated that it’s up to states who have legalized recreational and/or medicinal use of cannabis to regulate such products.
While most of those who have fallen ill from vaping have reported using THC products with their vapes, a number of states have moved to ban e-cigarettes, including Massachusetts.
In Massachusetts, there is now a ban on all vaping products in place for the next four months.
Boston University School of Public Health professor Dr. Michael Siegel weighed in on the matter, claiming that the government is “declaring an emergency because of marijuana vaping products” and banning e-cigarettes as a response. He referred to their decision to ban e-cigs as “a complete non sequitur.”
“Their whole rationale is that we have people dying from the outbreak. They’re declaring an emergency because of marijuana vaping products and the response is to ban e-cigarettes. It’s a complete non sequitur.”
CDC spokesperson Brian King said that the CDC “recommends that people consider refraining from using e-cigarette, or vaping products, particularly those containing THC.”
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