Hundreds of people across the country have taken ill over the past weeks with a severe pulmonary affliction apparently linked to the vaping of cannabis products and nicotine-filled e-cigarettes. The victims are now said to number over 450 \u2014 and many were otherwise healthy young people, in their teens or early 20s. State and federal health authorities are investigating, and have just issued preliminary findings naming a particular additive found in vape cartridges.\u00a0While the additive appears most common in illicit market vapes, many states have not banned the substance in their legal products.<\/p>\n
As of Sept. 10,\u00a0six deaths<\/a>\u00a0have been reported in the\u00a0wave of mysterious illness<\/a>: in Kansas, Indiana, California, Minnesota, Illinois and Oregon. The Kansas officials did not state what types of products the victim had been consuming. In the\u00a0Illinois case<\/a>, the victim had apparently been using e-cigarettes. In the Oregon case,\u00a0the Associated Press reported<\/a>\u00a0that it appeared the victim bought the cannabis vape from a legal dispensary. In the other three, they were likely using cannabis products from the illicit cannabis market. This has seemingly been confirmed in the\u00a0California case<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Minnesota case<\/a>.<\/p>\n The federal Food and Drug Administration on Sept. 6 issued\u00a0a statement<\/a>\u00a0about what it knowns so far. The agency stated that many of the cannabis products it examined contained vitamin E acetate, a substance commonly used in beauty products and safe for topical use, but potentially dangerous when vaped.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause consumers cannot be sure whether any THC vaping products may contain vitamin E acetate, consumers are urged to avoid buying vaping products on the street, and to refrain from using THC oil or modifying\/adding any substances to products purchased in stores,\u201d the FDA said.<\/p>\n The FDA statement also stressed the tentative nature of the findings: \u201cWhile the FDA does not have enough data presently to conclude that vitamin E acetate is the cause of the lung injury in these cases, the agency believes it is prudent to avoid inhaling this substance.\u201d<\/p>\n Vitamin E acetate \u2014 simply the oil form of the vitamin, which is naturally found in foods such as olive oil, canola oil and almonds \u2014 is widely available as a nutritional supplement, and is especially used in topical skin treatments. It is not known to cause harm when ingested or vaped.<\/p>\n As the\u00a0Mayo Clinic\u00a0notes, vitamin E has antioxidant properties that protect cells against the harmful effects of free radicals. As a nutrient, it\u2019s important to vision, reproduction and the health of your blood, brain and skin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But, as a\u00a0Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0account states, \u201cits molecular structure could make it hazardous when inhaled.\u201d And it is apparently among the substances being added to cannabis distillate in illicit-market dab carts to help make the extracts form a vapor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Mitch Zeller, director for the\u00a0Center for Tobacco Products<\/a>\u00a0at the FDA, told the New York Times, \u201cIf you\u2019re thinking of purchasing one of these products off the street, out of the back of a car, out of a trunk, in an alley, or if you\u2019re going to then go home and make modifications to the product yourself using something that you purchased from some third party or got from a friend, think twice.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim Makoso, vice president of Lucid Lab Group<\/a>, a cannabis extraction company based in Seattle, had similar cautions.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, we do not know exactly what products and what compounds in those products have led to these extreme cases,\u201d Makoso told Cannabis Now. \u201cIn the two cases linked to vape products containing THC, the Minnesota case investigation revealed that the vape product was purchased from the illicit market. In the California case, officials did not specify the origin of the vape product involved. Consequently, definitive information as to what may be the root cause of the recent increase in pulmonary illnesses related to vaping is speculative at best.\u201d<\/p>\n While most of the people sickened by the use of cannabis vaporizers and e-cigarettes appear to have purchased those items on the illicit market,\u00a0where counterfeit vapes of legal brands have recently been proliferating<\/a>, it is still possible that some legal cannabis vapes could contain vitamin E acetate or other dangerous additives.<\/p>\n In Oregon, where the individual appears to have died after vaping a legally purchased product, the state has not banned vitamin E acetate,\u00a0according to Leafly<\/a>, which broke the vaping story and continues to follow the news.<\/p>\n In California, the state\u00a0requires products<\/a>\u00a0to pass laboratory testing for a wide range of dangerous substances, including pesticides, mold, heavy metals and residual solvents from the extraction process. However, a review of\u00a0the state\u2019s testing requirements<\/a>\u00a0shows that the state has not yet banned vitamin E acetate or other common additives.<\/p>\n In order to avoid additives, look at testing labels in state-licensed dispensaries to make sure the vape you\u2019re buying doesn\u2019t contain anything other than cannabis plant matter.<\/p>\n The science is still preliminary on this front, but\u00a0one 2017 study from Portland State University<\/a>\u00a0found that cannabis concentrates heated to above 750 degrees Fahrenheit\u00a0produced the carcinogen<\/a>\u00a0benzene as the terpenes degraded.<\/p>\n In order to protect against overly hot cannabis vapor, it\u2019s best to use vaporizers with properly functioning batteries that don\u2019t heat up to extreme temperatures. Some vapes come with electronic monitors that let you know what temperature the device is operating at, which can give an added peace of mind.<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong>\u00a0do you know what\u2019s in your vaporizer?<\/p>\n The post How Consumers Can Avoid Dangerous Vape Cartridges<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people across the country have taken ill over the past weeks with a severe pulmonary affliction apparently linked to the vaping of cannabis products and nicotine-filled e-cigarettes. The victims are now said to number over 450 \u2014 and many were otherwise healthy young people, in their teens orContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,11897,11898,11899,53,5491,3663,11900],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38091,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38090\/revisions\/38091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Avoid Vitamin E Acetate & Other Cutting Agents<\/h4>\n
Check the Testing Label for Additives on Legal Cannabis Vaporizers<\/h4>\n
Make Sure Your Battery Is Functioning Properly<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: How Consumers Can Avoid Dangerous Vape Cartridges<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"