CDC Finds Majority Of Patients With Mysterious Lung Disease Say They Were Vaping Marijuana Compound
In two reports released Friday, federal and state health officials report that about three-quarters of patients reported using products that contained THC. Many said they bought the products from nonretail sources such as friends, family members or street suppliers.
The Associated Press:
US Probe Of Vaping Illnesses Focuses On THC From Marijuana
U.S. health officials said Friday that their investigation into an outbreak of severe vaping-related illnesses is increasingly focused on products that contain the marijuana compound THC. Most of the 800 people who got sick vaped THC, the ingredient in marijuana that causes a high, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But officials said they didn’t know if the THC is the problem or some other substance added to the vaping liquid, such as thickeners. (Stobbe, 9/27)
USA Today:
THC Products Like 'Dank Vapes' Are Playing A Major Role In Outbreak Of Lung Illnesses, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said of 514 injured patients who reported details on their use of vaping devices and e-liquids, 77% used products that contained THC, alone or combined with nicotine. Only 16% of injured vapers said they used nicotine-only products. (Alltucker, 9/27)
Stat:
Many Patients With Vaping-Related Illnesses Used THC, CDC Reports
Health officials in two states say that many patients sickened by vaping-associated lung illness vaped THC and used pre-packaged, pre-filled cartridges — often acquired from informal sources like friends or dealers. The new report, published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes from interviews with 86 confirmed and probable patients with the illness in Illinois and Wisconsin, the states which first reported the cases. The report underscores the difficulty in parsing the exact products that might be involved in the illnesses. Interviewees reported using 234 different products across 87 different brands. (Thielking, 9/27)
The New York Times:
Dank Vapes, TKO And Other THC Vaping Brands Are Linked To Illnesses, C.D.C. Says
Health officials said on Friday that the products include THC-filled vaping cartridges labeled “Dank Vapes,” as well as some other illicit brands that people bought from friends or family or on the street. But officials said Dank Vapes appeared to be a label that THC sellers can slap on any product and is not a specific formulation or a single product. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. “Dank Vapes appears to be the most prominent in a class of largely counterfeit brands, with common packaging that is easily available online and that is used by distributors to market THC-containing cartridges with no obvious centralized production or distribution,” said a report published on Friday by state health officials from Illinois and Wisconsin, and from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Grady, 9/27)
The Washington Post:
Most Vaping-Related Lung Injuries Linked To Marijuana Products, CDC Says
Other brands identified by people with the lung injury include TKO, Off White, Moon Rocks, Chronic Carts and others. Industry experts said many THC products on the black market come from distributors who buy empty cartridges, fill them with THC mixtures, then purchase packaging with those brand labels. (Sun and McGinley, 9/27)
The Wall Street Journal:
Majority Of Vaping-Related Illnesses Involve THC Products: CDC Report
Authorities have urged people to stop using electronic cigarettes and other vaping products while they continue to investigate the illness.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Trump administration recently said they would pull e-cigarette flavored products off the market. (Ansari, 9/27)
NPR:
Many Vaping Illnesses Linked To Black Market 'Dank Vapes' Or Other THC Products
The CDC has been warning since the outbreak began about the risks of buying products "off the street," and Friday's update highlighted the risks of the black market. Sometimes young consumers don't even realize that they're buying unregulated or illicit products. "THC-based products were most often acquired from informal sources such as down the street from friends or from a dealer," said Jennifer Layden of the Illinois Department of Public Health at the press briefing. (Aubrey, 9/27)
The Wall Street Journal:
Dissecting The Vaping Illness Mystery
Vaping related illnesses are on the rise, and it appears to be related to a black market of THC vapes. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez sat down with doctors and experts to understand what’s happening with the outbreak. (9/30)
Plus, public health officials raise concerns about the effect of the approaching flu season --
Stat:
Flu Season Threatens To Complicate Diagnoses Of Vaping-Related Illness
Public health experts are cautioning that the coming flu season could complicate attempts to diagnose new cases of a mysterious vaping-related illness — and, in turn, make it more difficult to track down the cause. The issue, experts say, is that flu and other respiratory viruses can, in many ways, look strikingly similar to a case of vaping-related illness: Symptoms include shortness of breath, night sweats, low oxygen levels, and hazy spots on a lung X-ray. (Thielking, 9/27)
And in other news about how the vaping industry took off and how regulators responded --
Boston Globe:
As Vaping Became Widespread With Little Known About Its Health Effects, US Government Delayed Key Regulations
After years of grinding through the bureaucratic process and fending off litigation, the US Food and Drug Administration in 2016 declared that it was finally able to regulate electronic cigarettes. But it would still be years before the agency would require e-cigarette makers to provide information on the health effects of their products, so the FDA could determine whether they should stay on the market. The first deadline for that information was 2018, but the FDA moved it back to 2022. (Martin, 9/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Teen Vaping Didn’t Cool Juul’s Celebrity Push
In a lounge at the Sundance Film Festival last year, Juul Labs Inc. doled out $1 bundles of e-cigarettes to guests passing through. A-listers, including Elijah Wood, Nicolas Cage and Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, stopped in front of a Juul-branded backdrop and posed for photographs. On its face this was standard marketing practice, cozying up to celebrities to lend cachet to the brand. But by this time, Juul was already aware of teen use of its products, having learned about it in local media reports. (Maloney and McKay, 9/28)
