Oregon State Health Department Claims that Nicotine-Based E-Cigarettes are Causing Respiratory Disease Outbreak

In anop-ed piece published yesterday in theOregonian, the Oregon state health department claims that a substantial proportion of cases of the vaping-associated respiratory illness outbreak are caused not by THC/CBD vaping, but by nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes. The piece claims that: " we can say the hospitalizations and deaths are not exclusively attributable to cannabis use. "This is very different from claiming that wedo not yet know definitively whether some nicotine-containing e-liquids are causing the illness. Instead, the statement claims that wedo knowthat many casesare being caused by electronic cigarettes.The Rest of the StoryThe fact that there are 11% of case patients who did not admit to using THC vape carts does not mean that 11% of cases are being caused by e-cigarettes.There are several reasons why not every patient diagnosed with EVALI has admitted to THC use. For one, there is tremendous under-reporting of THC use by hospitalized patients, especially youth. Young people may be very reluctant to admit to THC use, both because they don ' t want their parents to know and because there are severe consequences, such as suspension from school or inability to participate in sports. In addition, many youth do not know what they are vaping. They are not purchasing the e-liquids themselves from stores but getting them from social sources. Moreover, some nicotine-containing products are adulterated with vitamin E acetate oil, so a person could actually be us...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs