For the past few weeks, you can't hardly listen to a news broadcast with hearing about vaping. This brings up the question: should I quit vaping? We look at the likelihood of getting vaping related illness and put the risk in perspective compared to smoking.

The public health anti-smoking campaign has centered around

that fact that smoking makes you stink

Vaping is the free market answer to this objection

26 deaths in 21 states 1299 cases reported (8 Oct 2019) https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html

Most patients admit to vaping THC 76%

No single product is linked

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html

28-year-old previously healthy man who presented in acute

respiratory failure 2 weeks after initiating use of a street-purchased

THC-containing vape cartridge. Bronchoalveolar lavage cytology with oil red O

staining confirmed the diagnosis of acute lipoid pneumonia. Diffuse alveolar

hemorrhage and eosinophilic pneumonia were excluded. Evolving evidence supports

a clinical entity of acute respiratory failure due to acute, exogenous lipoid

pneumonia induced by THC Vaping-Associated Acute

Respiratory Failure Due to Acute Lipoid Pneumonia.

They say black market operators are using more thickening

agents to dilute THC oil because of a crackdown by state authorities that has

made the oil scarcer on the black market https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/potential-culprits-in-mystery-lung-illnesses-black-market-vaping-products/2019/09/24/cb5b708e-d98d-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html

Black market manufacturers buy the cartridges in markets

like this, fill them with THC oil or other mixtures and package them for sale

by distributors.

One thickening agent that is a key focus of investigators is

vitamin

E oil, known as vitamin E acetate. It is also colorless and odorless,

has similar viscosity to THC oil, and is much cheaper

Characteristics

of a Multistate Outbreak of Lung Injury Associated with E-cigarette Use, or Vaping - United States, 2019.

805 cases reported, basic patient data (i.e., demo­graphics

and dates of symptom onset and hospitalization) were received for 771 (96%)

patients. Ninety-one percent of patients were hospitalized. Median duration

between symptom onset and hospitalization was 6 days

Of 514 studied 395 (76.9%) reported using THC-containing

products, and 292 (56.8%) reported using nicotine-containing products in the 30

days preceding symptom onset; 210 patients (40.