Inside the deadly vaping crisis that's gripping the nation



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St. John's University student Healey Taylor was puffing on an e-cigarette one night in February when she suddenly became violently ill.

Healey, 21, said she was taken between 25 and 35 puffs of a mint-flavored Juul pod while hanging out with friends near the school's Jamaica, Queens, campus when her body became drenched with sweat.

"I started vomiting like never before, and never felt that kind of pain before while getting sick, "Healey, an accounting major, told The Post.

She's one of hundreds of people who've been confused with mysterious illnesses apparently in the midst of a crisis that's already claimed six lives. by President Trump that will be implemented in the next couple of months.

But doctors are still scrambling to identify the root cause of the problem – leaving users terrified they could be next.

"We're guinea pigs for this. We're testing dummies, "said Healey. "We have no clue what we could and we're going to live with it someday."

In New York, doctors have already recorded a total of 64 patients since June who have become sick after vaping, including 14 in the five boroughs and another 17 in the greater metropolitan area.

Dr. Jorge Mercado, the director of pulmonary bronchoscopy at NYU Langone Brooklyn, has treated two of them – but it still does not know exactly what causes the problems.

"We've been all the data together, and it's more than just a trend, it's almost like an epidemic, "Mercado told The Post.

"I think most of the physicists are trying to make this happen? Is it the combination? Is it marijuana? We really do not know. "

There is no evidence to this point conclusively linking flavored products to the illnesses.

The New York State Department of Health has been careful about answering questions about what type of vaporizers have made people sick, citing an "ongoing investigation," but it's looking at illegal marijuana vapes, which could be laced with any number of cutting agents. .

State officials tested the vapes patients were using vitamin E acetate, making it a key focus of the department's investigation, according to a DOH press release.

While a relatively harmless ingredient, vitamin E acetate can cause respiratory problems because of its oil-like properties, the department said.

Gov. Cuomo has felt that the market is thickening. The thickeners are available from a cheaper, safer alternative to THC, according to the DOH. It is tested in the thickening of the whole body and is almost pure vitamin E acetate oil.

Still, the National Centers for Disease Control is a component of vitamin E acetate.

The CDC, which has previously reported 450 possible cases, which has been confirmed until last week. It said the majority of patients used marijuana oil vaporizers and only a "smaller group" reported using nicotine only.

But there's a reluctance for some patients, especially those who are underage, to disclose to their doctor who exactly they're vaping, especially if it's recreational marijuana.

Mercado said, "They've been using marijuana gold nicotine vaporizers and" did not get a good answer.

Another issue is a lack of regulation over e-cigarettes currently on the market.

When they first rose to be President Barack Obama's administration, they seemed like a substitute to cigarettes and were allowed to oversee from the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services officials.

The FDA did not gain the right to oversee the products until 2016 – when countless options had already been floated, but none had been tested or subject to any regulatory oversight. The Trump administration will finally implement a mandatory public health review over the next couple of months.

Finally, counterfeit Juul products continues to be a huge problem for the vape behemoth, which accounts for 70% of the e-cigarette market.

When Juul pulled all of its flavored products off the shelves in November 2018, bogus options from China started popping up. Juul's online enforcement team rMore than 300 counterfeit listings for removal per week, or more than 15,000 per year, the company told The Post.

When asked about Healey 's recent sickness, Juul' s New York Rep. Austin Finan said in a statement it could not be confirmed if it was counterfeit gold legit.

Until the CDC is able to get through the cases and figure out exactly what causes it, it has to be written to everyone when it comes to it.

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