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"Vaping oil is dangerous," says Dr. Paul Scanlon, medical director of the Clinical Pulmonary Research Center at the Mayo Clinic, which has conducted baseline studies on environmental lung diseases. "It's predictable and you should not do it."
"Acute lung injury is the common denominator," says Scanlon, who has not treated any patients, but who is aware of a case in the Mayo health system. "People have symptoms of shortness of breath, cough and other respiratory symptoms accompanied by a deficiency of oxygen in the blood and may even lead to respiratory failure." life-threatening lung injury obstructs parts of the lungs, the lungs can not exchange gases and cause inflammation that damages other parts of the lung. "
With a death reported in Minnesota and all cases related to the use of vaping products containing THC or the psychoactive component of marijuana, state officials advised residents to stop using illicit products at the same time. based on THC, adding that those who spray and show symptoms should: stop using electronic cigarettes and consult a doctor. Nationally, some cases have occurred in patients who claim to treat only sprayed tobacco. Thus, the CDC recommended to completely stop the use of electronic cigarettes.
If the speed and morbidity of the epidemic seem to have surprised the country's health officials, that's because the vaping-related lung disease originated in a perfect storm. The variables that converge to produce the current health emergency begin with the explosion of interest in electronic cigarettes among young people, of whom more than 3 million have already tried electronic cigarettes, according to the latest survey on CDC tobacco.
This trend has been aggravated by the lack of scrutiny by the FDA, in the absence of federal marijuana legislation, on the safety of heating THC or various vaping chemicals in the first place.
Finally, there is the rise of the cottage industry in the shadow of the Internet for the packaging and sale of illegal illicit THC, often working with used cartridges filled again in home operations. The cartridges in question, called carts, have the appearance of commercial manufacturing, carry popular brands used without permission and beat the prices of legal THC products, according to information published on marijuana advocacy websites.
"We do not know how many cases are attributable to which exposure, nicotine or THC," Scanlon said. "All I can tell you is that oils containing THC can contribute to a considerable number of cases." An interesting ingredient for federal investigators is vitamin E acetate. According to Scanlon, another factor is that marijuana plants contain oils that, before the increase in the number of vaping, had not been widely inhaled before.
"When you smoke it, oil and THC are burned," explains Scanlon. "With vaping, the product heats up but leaves the oils, so you get quantities of grams of oil in your lungs, which predictably will cause lipoid pneumonia."
"The lungs do not have a mechanism to extract the oil from the lungs," he says, "if you inhale it, it just stays there. Lipoid pneumonia is a inflammatory reaction to that. [oil] it's just stuck in the lungs and there's no way out. "
When asked if stunted survivors could face problems later in life because of these inhaled oils, Scanlon does not miss a beat.
"Yes," he says, because the lungs have no way of getting rid of it. "
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