Vaping has been linked to nearly three dozen deaths to date, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is still unsure of what exactly is causing them.
Some companies have attempted to market vaping products as healthier alternatives to smoking cigarettes, but many health experts reject this stance, and the Food and Drug Administration has not approved e-cigarette use as a method to quit smoking, according to Harvard Health Publishing.
While much is still unknown about the effects vaping has on the body, the data that we already have suggest a connection between the trend and several serious health complications.
“As the current cluster of lung diseases indicates, without regulation and quality control, a product that may seem safe today could be dangerously contaminated tomorrow,” Thomas Eissenberg, co-director for the Center for the Study of Tobacco Products, wrote for The Guardian.
Here are nine alarming facts about vaping and the health risks it has been linked to so far.
As of mid-October, more than 1,600 cases of lung injury caused by vaping had been reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
1,604 cases of vaping-related lung injury were reported to the CDC as of October 22. Many of these cases required treatment in hospital intensive care units, with patients narrowly averting death.
As of that date, vaping-related lung injuries have been reported in 49 of the 50 US states, with Alaska the only exception.
At least 34 people have died so far as a result of vaping products.
As of the time of this writing, the CDC has confirmed 34 deaths caused by health complications brought on by the use of e-cigarettes. THC was present in the vaping products associated with a majority of the deaths.
About 78% of people who vape reportedly use products that contain THC, with only 10% of users using exclusively products that contain nicotine.
70% of the patients who have required medical intervention for vaping-related illnesses are male.
According to the CDC, a majority of the patients who have needed medical attention due to vaping-related complications are male. This gender gap is significantly larger than is found with traditional cigarette use.
According to data collected by the government’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 18.6% of American males and 14.3% of American females smoke cigarettes.
Nearly four-fifths of people who died or were diagnosed with vaping-related illnesses were under 35 years old.
Vaping is overwhelmingly a habit of younger Americans. According to the CDC, 79% of the patients who died or are afflicted with vaping-related illnesses were under the age of 35. The median age is 23, and 15% were under the age of 18.
Over a quarter of high school seniors reported vaping in the last 30 days, while fewer are using traditional cigarettes.
According to the National Institutes of Health, just 3.6% of high school seniors reported daily tobacco use in 2018, a dramatic decline from the 22.4% who were using tobacco on a regular basis in the late 1990s.
However, according to preliminary results from the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey, approximately a quarter of the high-school senior respondents reported using vaping products in the last 30 days.
About 40% of young people who began using electronic cigarettes had never used traditional tobacco products.
A 2015 report from the US surgeon general said that about 40% of young people who began using electronic cigarettes had never used traditional tobacco products before.
And for many users, e-cigarettes are a clear pathway to traditional cigarette use.
NIH data show that more than 30% of teen e-cigarette users will begin using traditional smoking products within a six-month period, compared to just 8.1% of teens who never vape.
Many of the recent deaths and illnesses were likely caused by black-market vaping products.
According to the Washington Post, the recent spike in lung injuries caused by vaping may be related to an inundation of dangerous black-market vaping products. The price of THC oil, used in cannabis-containing vape products, recently rose in response to tightened regulations.
As a response, the Post reported, many producers of illegal THC vape liquids have begun cutting their oils with vitamin E acetate, a substance that is odorless and mimics the viscosity of THC oil. The substance is legal, and harmless when applied to the skin, but possibly dangerous when vaporized and inhaled.
Many e-cigarette users may be unwittingly ingesting toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde due to a process called ‘thermal decomposition.’
NPR reported that when the liquids in a vaping product overheat, which is a common issue, it can lead to “thermal decomposition,” a process that breaks down the fluids and can release dangerous chemicals into the user’s lungs.
Included in these chemicals are known toxins such as acrolein, nicotyrine, and formaldehyde, a cancer-causing agent.
One company, Juul, accounts for about two-thirds of all e-cigarette sales in America.
Since its launch in 2015, Juul e-cigarettes have become, far and away, the biggest seller in the category. The company’s sales currently make up more than 70% of total e-cigarette sales in the United States.
However, one industry experts now expects Juul will lose up to 75% of its sales as more and more government crackdowns prevent it from selling most flavored nicotine products and limit the ways Juul can market its e-cigarettes.
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