The number of cases in lung diseases caused by vaping has increased quickly in the US. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced nearly 1,300 cases of serious lung illnesses in almost all states, including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington D.C. The only one that is still unaffected by the crisis is Alaska.
The new figure was nearly 220 more than that of last week. Nevertheless, public health officials said that even more cases are investigated or already confirmed.
Patients in more than 20 states have died of these diseases. Experts predict that the number of death would keep rising in the next few weeks. The age of deaths ranges from 15 up to 75 years old. The median age is around 50 years old.
It is more and more obvious that young people vaping THC are at especially high risk. According to the reports of CDC:
– 70% of patients are men
– 76% of patients vape THC
– 80% of patients are under 35 years old
THC is the active component in marijuana which makes smokers feel high. The quick rise in cases has caused some authorities to propose some bans on electronic cigarettes. For instance, Washington prohibited the distribution of flavored vaping products, such as menthol and mint. The ban is going to last for 4 months.
Nevertheless, there is opposition from electronic cigarette supporters. They claimed that these products help them stop smoking tobacco, which also leads to many serious health issues in the country.
However, public health officials believe that flavors are the deciding factors that encourage these people to use tobacco products in the first place.
Many recent studies have shown that e-cigarettes are one of the leading causes of tobacco addiction in young people. When scouring different high schools, researchers found evidence of various flavors of e-cigarettes instead of tobacco. Most of these pieces were menthol or mint.
Among these waste items of marijuana vaping, the researchers found out some packages from high-potent lemon and pineapple-flavored cannabis oil cartridges.
The first major city and metropolitan in the United States to ban the distribution of all vaping products is San Francisco.
Other states, including Rhode Island, New York, Montana, Michigan, as well as Massachusetts are introducing many new policies to limit the use of electronic cigarettes.
Source:
https://www.livescience.com/vaping-illness-cases-increase-over-1000.html
