FLAVOURED e-cigarettes should be BANNED after a surge of death vaping deaths in the US, England’s outgoing chief medical officer has said.
Prof Dame Sally Davies, the country’s most senior doctor for almost a decade, said sweet-like flavours could make vaping attractive to children.
3
She also said she is concerned that the long-term health consequences of the devices remains unknown.
That’s despite advice from Public Health England, which claims e-cigarettes are 95 per cent safer than smoking.
She told The Telegraph: “Vaping is a lot safer than smoking tobacco and probably a good way to help people quit.
“But I would prefer if if we did not have flavoured e-cigarettes because I think that is the kind of marketing that can appeal to children.
“I think we don’t know what the long-term consequences are.”
Trump’s ban
Donald Trump announced plans to ban flavoured e-cigarettes in the US last month, adding that vaping was becoming a “new problem”, especially for children.
It comes after reports of at least 29 people dying from a vaping-related illness while cases of the mysterious disease have surged to 1,300.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported more than 200 extra cases in just seven days as the epidemic deepens.
US health officials said on Friday there may be more than one cause behind the nationwide outbreak of serious lung illnesses linked to vaping.
3
Investigators have pointed to vaping oils containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, as being especially risky, but have not yet tied the cases to any specific product or compound.
Dr Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said: “I think there will be multiple causes and potentially more than one root cause.”
She added that the source of the illness in one part of the country may not be the same as in another part.
I think there will be multiple causes and potentially more than one root cause
Dr Anne Schuchat
Doctors have been issued updated guidance, urging them to be especially watchful of patients who may have both a vaping lung injury and an unrelated respiratory infection.
The CDC had previously advised doctors to rule out infections before considering vaping injuries, but that was during the summer months, when there are fewer cases of respiratory infections such as flu.
They are now telling doctors to devise treatments that would address both conditions.
Dr Schuchat said a handful of vaping patients who recovered and were discharged were later readmitted to the hospital, but it was not clear whether these individuals resumed vaping and incurred a new injury.
How safe are e-cigarettes in the UK?
In the UK, e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality.
They’re not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.
The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at much lower levels.
While nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes, it’s relatively harmless.
Almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.
Nicotine replacement therapy has been widely used for many years to help people stop smoking and is a safe treatment.
There’s no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you.
This is in contrast to secondhand smoke from smoking, which is known to be very harmful to health.
Source: NHS
The new guidelines urge doctors to follow up with patients a week after discharge, and to begin vaping cessation treatments or therapies for THC and nicotine before patients leave the hospital.
Dr Ned Sharpless, acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the agency has begun testing on more than 700 product samples and product parts gathered from patients and health officials.
FDA scientists are testing for a broad range of chemicals, including nicotine, THC and other marijuana components, metals, cutting agents and other additives, pesticides and toxins.
Based on our testing of samples to date, there does not appear to be one product or substance involved in all of the cases
Dr Ned Sharpless
Dr Sharpless said: “Based on our testing of samples to date, there does not appear to be one product or substance involved in all of the cases. It may be there is more than one cause to this outbreak.
“We do know that THC is present in most of the samples tested to date.”
Mitch Zeller, director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said the agency has evaluated 225 THC-containing products and found Vitamin E acetate – a cutting agent – in nearly half of them.
3
Dr Sharpless said the FDA is collaborating with customs and border control agents to intercept any products containing illicit substances.
“If we determine that someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated vaping products that cause illness or death for personal profit, we would consider that to be a criminal act,” he said.
The CDC and the FDA continue to urge people to stop vaping, especially products containing THC.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
