FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump looks at the media on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before their departure to Alabama and New York, November 9, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be meeting with vaping industry officials as well as medical and political officials to discuss vaping and e-cigarettes, amid a nationwide outbreak of injuries and deaths linked to the products.
“Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma. Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!” he wrote on Twitter.
Trump did not give a time for the meeting. He said on Friday that his administration would issue its final report on such products next week.
On Thursday, the CDC reported there have been 2,051 confirmed and probable U.S. lung injury cases and 39 deaths associated with use of e-cigarettes, or vaping products. Nearly 85 percent of lung injury patients in the nationwide outbreak have reported using products containing THC, the component of marijuana that gets people high.
In the CDC analysis, THC was detected in 23 of 28 patient samples of lung cells, including from three patients who said they did not use THC products. Nicotine was detected in 16 of 26 patient samples.
U.S. public health officials have recommended that people avoid using e-cigarettes that contain THC or any products that come from illicit sources.
Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis
