Vaping THC and the vague warnings from the CDC

Some of our readers may be vaping either THC or nicotine. There's been a lot of noise on broadcast media about the people around the country who have become very ill from vaping. Some say it's the added chemicals to the oils that are causing this to happen. 
The CDC in the USA Today piece is criticized by experts as being overly vague in it's warning's. Either way, vapers should only be vaping cartridges from reliable suppliers, like medical or licensed retail marijuana shops. There is much doubt about how this has all of a sudden appeared on the collective radar. Millions of x-cigarette smokers have been vaping for a few years now along with thousands of medical marijuana patients without adverse health effects. The CDC should forensically find the root cause and do it quickly. And until then, patients and non-patients should use the vape pens less or switch to an edible, or if you can, consume the flower like before we had vape pens. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/08/28/critics-cdc-silent-vaping-thc-injuries-mount/2121523001/

Federal health officials are under fire for their unclear public warnings after one death and nearly 200 cases of vaping-related lung illnesses, which some say are related to the far riskier practice of vaping marijuana oil rather than nicotine. 

Some state health department and news reports suggest many of the cases of lung problems involve tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes psychological effects.

Boston University public health professor Michael Siegel said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being “unnecessarily vague” about describing the injuries as simply vaping-related when many people might have been injured by vaping THC oil. 

“Based on what we know now, I think there’s enough to tell people: Don’t vape THC oils – especially products that are bought off the street,” Siegel said. "There are certain things the agency could be recommending right now that could potentially save lives and prevent this from happening by being much more specific.”

Dylan Nelson of Burlington, Wis., with his sister, Andrea, was rushed to the hospital with severe breathing problems after he vaped nicotine and THC oil. Doctors put him into a medically induced coma and hooked him up to a ventilator. (Photo: Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and state health agencies say they are completing the painstaking work of tracing common factors that may have triggered the spate of vaping-related lung illnesses mainly harming young adults.

Siegel acknowledged he is not privy to all the information the CDC has gathered. The agency probably does not know whether THC is the only culprit, he said, but the public would likely benefit if the agency warned vapers to avoid THC oil. 

Michael Siegel is a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health. (Photo: Boston University)

“There are millions of people vaping out there,” said Siegel, who supports vaping as a way for adults to quit smoking. “When they get this advice ‘Well, we don’t know what it is; it’s vaping,’ that doesn’t help anyone. So I think they need to try to be specific."

Marijuana oil vaping was cited in at least 21 cases of severe lung illness reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last week. In Utah, officials said marijuana oil was a likely culprit in most cases of lung illnesses in teens. A Wisconsin man had so much trouble breathing after he vaped nicotine and THC oil that doctors put Dylan Nelson into a medically induced coma and hooked him up to a ventilator.