My cousin started using e-cigarettes years ago. The clouds of toxic smoke which always surrounded him disappeared, replaced by less invasive puffs of smoke. I was relieved — I hated smelling like an ashtray anytime I was near him. But I also thought e-cigarettes were better for him — a way for him to break his several packs a day chain-smoking habit. Mistakenly, I also thought e-cigarettes had less nicotine — the addictive chemical in tobacco. So generally speaking, I thought e-cigarettes, also known as vaping, were at least not as harmful as cigarettes and possibly less harmful.
My no-basis-in-fact assumptions were wrong. Turns out, not only do e-cigarettes contain nicotine, but on average, many of the cartridges contain higher levels than in traditional cigarettes. Scientists are taking a closer look at the links between vaping and lung injury after the recent rash of hospitalizations across the country. The Centers for Disease Control has reported more than 1,600 vaping related illnesses and 34 deaths — 35 now, after our state public health officials announced the death of a Middlesex woman in her 40s, the second vaping-related death in the state. Both victims used nicotine cartridges, but the CDC is strongly recommending that consumers avoid more than nicotine e-cigarettes and vaping products. The health protection agency is especially warning against vaping products that contain THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. And at the end of last September, Gov. Baker issued a four-month temporary ban against the sales of all vaping products, prompted, he told WGBH’s Morning Edition, by “the growing body of evidence.”
But why didn’t somebody see the evidence when vaping became a fast-growing trend? And why is it that scientists are just now becoming concerned by illnesses and deaths of vaping teenagers? According to the CDC, e-cigarette use by middle and high schoolers jumped to 3.6 million in one year from 2016 to 2017, with teens drawn to the fruit-flavored pods. Additionally, if we knew — and we did — that nicotine is related to many serious health conditions — lung injury, high blood pressure, narrowing of the arteries — why was there no regulatory action taken until after the hospitalizations and deaths? The delayed response put more people at risk, but practically assured that millions more — including a lot of young people — will be addicted to nicotine.
Worse, earlier this year, The New England Center for Investigative Reporting here at WGBH found that the state had diverted money earmarked for smoking cessation programs to pay for budget shortfalls. And even before the vaping crisis, 9,000 Massachusetts residents were dying annually from smoking-related illnesses.
So far, my cousin has not suffered serious consequences of his long-term nicotine addiction, which I believe has been exacerbated by e-cigarettes. Still, some experts are not yet convinced that the most widely used vaping products are the source of the current health outbreaks — with the possible exception of the fruit-flavored pods popular with teens. Gov. Baker’s ban does stop the sales of fruit-flavored vaping products. That’s something the FDA has yet to do, despite calls from more than 50 organizations also calling for no Trump administration proposed exceptions of mint and menthol.
I’m not certain that the federal and state bans will, in the end, be the solution. What I do now is that it’s past time for consumers to find out critical information concerning a threat to their health before they get sick.
