CDC Working To Find What Killed One Hoosier And Put Over 500 In The Hospital Who Were Vaping

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WASHINGTON, D.C.–Was it regular vape cartridges? Or something on the black market? The CDC is still trying to find out what killed one Hoosier and put over 500 people in the hospital. Some health experts believe the government should crack down on how vaping and e-cigarettes are marketed.

“We don’t know yet of a single substance, additive, product or brand that’s associated with all the cases,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control. “We’re working really closely with the FDA and state and local governments to try to get the answers that the public wants.”

Part of that work is testing the substances that people vape, both legal and illegal.

“Switching to inhaling a different toxin that contains nicotine, which they were addicted to in the original cigarettes, is not the best way to quit,” said Dr. Josh Mansour, an oncologist who believes vaping is not safer than cigarettes in any way. He said the nicotine alone is reason enough not to vape.

“Nicotine can cause neurological conditions. It can cause seizures. It can be detrimental in even low doses.”

But, it’s the marketing to teenagers that Mansour believes gives the government the upper hand in a possible ban, or at the very least, strict rules regulating e-cigarettes.

“I do think because of this epidemic and because it is affecting teens that they are going to get involved and make this something of the past, hopefully,” he said.

Monsour said that if you are addicted to cigarettes, and have switched to vaping, that he believes you should tru nicotine gum or the patch.

 

photo courtesy CDC