If you follow the vaping news you probably know that the USA has reported health concerns with vaping and CBD e-liquid.
As of the 1st of October 2019 1,080 people across the country have reported to the CDC with lung injury cases associated with using an e-cigarette and/or CBD e-liquid; Eighteen people have died across 15 states. Naturally, the media and anti-vaping activists are demanding wide-ranging bans on e-cigarettes; Donald Trump is even considering a nationwide ban on flavoured liquids. Journalists frequently refer to a “mystery illness” and implying that general vaping is the cause of these illnesses without pin-pointing the actual cause.
Vaping has been around for 15 years now, with 41 million people vaping in 2018 with numbers increasing each year. In the UK there are 3.6 million people vaping without one reported incident of lung disease from vaping and zero deaths. The NHS accredits vaping as the best Nicotine Replacement Therapy and can be prescribed to smokers looking to quit confirming that it’s 95% healthier than smoking. This begs the question, why is this lung disease only affecting one country?
Investigations of those affected by this “mysterious” disease found that most of them admitted using THC cartridges in the days or weeks before they became ill. These cartridges are illegal in most of the USA, so they were buying them on the black market – where there’s no enforcement of safety standards. CBD e-liquid must contain less than 0.2% THC to be legal in the UK. You can read more about this and the report from the FDA here
What seems to have happened is that a batch of THC liquid contaminated with Vitamin E acetate has found its way into the US black market. Vitamin E acetate is a fairly common health supplement, but it has a big problem from a vaping point of view – it’s an oil. Inhaling vaporised oils is a very bad idea.
High-quality vape liquids are mixed and diluted with propylene glycol or vegetable glycerine, which are sugar alcohols. Your lungs can easily absorb them and pass them into your bloodstream, where your body can safely dispose of them. Millions of people have been safely vaping these liquids for years.
Oils, on the other hand, aren’t easily absorbed. Instead they collect in the lungs, where they can cause a dangerous disease called lipoid pneumonia. The disease outbreak in the USA has very similar symptoms to lipoid pneumonia, so it seems very likely that Vitamin E acetate is the cause.
Now there have been reports of THC and CBD liquids contaminated with Vitamin E acetate being found in Europe. That’s obviously a worry for anyone who uses CBD liquids – but it’s important to keep some perspective on this. It isn’t a problem with CBD liquids; it’s a problem with low-quality black market products.
All our CBD liquids are made in a clean environment using approved, pharma grade ingredients. We never add oils to any of our liquids, and that includes Vitamin E acetate. The same goes for any legitimate manufacturer. No responsible vape company would ever add oils to a liquid, and we check all our ingredients very carefully to make sure they don’t contain any.
The danger lies in black market products. Any time you buy liquid from anywhere other than a legitimate business, you run the risk that it’s contaminated with dangerous chemicals. That’s what caused the problem in the USA, and now it’s reached Europe too. If CBD liquids are helping you there’s no need to stop using them. Just make sure you’re getting them from a legal business that pays attention to quality and safety.
For a full and unbiased look at vaping and how it impacts your health, check out our Vaping Health Facts Guide.
Vapoholic manufacturer all CBD in house and are regulated by the MHRA, follow all Good Manufacturing Practices, and are members of the Cannabis Trades Association.
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