Lung Damage from Vaping Resembles Chemical Burns, Report Says | Hacker News Reader

Lung Damage from Vaping Resembles Chemical Burns, Report Says

nytimes.com

5 pointskoolba7 comments

I wonder if anyone has looked at whether it is simply the heat causing the damage. I see 200W mod kits on the web, which is a lot of heat to be inhaling. Maybe some vape pens are missing a filter which cools the vapor? Or the vapor doesn't get cooled as much if the pen is used continuously and starts to warm up? Seems like an obvious possibility.

> The majority have vaped THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, but some say they have vaped only nicotine.

> Another patient was a 21-year-old man who reported vaping nicotine for five years, and who became ill shortly after adding marijuana to it for the first time.

This is getting ridiculous, journalists need to get more precises when discussing "vaping".

Vaping what specifically? I have a hard time believing that anyone is getting chemical burns from vaping propylene glycol.

It says damage resembling chemical burns. And why not ? did lungs evolve in an environment with propylene glycol ? no.

I don't even know where to start with this. Propylene glycol is used extensively in food, cosmetics and even eye drops. It is the solution in a fog machine. It takes an extraordinary amount to cause harm to someone when administered intravenously. Why would 'evolving with something' weigh into your judgement of whether something could cause 'chemical burn like damage'?

Gotta love that the article has 0 mentions of the main cause: Vitamin E being added to the solution alongside THC oil. This is the sole reason, not nicotine, nor PG/VG.

According to the article most of its participants were using nicotine and marijuana products in oil forms but nothing was controlled for. Also they don't know what is causing the problem. Just that a few people who vape have lung damage from something resembling chemical burns.

"The findings were published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine and involved samples from 13 men and four women whose ages ranged from 19 to 67. About 70 percent had a history of vaping marijuana or cannabis oils."

"Medical investigators have been unable to identify exactly what is causing the lung damage, or even how many harmful substances are involved. They do not know whether the source is the liquids being vaped, or a toxin released from the materials used to make vaping devices. It is also unclear whether some devices used in vaping may be defective."

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