While some may see vape and e-cigarette devices as safe alternatives to cigarettes, experts warn that users can develop the devastating condition ‘popcorn lung’ – and that those who suffer the most severe case are unlikely to survive.
Bronchiolitis obliterans, the official medical diagnosis for popcorn lung, occurs when a person’s lungs become significantly scarred due to the inhalation of dangerous chemicals or via an infection of some sort.
- Experts warn that vape and e-cigarette devices are more dangerous than some may believe
- Many users will eventually develop ‘popcorn lung’, a severe condition with a mortality rate of up to 95%, one expert says
- E-cigarette and vape manufacturers have often marketed their products as safer alternatives to cigarettes but experts warn they have many risks of their own
- These devices have been under scrutiny from regulators in recent years as part of a larger effort to curb teen smokingÂ
Experts are warning that many users of electronic nicotine devices – like Juuls – are developing the condition at alarming rates, especially at younger ages where these types of conditions are rare.
Dr Panagis Galiatsatos, director of the Tobacco Treatment Clinic at Johns Hopkins University tells DailyMail.com that those who suffer the most severe cases of the condition will likely die from respiratory failure within five years of it developing.
Controversy around these devices has reemerged in recent weeks after the Food and Drug Administration chose to pull Juul products from shelves, before allowing the company temporary reprieve as it reevaluated its decision.
‘Whether it’s vaping, e-cigarettes or combustible cigarettes. They all come with noxious chemicals that exploit the addictive properties of nicotine,’ Galiatsatos said.
Many companies who market these products claim their value lies in helping users of combustible tobacco products – like cigarettes – instead use a safer alternative.
Tobacco is dangerous on its own and cigarettes also have many other chemicals in them that put users at risk of multiple types of cancer, cardio vascular conditions and more health defects.
Nicotine is the substance that a user will actually become addicted to, though, and removing the rest of the dangerous chemicals and just letting a person use the drug on its own is safer – according to e-cigarette and vape manufacturers.
Some experts are sounding the alarm that this is not quite the case, though.
‘Often times you hear that using e-cigarettes or vaping is less problematic of a nicotine delivery device. But it has its own set of potential health problems that go with it,’ Dr Clayton Cowl, a pulmonologist at the Mayo Clinic, told DailyMail.com.
‘The problem with many of the newer devices coming out is that it is not just about nicotine it is about other products that can be placed within those devices that when aerosolized can create significant health related problems.’
He described it as ‘picking your poison’ as to which dangerous device a person would want to use.
Like cigarettes, the main danger of these products is not the nicotine itself but the many other chemicals mixed in with it.
Diacetyl is a chemical commonly used in flavoring for food. When consumed orally it is perfectly safe.
When vaporized, it is extremely harmful to the lungs of someone that inhales it and continued exposure can cause disastrous long-term health issues.
It’s link to bronchiolitis obliterans was discovered in the early 2000s, when employees of a Missouri popcorn factory suddenly began to develop the condition.
Mansur Shaleen – Daily Mail – 2022-07-13.
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