Time needed to learn vape dangers

When public health vies with commerce, the contest should always favor the community’s wellbeing.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins illustrated that point yesterday, upholding Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban on vaping.

Business groups cannot be happy.

As the Herald’s Alexi Cohan reported, consumer groups and vaping associations were pushing back against Baker’s ban last month.

“If this illegal executive action is not stopped, small vapor businesses across the state will close their doors and many people will be left jobless,” Gregory Conley, president of the nonprofit American Vaping Association said in a statement.

Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association, said in a statement that vaping in the Bay State contributes to more than 2,500 jobs and more than $130 million in wages. John Nathan, a vapor manufacturer and president of the New England chapter of the VTA, said at least 300 small businesses in Massachusetts are closing because of the vaping ban.

Yes, the ban will have a negative effect on vaping businesses, but the reason for the moratorium is far from frivolous.

As the Herald’s Joe Dwinell reported, 1,479 lung-injury cases and 33 deaths, including one in Massachusetts, associated with the use of vaping products have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. alone.

What’s the cause? Doctors aren’t sure, though vaping THC has been a strong link to some of the cases. The CDC advises Americans to consider avoiding all vaping products, and recently added the phrase “particularly those containing THC.”

The Mayo Clinic, in studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, noted that “findings would instead seem to suggest that vaping-associated lung injury represents a form of airway-centered chemical pneumonitis induced by one or more inhaled toxic substances in the aerosolized vapor. … Indeed, it is well known that e-cigarette liquids contain not only propylene glycol and glycerin but may also contain numerous contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, endotoxins, diacetyl and a wide variety of other organic and inorganic chemicals and flavoring compounds that may not be entirely inert.”

Dr. Sharon Levy, co-director of Boston Children’s Hospital’s new Adolescent Vaping Project, said the illnesses cannot be pinned down to one ingredient.

“The diseases look different in different people so it’s quite likely that it’s not one single thing but that there are different chemicals playing different roles in it,” Levy said.

No business likes a threat to its bottom line, especially small businesses that rely on their stores for family income. But when people are becoming sick and dying, that has to be the top priority.

In Sept. 2010, almost half a billion eggs were recalled due to salmonella contamination. It cost the egg industry over $100 million that month. The industry has practices in place to ensure that bacteria is kept out of the eggs, and Americans chow down on some 300 per year, per person. There’s much to be said for consumer confidence in a product.

Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel testified last week that the four-month ban gives scientists time to try to determine what the cause of the illness is. It’s vital that they do, a solution is found, perhaps the vape liquid formula is changed, and vape consumers can indulge in safety.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2oTeisW