by Abby Clack

In Illinois and Washington State, new research has come about about what products are more harmful than most. “Dank Vapes (a brand of e-juice) appears to be the most prominent in a class of largely counterfeit brands, with common packaging that is easily available online and that is used by distributors to market THC-containing cartridges with no obvious centralized production or distribution,” said a report published by state health officials from Illinois and Wisconsin, and from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

“Some patients have said they vaped only nicotine, but the Wisconsin researchers found that some patients who made that claim actually had used THC,” according to The New York Times. Users think they are only using nicotine, but because of the ingredients that people don’t know about, they are actually smoking THC, the oil from marijuana, in their vapes. 

“We’ve received about 300 samples,” F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Ned Sharpless said. “We’ve tested about 150. I would say the answer is about 70 percent are THC products. The rest are nicotine products or something else. A significant fraction of the THC products, like maybe half of them, are contaminated with vitamin E acetate.”

Vitamin E acetate is an oil found in skin that people should not inhale. The product is added to dilute or “cut” THC before it is sold. 

The vaping epidemic has hit 2019  hard. And it is ending the year with more deaths from lung infections caused by vaping.