“Haven’t some people died from vaping in the US? What caused those deaths?”
Vaping hasn’t been around for very long, with the first e-cigarette being developed by a Chinese pharmacist in 2003. As a result, we know little about the long-term harms associated with vaping.
In 2019 a lung disease associated with vaping captured media attention around the world. In just a short time, around 2800 people had developed serious lung damage, with 68 of those resulting in death, due to a poisoning outbreak linked to the use of vaping devices. This condition was named EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury) and it took some time for medical experts and authorities to establish the cause of the problem.
Although there continues to be debate in this area, EVALI appeared to be linked to vitamin E acetate, an ingredient added to illicit cannabis vaping e-liquids. EVALI has been more prominent in the US where cannabis vaping is more common, further strengthening the evidence that it’s caused by an additive in the THC liquid.
There have been a number of documented cases of EVALI in Australia, however, that were not related to cannabis vaping. In one of these, an autopsy found a Queensland man had died from this condition which was probably caused by a decade of vaping.
It’s important to note that even though a person may not die as a result of vaping, there are other risks. Data released earlier this year found that since 2020, 178 Australians had been hospitalised due to “severe health complications” related to the use of these devices, with two deaths and an unintentionally poisoned toddler among them. Nineteen individuals aged 15-24 required hospitalisation, with an average hospital stay duration of 5.6 days.
Vaping is promoted as a ‘safe’ alternative to smoking but these deaths, although not the norm, show that there are still risks associated with the use of e-cigarettes. It may be true that vaping is ‘safer’ than smoking but not vaping at all is ‘safer’ than vaping.
First published: September 2024
