You may have heard some rather alarming news from across the Atlantic, as our friends in the US grapple with a spate of severe respiratory illnesses being linked with ‘vaping’. But, as ever, the truth behind the headlines is rather different.
Just to get it out of the way upfront, the clear pattern emerging from these news stories is that those who have fallen ill are buying and using unregulated black-market liquids, or THC (cannabis) pre-filled cartridges/tanks.
These black-market products have been made in unknown conditions, often using dangerous compounds, and are completely different to those sold by reputable vape retailers. One such compound is Vitamin E Acetate, which is found naturally occurring in things like almonds or corn, or it can be produced synthetically from petroleum.
This hasn’t stopped President Donald Trump from wading into the debate, announcing his desire to ban all e-liquid flavourings. Not only does this miss the point entirely, it risks those vapers who are buying from reputable vendors being driven to the very black-market products that have caused the problem in the first place.
Professor Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at The University of Edinburgh, said in response:
“The evidence accumulating in America points to contaminants in black market products as having caused these cases, particularly cannabis oils that are being vaped. Nicotine-containing flavoured vaping products are almost certainly not the main cause.
“My concern is that if most e-cigarettes are banned in the USA, adult smokers will return to tobacco and for those who don’t, demand for black market products will rise. A flourishing illicit market is far more likely to cause health harms than pursuing proportionate regulation of the type we’ve aimed for in Europe.”
Here in the UK, regulatory control is far stronger, which means that the products available for sale must meet a strict safety standard (one of the more positive effects of TPD legislation). Not only that, the use of certain chemicals and additives, including vitamins, is banned outright.
In response to the latest reports, Martin Dockrell, head of Tobacco Control at Public Health England, said:
“Unlike the US, all e-cigarette products in the UK are tightly regulated for quality and safety by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and they operate the yellow card scheme, encouraging vapers to report any bad experiences.”
Continue vaping happy in the knowledge that here at JAC, we design and manufacture all of our e-liquids in UK labs to the highest standards of quality and safety. You can rest assured that in line with regulations, all JAC Vapour e-liquids have been MHRA notified and tested to be compliant with TPD legislation.