From The Carlat Psychiatry Blog, ,

The CDC reports 48 deaths related to e-cigarette, or vaping, associated lung injury (EVALI) in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are 2,291 total EVALI cases. This data as of December 4, 2019.

Vaping deaths have been reported for months, and only recently the CDC has identified vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern. While safe for use in skin creams and nutritional products, it is also used as a thickening-agent in THC-containing vaping products. While a direct causal relationship hasn’t been established, CDC testing of lung fluid samples from 29 patients with EVALI found vitamin E acetate in all the samples.

Vape products with THC often use vitamin E acetate as a thickening agent. There’s no way to know which THC vape products have vitamin E and which do not. As a result, the current recommendations are to avoid THC-containing vaping products, especially if they are provided by friends, family, or dealers.

The CDC will continue to update its recommendations as new data becomes available.

Read more from the CDC on this here.