Statewide—
Update:
The first vaping-related death in Indiana is being reported by the State Health Department.
The person died “due to severe lung injury linked to a history of e-cigarette use or ‘vaping'” according to health officials.
The death was confirmed on Thursday and the patient was only identified as being over the age of 18.
Indiana is right now investigating 30 cases of severe lung injury linked to vaping, according to ISDH.
Original Story—The 2018 Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey showed an increase in vaping of more than 300 percent since 2012, meaning Hoosier teens are now more likely to use vaping devices than cigarettes. There are different kinds of e-cigarettes. But many people use Juul. This e-cigarette looks like a flash drive and can be charged in a laptop’s USB port. It makes less smoke than other e-cigarettes, so some teens use them to vape at home and in school. The Juul’s nicotine levels are similar to a cigarette’s.
Researchers are now saying the vitamin e acetate found in the vape oils might be the cause of vaping-related respiratory illnesses.
As of Thursday afternoon, there have been 361 confirmed or suspected cases reported by state health departments nationwide. Two people have died, one in Illinois and the other in Oregon.
On Thursday, the New York State Department of Health said lab tests showed extremely high levels of vitamin E acetate in nearly all of the analyzed samples of products that contained cannabis.
Vitamin E acetate was not found in the nicotine products tested.
