The number of Americans sickened by a severe vaping-related illness continues to increase, and the official tally will likely rise when it is updated later this week, according to a U.S. health official speaking at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.
“We are seeing more and more cases each day. I suspect weekly numbers will be higher,” Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
She spoke as the House of Representatives began public hearings this week about the mystery vaping-related lung disease that has sickened 530 people in 38 states and killed nine. The parent of a recently stricken Chicago teen will also speak to lawmakers.
Schuchat emphasized that the CDC has still not identified any specific product or compound – including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the high-inducing component of marijuana, or Vitamin E acetate – that is linked to all cases of the illness.
The CDC, which has activated its emergency operations center to coordinate an investigation, has advised that people quit vaping if they can.
A man over age 50 who used e-cigarettes died in Kansas as state health officials prepared to join the waves of experts testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly announced.
- Buzz kill? Gen Z less interested in coffee than older Canadians, survey shows
- ‘She gets to be 10’: Ontario child’s heart donated to girl the same age
- Canada updating sperm donor screening criteria for men who have sex with men
- Bird flu risk to humans an ‘enormous concern,’ WHO says. Here’s what to know
“Today, I am saddened to announce the death of a second Kansan in association with this outbreak,” the governor said in a statement, noting the man had underlying medical conditions.
At Tuesday’s subcommittee hearing, Dr. Ngozi Ezike of the Illinois Department of Public Health, urged Congress to ban flavored vaping products, “which are particularly targeted to young people.”
On Wednesday, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration will appear before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee and be asked about the public health threats of e-cigarettes.
For those who continue vaping, public health officials urge consumers to avoid buying vaping products on the street, using marijuana-derived oil with the products or modifying a store-bought vape product.
WATCH: Is vaping hazardous to your health?
The House Oversight Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee’s probe began in the summer, and so far has focused on the role e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc played in what the panel’s chairman, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, has called a “youth vaping epidemic.”
At Tuesday’s hearing Representative Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat from California, called Juul “shameless” in terms of the amount of information it has given to lawmakers.
In addition to Juul, in which Altria Group Inc has a minority stake, leading makers of nicotine e-cigarettes include British American Tobacco Plc and Imperial Brands Plc .
On Wednesday, health officials from Michigan, North Carolina, Kansas and Massachusetts will appear before the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee along with Schuchat and the FDA’s Norman Sharpless.
The FDA has warned Juul that it violated regulations because it marketed its vaping products as less risky than traditional cigarettes.
The popularity of e-cigarettes has now grown to the point where one in four 12th-graders reported vaping a nicotine product during the previous 30 days. It is nearly one in 10 for 8th-graders, a study by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor reported last week.
Comments