A group of senior researchers on tobacco use in the country want the CDC( U.S. Surgeon General and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to correct vaping misinformation shared by the government. In an editorial published in the Journal Addiction, the researchers who included Michael Pesko from Georgia State University, Tom Miller, the Iowa Attorney General and several senior researchers from Penn State University, the University of Michigan, the Harvard Medical School and the Medical University of South Carolina wants CDC and the U.S. Surgeon General to correct some of the information they earlier authored that now is considered misinformation.
The case in point is the use of the name “E-Cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury” (EVALI) to refer to the 2019 lung injury outbreak. The two offices have since failed to correct the use of the name leading to continued cases of misinformation both in the popular media and in scientific publications.
At the start of the outbreak, the term was coined and widely accepted as many in the medical field thought that the condition was caused by excessive use of electronic cigarettes. However, with further research, many public health agencies across the world including the CDC recognized the fact that the primary cause of the injuries was vitamin E acetate ( that was mixed with cannabis oil by greedy retailers seeking to improve their profit margins). While nicotine vaping may have had a part in the injuries it was not the primary cause. Therefore, continued reference to these lung injuries as EVALI is misinformation as it may hurt people suffering from this condition.
Researchers estimate that about 68 people died from the condition and thousands of others were hospitalized because of the name EVALI. The use of this name in medical circles prevented these patients from being educated on the risks of using unregulated THC oil cartridges. Because of this many people continued to use dangerous black market THV vapes thus eventually suffering from lung injuries. This was mainly because the CDC and many other government organizations were not categorical on the primary cause of the injuries and continued to refer to them as EVALI.
The name EVALI contains the word “e-cigarette” but all evidence shows that it is vitamin E- acetate in contaminated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) vapes that Couse the problem. No element found in nicotine e-cigarettes has been linked to the problem. Therefore, the continued use of this name is misleading and has even made many people who had switched to e-cigarettes go back to smoking.
The experts now want the CDC to change the name of the condition to save many people who still use the wrong products and may be at risk of suffering from the condition. This is not the first time researchers have looked into changing the name. In 2021 the experts who authored the editorial together with 68 other experts in the medical field formally wrote to the CDC to have it remove any reference to the “e-cigarette” in the name EVALI and instead substitute it with the phrase “Adulterated THC” but the CDC rejected their petition.
