Governor declares public-health emergency, bans all vaping products

By adamg on Tue., 9/24/2019 - 2:43 pm

Gov. Charlie Baker today ordered a four-month ban on the sale of all vaping aerosol products for four months as public-health officials try to figure out what's making vapers sick, MassLive.com reports.

Free tagging:

public health

Vaping

Charlie Baker

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Comments

Thank you..

By Lee
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 9:31pm

... swirlygirl.

Absolutely true.

It is complicated which is different from fake

By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/26/2019 - 9:24am

The problem is that you have to go deep in the weeds to get an answer.

It was claimed in some early studies that NNK is not formed in vivo (13, 15), but more recent data do not support this view. Thus, although the level of NNK in the Swedish snus is much lower than in the old type of snuff and in cigarette smoke (16), the level of total NNAL (a NNK metabolite) in urine from users of Swedish snus is still considerable, and only reduced to about half of that found in smokers and in users of old type snuff (Table â€‹(Table1).1). The level of total NNAL is also increased among users of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) (17) compared with non-smokers exposed to ETS (18). It is of interest that the risk of cancer of the pancreas appears not to diverge materially between the different tobacco products

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553893/

In small doses, nicotine speeds up cell growth. In larger doses, itâ€™s poisonous to cells.
Nicotine kick-starts a process called epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is one of the important steps in the path toward malignant cell growth.
Nicotine decreases the tumor suppressor CHK2. This may allow nicotine to overcome one of the bodyâ€™s natural defenses against cancer.
Nicotine can abnormally speed up the growth of new cells. This has been shown in tumor cells in the breast, colon, and lung.
Nicotine can lower the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

https://www.healthline.com/health/does-nicotine-ca...

Nicotine does effect the attention span and memory, but it isn't safe. I am old enough to remember working with mentally ill adults and how scared we were to stop letting them smoke inside. It kept them calm, but they all died in their 50's.

It casues death though

By Scauma
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 8:36am

Which is worst than cancer. You shouldn't inhale chemicals into your lungs. Stick to the real stuff, weed.

CUSTOMER: I would like to stop doing this thing which...

By uhub-fan (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 7:58pm

...might kill me. What do you have for me?

BUSINESS: We have this other thing that might kill you.

CUSTOMER: Yeah, sign me up for that!

great!

By anon (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 3:21pm

let's do the same for guns, which are arguably even deadlier.

If addicted, switch to cigarettes

By mg
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:16pm

No, I'm not joking. Cigarettes are dangerous in the long run, but vaping is causing severe lung damage extremely quickly.

Sadly, my guess is that people will find these online anyway.

I'll add that my Dentist also

By Patriciax (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 5:09pm

I'll add that my Dentist also remarked that with E Cigarettes or Vaping you are inhaling a much hotter material than a cigarette, joint or bowl. He routinely inspects his patients mouths for cancers, etc and he is now keeping an eye out for heat related damage.

Honestly

By ElizaLeila
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 4:32pm

Learn how the equipment works. Especially the modifiable ones. Each user controls the temp. Some people don't want it that hot.

Grotesque overkill

By anon (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:17pm

There is no public health emergency surrounding vaping. There is, statistically, a very small number of people who had severe adverse reaction to whatever was added to the mostly thx vaping product they got off the street. Dealers cut their products with often dangerous base.

But big tobacco are gloating. Many will smoke tobacco products which is far more dangerous than vaping using products from legit sources.

And please stop with the nicotine demonization. Nicotine is not dangerous unless you ingest a massive amount (in which case you would throw up and be fine). Nicotine is pretty much similar to caffeine. It is not the cause of cancer the vast majority of people who smoke tobacco and get cancer, get.

Sue the state. Nice, big, fat class action lawsuits.

If you need nicotine, buy the gum

By Ron Newman
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:28pm

Any drugstore will sell it to you.

brave Anon

By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/26/2019 - 9:27am

nicotine is not as safe as caffeine. Stop baiting people with dishonest propaganda

Too bad he did not move

By whyaduck
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:23pm

as fast to deal with the subway and commuter rail issues.

We all know drug bans work great

By jorf
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:27pm

Government hysteric logic: serious issue with black market vape oil causing lung damage (no incidents from the legal ones). Bans the legal ones!

Yes, the health cases are from black market oil. Yes this will mean more people ultimately resolve to using black market vape oil. Beyond stupid from a health policy standpoint.

Questions on whether teen nicotine usage is up or not aside, vaping has demonstrably done more to help people quit smoking than anything else over the years, which is a laudable accomplishment.

There's got to be a better

By David Sullivan (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 5:01pm

There's got to be a better way to tackle teen nicotine usage, than banning products for adults as well. As a lifetime smoker who started at 15, vaping nicotine on it's own is barely pleasurable - It really seems like it's designed as a crutch rather than a catalyst. There's much more to the smoking rush than just the nicotine. BUT, It is the ONLY product to have come out ever that attempts to tackle all the facets of smoking addiction. The physical, the stepping out, the inhale/exhale. Many smokers have wanted to find healthier alternatives for years, whether it be brands, less additives etc., but when you go searching for those, you're just met with the kneejerk 'smoking is bad', which has never been helpful. Of course there is a safer alternative. May not be safe, but safer. And this again seems another kneejerk dismissal of something that could and has helped many people.

Is this only ecig stuff?

By That person on the T (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:38pm

Will medical weed card patients still be able to get vaping stuff from their medical dispensary?

Read the article

By eekanotloggedin (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 10:38pm

Actually, no

By David Hodges (not verified)
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 9:17am

Luckily, I ordered two vape cartridges from NETA ("recreational") in Brookline yesterday morning, and I was able to pick up the filled order in the afternoon. But people in the "walk-up" line were told they would be unable to purchase vape cartridges.

This includes medical patients.

This is the problem with blanket bans. None of the reported cases in MA are from legal stores, where the products are tested and inspected before sale.

"What about the children?" is a ridiculous argument -- it is already illegal for anyone under 21 to even enter a dispensary. There is a minimum age to buy tobacco-based vapes. Alcohol and cigarettes are still legal, and kids use those illegally.

Peanut butter kills more people annually than reported vaping cases, but I was not stopped from buying a jar of Skippy. Ants and dogs combined kill more people annually. Texting while driving kills 6,000 people annually in the U.S. alone.

Knee-jerk reactions never work. Now many people who buy legal vape products will be forced back to the black market -- where the real dangerous stuff is in the first place.

Genius

By Jay (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:48pm

Now no one will be able to vape because itâ€™s illegal. Problem solved! Reminds me of when weed was illegal.

Even better is that small business smoke and vape shop owners will have NO problems keeping their businesses afloat. These next 4 months will be a real breeze for them.

Nobody gets addicted to LSD! It's made by scientists!

By section77 (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 4:57pm

It's always been a mystery to me why people who are given conspiracy theories agreed to be lab rats for vaping. You are trusting chemical companies and the FDA to keep you safe (pretty bad spot to be in). People here are talking about what oil their dispensary is using, as if those companies have a team of chemists going over lab results. Hate to tell you but the companies that you are buying these chemicals from (who you think are cool), are just passing along crap that came from the usual multi-nationals that you know are trouble. Enjoy.

Testing requirements

By tachometer
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 10:36am

"People here are talking about what oil their dispensary is using, as if those companies have a team of chemists going over lab results."

There are requirements for testing by an independent lab ("independent" is defined in the law) and release. They may have to update the list of what's allowed in THC cartridges based on evolving knowledge of the risks. The focus on THC carts seems to be on black market ones that are cutting the oil with a vitamin E compound that turns nasty when heated/burned (which would be compounded with the lower grade cartridges they're buying to fill.

Here's the publicly available information on what testing is required.

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/medical-use-of-m...

We aren't really there yet on the Chinese oils though, are we?

By section77 (not verified)
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 11:21pm

Everyone is suddenly grasping onto this theory that black market oils are to blame for all of these cases, but that's much more of an internet rumor thing rather than an actual scientifically proven thing. It sounds like a good explanation, but let me know when someone other than bros on chat boards start talking about this.

The oils aren't black market per se

By tachometer
Thu, 09/26/2019 - 8:58pm

It's not that it's "Chinese oil" but rather that the vitamin E acetate seems to be linked to the acute lung ailments we're seeing, whether it is sourced from the US or China is irrelevant but it is a more common cutting agent in black market carts. That's part of why the street carts are cheaper, they cut the contents down so that there is less THC per unit volume but often use inexpensive agents like vitamin E acetate to do it. Is it safe to assume that The NY State Department of Health is not made up of "internet bros" in your book?

The more chronic pneumonia ailment seems to be more closely linked to vaping propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine which increases lipids in the lung tissue. Or is The Journal of Clinical Investigation also an "internet bro" in your book?

There are known links between these pneumonia type lung ailments and breathing in oils (search for the lung cases linked to a diacetyl production at a facility that made artificial butter flavoring as an example) so why would you dismiss a connection between them and the intentional inhaling of oils that have been heated to a vapor?

It's early in understanding what's going on and there are a ton of open questions about all of the things involved (e.g. flavorings, composition/construction of cartridges, etc.) but to dismiss the observed correlations as an "internet rumor" on your part is seriously misguided even if the hysteria is probably beyond the risk at this point in time.

I'm going to take my car and

By anon (not verified)
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 5:13pm

I'm going to take my car and drive it to NH to buy lots vaping products.

I have to say this ...

By jmeltzer
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 7:03pm

Juul should not have hired Martha Coakley. :-)

Finally

By 617MoFoBecauseM...
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 7:14pm

Something 61seveners can unite on!!!

well...

By John-W
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 7:33pm

I guess it's easier than banning douchebags.

Who

By DotRat4Eva
Tue, 09/24/2019 - 8:32pm

Pray tell r u talking about on this comment feed? Hmmm?

Whatever happened to banning

By anon (not verified)
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 10:05am

Whatever happened to banning flavoring? That ban makes a lot more sense.

Slippery Slope

By In The Know (not verified)
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 11:23am

No matter what you think of vaping, when a senior elected official makes declarations like this, it sets the stage for a lot of push back from the people.

Consider Trumps declaration of a national emergency for his wall. Baker's declaration is in the same room.

A precautionary action

By Ron Newman
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 12:01pm

Is it that different from cancelling night-time outdoor activities (such as high school football, movies, and concerts) in towns where EEE-infected mosquitos have been found?

Not to sound too crazy

By cinnamngrl
Thu, 09/26/2019 - 9:32am

But this vaping health crisis is a good argument for federal legalization of weed. We need the resources for the FDA to properly study and regulate how weed is delivered to the body with different methods. Remember all the OD's from stupid people not understanding how eatables worked?

I'm a little taken aback by

By anon (not verified)
Wed, 09/25/2019 - 2:29pm

I'm a little taken aback by the ignorant venemous defense of a corproate chemical company product that is making teenagers sick.

It's a dirty habit that is

By anon (not verified)
Thu, 09/26/2019 - 7:20am

It's a dirty habit that is harming the lungs of otherwise healthy teens and adults. No 17 yr. old should be in the hospital for using a recreational product only for a few weeks. If you need a source: google it, watch local and/ or national news, pull your head out of the sand.