The 18-year-old died of respiratory failure. According to the Belgian authorities, it is the mixture of cannabidiol and vitamin E acetate contained in the liquid of the electronic cigarette which would have caused his death.
After the United States, Belgium must also face its first death linked to the use of electronic cigarettes: that of Raphaël, an 18-year-old young man from Brussels who died on November 6 of respiratory failure.
According to the Belgian authorities, it is vaping that is the cause of this premature death. “The link with the electronic cigarette is established”, thus affirmed Thursday, November 14 Maggie De Bock, the Minister of Health, before the House of Representatives. “There is no other explanation for severe pneumonia in this patient. (…) I asked my services to gather more information on the circumstances of the “Our government’s current policy on e-cigarettes will soon be updated based on new advice from the Superior Health Council ”, she further clarified in front of the deputies.
A toxic mix of CBD and vitamin E acetate
As in the United States, where electronic cigarette refills sold on the black market have caused lung diseases in more than 2,000 vapers, as well as 39 deaths, it is probably a cannabis derivative that is at the origin of the death of the young man.
In early November, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) managed to identify the name of the offending molecule: vitamin E acetate, a vitamin oil added to cannabidiol (CBD) refills and which, inhaled or heated, becomes toxic.
“These analyzes provide direct evidence that vitamin E acetate is the main cause of damage in the lungs,” said Anne Schuchat, deputy director of the CDC.
Quoted by several media, Raphaël’s father confirmed that his son “tested CBD by vaping with his brother and his mother around mid-September. “They got nothing,” he added. A fortnight after inhaling CBD, Raphaël suffered a violent cough, which turned into bronchitis. Hospitalized on October 4, he was placed in an artificial coma on October 10 when his lungs stopped working.
The electronic cigarette increasingly criticized
This new death comes as the electronic cigarette is increasingly singled out for its harmfulness to lung health. In a report published last July, the World Health Organization (WHO) considered that electronic cigarettes were “unquestionably harmful” and represented a “health risk”.
An opinion shared by researchers who, in October, published in the BMJ an extensive meta-analysis that sheds light on the effects of vaping on the respiratory system. According to its authors, the presence in e-liquids of substances such as nicotine, propylene glycol/vegetable glycerin and flavorings would increase “bronchitis-like symptoms, increased asthma, shortness of breath”, as well as the risk lung damage and immunosuppression, such as increased susceptibility to bacterial or viral infections.
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