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American Lung Assocation: FDA needs to crack down on vaping companies

Man vaping
"31202" by SmokeTastic is licensed under CC BY 2.0

In the wake of a lung disease epidemic related to vaping products that has taken over 40 lives nationwide, the American Lung Association (ALA) is calling out the Food and Drug Association (FDA)  for not regulating e-cigarette companies. According ot the ALA, vaping is dangerous, plain and simple, while the industry is flooded with products and oils that are unregulated. The result is hundreds of cases of lung disease across the nation, including another death just this past Monday in Louisiana.

And the ALA says, the FDA needs to crack down on vaping companies for marketing their products as a way to quit smoking actual tobacco cigarettes.

Dr. David Hill is with the ALA. He says, that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60% of smokers in Michigan will try to quit in 2020, as part of a new-years-resolution. He says, smokers need to quit, and switching to vaping doesn’t count.

“Switching to e-cigarettes is not quitting,” Hill said. “Switching is ending your addiction to nicotine. And we believe there are effective and proven ways to quit nicotine that people can pursue.”

The most effective way he says, is to seek help, and don’t go it alone. Use free services like 1-800-LUNGUSA or Freedom from Smoking counseling. And Hill says, everyone should quit vaping immediately.

One death has already been reported in Michigan from lung disease caused by vaping. And just last week, a Michigan teenager required a double lung transplant as a result of vaping.

 

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