This is a first in Belgium. An 18-year-old man died of respiratory failure, attributed by the authorities to vaping and a mixture of harmful products in an electronic cigarette. nb "The link with the electronic cigarette is established.There is no other explanation for such a serious pneumonia in this patient," Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block said on Thursday.
Misuse
The minister was questioned in plenary sitting in the House after the revelation by several media of the recent death of a young Brussels man who had used an e-cigarette containing a derivative of cannabis.
According to the first elements of cannabidiol (CBD), a molecule with soothing properties, not stupefying and legal, but which can be sold on the black market mixed with harmful products.
The mixture with vitamin E acetate (oil), which has already caused deaths in the United States, is suspected. "The investigation must continue to establish the precise circumstances" of the young man's death, De Block said.
American epidemic
In a report published in July 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) found that e-cigarettes were "undeniably harmful" and could not be used as a tool to help stop smoking.
US health authorities have classified the e-cigarette as "dangerous" for young people while the number of high school students has increased almost twice in the country between 2017 and 2018.
The United States is all the more cautious that a mysterious epidemic of pulmonary diseases linked to vaping has already affected more than 2,000 American vapers and resulted in 39 deaths in that country.
The cause of the diseases has been attributed by the authorities to one of the ingredients of liquid refills with THC (the psychoactive substance of cannabis), mostly sold on the black market, vitamin E oil.