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The electronic cigarette is implicated in an epidemic of lung diseases in the United States. According to the US health authorities, 530 people suffer from these acute respiratory disorders. The disease, linked to vaping, has already killed seven people.
With our correspondent in Washington, Anne Corpet
Severe breathing difficulties, coughing, chest pain, nausea, or even diarrhea, the symptoms are now known and taken seriously: they have resulted in the deaths of seven people since July in the United States.
More than half of the 530 patients identified are under 25 years old, a quarter are minors, they live in 38 different states, and all of them have in common to have been followers of the electronic cigarette .
Sign of concern, the FDA, the Federal Agency for Drugs, launched a criminal investigation in parallel with the current health survey. Experts do not know what substance is causing the mysterious evil.
The patients used electronic cigarettes of various brands, and many patients inhaled products containing THC, the active ingredient of cannabis, which they often obtained illegally.
But the director of the federal agency warns: some patients have inhaled only standard products, sold the most legally in the world. 150 different samples are currently being analyzed.
■ France sets up a surveillance system
In France, the health authorities set up a surveillance system for e-cigarettes. Concern is growing among users of e-cigarettes, which dispense steam, with or without nicotine and with or without artificial flavor.
Manufacturers, poison control centers, Samu or doctors, they received the order of Public Health France, the agency of the Ministry of Health: the least suspect case of intoxication to the electronic cigarette must be reported. The goal, say the health authorities, is not to monitor the potential risks of vaping but to detect cases similar to those seen in the United States ...
Listen to our report 19/09/2019 - by Marie Casadebaig Play