VAPE TRAGEDY
A SECOND death in the UK has been linked to vaping amid fears e-cigarette users are returning to tobacco.
The increasingly popular devices are seen as a safe alternative to smoking but a mysterious lung disease in the United States has been blamed on e-cigarettes.
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Terry Miller is thought to be the first Brit to have died from a lung disease linked to vaping.
The 57-year-old factory worker had oil in his lungs from vaping fluid that triggered lipoid pneumonia, prompting his widow to say he would have been better off smoking.
Now, the latest official data on electronic cigarettes suggests their use has been linked to another death, the Mail on Sunday reports.
There is concern among scientists that vapers are not quitting cigarettes in the mistaken belief that they are safer.
University College London research shows a recent dip in the numbers of people using e-cigarettes to quit smoking.
Instead, they are just quitting cigarettes and so dramatically increasing the risk of relapse or may stick to smoking.
How safe are e-cigarettes in the UK?
In the UK, e-cigarettes are tightly regulated for safety and quality.
They're not completely risk free, but they carry a small fraction of the risk of cigarettes.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke.
The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at much lower levels.
While nicotine is the addictive substance in cigarettes, it's relatively harmless.
Almost all of the harm from smoking comes from the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke, many of which are toxic.
Nicotine replacement therapy has been widely used for many years to help people stop smoking and is a safe treatment.
There's no evidence so far that vaping causes harm to other people around you.
This is in contrast to secondhand smoke from smoking, which is known to be very harmful to health.
Source: NHS
Professor of tobacco addiction at King’s College London, Ann McNeill, said that "tobacco is so uniquely harmful".
“We need to be careful that, when we hear these stories from the US we don’t deter people from using e-cigarettes," she said.
The vaping lung disease which is sweeping the United States has killed 37 people, figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal.
Officials yesterday confirmed 1,888 people have developed the illness, dubbed EVALI, in every state but Alaska.
More than 215 people, mostly otherwise healthy and in their teens or 20s, have shown up at hospitals with breathing difficulties.
One of those affected, Simah Herman, has shared a heart-wrenching photo of herself in a coma.
The 18-year-old was left fighting for her life just two weeks ago after her lungs failed and she could no longer breathe on her own.
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According to Public Health England, the main chemicals under suspicion in the US such as THC and Vitamin E acetate oil are not permitted in e-cigarettes in this country.
“We are as certain as ever that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking, which kills almost 220 people in England every day," says PHE.
“The evidence still shows that vaping carries a small fraction of the risk of smoking.”
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States that have so far reported vaping-related deaths
Alabama - 1
California - 3
Connecticut - 1
Delaware - 1
Florida - 1
Georgia - 3
Illinois - 2
Indiana - 3
Kansas - 2
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 1
Minnesota - 3
Mississippi - 1
Missouri - 1
Montana - 1
Nebraska - 1
New Jersey - 1
New York - 1
Oregon - 2
Pennsylvania - 1
Tennessee - 2
Texas - 1
Utah - 1
Virginia - 1
Washington - 1
Total: 37
Simah Herman, 18, reveals how her vaping-related illness almost was almost fatal