Published In
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2020
Subjects
Vaping -- toxicity, Electronic cigarettes -- Health aspects
Abstract
Recent efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and state authorities have led to the determination that vitamin E acetate (VEA) is strongly associated with e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) (1). VEA has been found in nearly all patient lung fluid samples analyzed and not observed in lung fluid from healthy cohorts. Despite strong evidence linking VEA to EVALI, its putative role as a causative agent has yet to be determined. To address the key issue of whether VEA is a just marker or a significant mediator of EVALI, Wu and O’Shea (2) report in PNAS that VEA reacts when aerosolized with an e-cigarette to produce the highly toxic gas ketene. Confirmation that VEA-derived ketene is a causative agent of EVALI must await rigorous clinical investigation. However, Wu and O’Shea (2) have in the meantime uncovered a compelling lead.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2020 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1073/pnas.2003384117
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/32853
Citation Details
Strongin, R. M. (2020). Toxic ketene gas forms on vaping vitamin E acetate prompting interest in its possible role in the EVALI outbreak. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(14), 7553-7554.