Chemical Constituents Involved in E-Cigarette, or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)

Thivanka Muthumalage; Michelle R Friedman; Matthew D McGraw; Garry Ginsberg; Alan E Friedman; Irfan Rahman

doi:10.3390/toxics8020025

Chemical Constituents Involved in E-Cigarette, or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)

Toxics. 2020 Apr 3;8(2):25. doi: 10.3390/toxics8020025.

Authors

Thivanka Muthumalage¹, Michelle R Friedman², Matthew D McGraw³, Garry Ginsberg⁴, Alan E Friedman⁵, Irfan Rahman¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center Box 850, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
² Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The College of Brockport, State University of New York, Brockport, NY 14420, USA.
³ Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, University of Rochester Medical Center, School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
⁴ New York State Department of Health, Center for Environmental Health, Albany, NY 12237, USA.
⁵ Department of Materials Design and Innovation, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control declared e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) a national outbreak due to the high incidence of emergency department admissions and deaths. We have identified chemical constituents in e-cig counterfeit cartridges and compared these to medical-grade and CBD containing cartridges. Apart from vitamin E acetate (VEA) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), other potential toxicants were identified including solvent-derived hydrocarbons, silicon conjugated compounds, various terpenes, pesticides/plasticizers/polycaprolactones, and metals. This study provides additional insights into the chemicals associated with EVALI cartridges and thus may contribute to the underlying disease mechanism of acute lung injury.

Keywords: EVALI; THC; VAPI; Vaping; cannabis; e-cigarette; lipoid-pneumonia.