Photographer: Andrew Burton / Getty Images
Photographer: Andrew Burton / Getty Images
Cannabis vaping may put teens at greater risk of developing symptoms of lung injury than those who smoke cigarettes or marijuana, or who evaporate nicotine, according to a new study.
Adolescents were about twice as likely to breathe or whistle in their chest as those who used or smoked e-cigarettes, findings from the University of Michigan showed. The researchers also evaluated whether participants reported a dry cough at night that was not linked to a temporary infection, or that it was squeaky during exercise.
The findings challenge conventional wisdom that smoking cigarettes or vaping nicotine is the most harmful to the lungs, says Carol Boyd, the lead researcher and a professor at the University of Nursing.
“Without a doubt, cigarettes and e-cigarettes are unhealthy and not good for the lungs,” Boyd said in a statement on the university’s website. “But vaping marijuana looks even worse.”
The researchers did not find that using e-cigarettes or cigarettes led to more breathing symptoms in teens who participated in the study. They did not specify where the cannabis products were purchased and whether they were legal.
Vaping devices have become an increasingly popular way to consume cannabis, also in the form of wax or oil. A wave of mysterious lung diseases and deaths related to evaporation has rocked the industry ahead of the coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally have a link to vitamin E-acetate, which has been used as a cutting agent in e-liquids which contains THC, the main active ingredient in marijuana – often in illegal products.
Read more: Even Nobel Prize-winning chemists do not know what is in your weeds Vape
The University of Michigan study included thousands of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 who reported symptoms in the state itself Population assessment of tobacco and health study. One of the limitations of the report is that it does not look at the co-use of armed cannabis and cigarettes or e-cigarettes, the researchers said.
Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News’ older Bloomberg MP, campaigned and donated money in support of a U.S. ban on flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco.
(Updates detailing cannabis products from fifth paragraph.)