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E-cigarettes Are Not Healthy. As the popularity of e-cigarettes across the country has spiked, so has the number of cases of a dangerous, deadly, and mysterious respiratory illness

Vaping, the increasingly popular practice of inhaling vapor from a device by heating a liquid that can contain nicotine, marijuana, or other drugs, has been used in the United States for over a decade and has been considered safer than traditional cigarettes because it doesn’t burn tobacco. However, recent reports of deaths and serious illness and injury have made health and government officials begin to look more closely at the safety of this new trend.

Risks Associated with Vaping

Hundreds of people across the United States have been diagnosed with a mysterious respiratory illness that has one common link: vaping. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been over 200 confirmed cases of the disease in 25 states between June 2019 and August 2019, alone. Each patient reported using e-cigarette and vaping products. In New York had alone, doctors have reported 34 cases of severe pulmonary illness.

So far, two people have died and many more have become severely ill – some requiring oxygen support through ventilators, others put into medically induced comas, and some experiencing seizures. The majority of the patients are in their late teens to mid-twenties, and none of them have any underlying health issues that may have contributed to the symptoms.

There are several symptoms that the patients have in common:
As the popularity of e-cigarettes across the country has spiked, so has the number of cases of a dangerous, deadly, and mysterious respiratory illness.

• Coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Chest pain
• Difficulty breathing • Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Weight loss

Because there is no known cause, treating patients has become increasingly difficult. On August 23, 2019, officials reported the first death caused by the mysterious respiratory illness. The 30- year old female patient came down with symptoms of the mysterious respiratory disease after vaping, became hospitalized, and soon died.

What is Causing Health Scares?

One of the biggest concerns is that Vitamin E might be a contributing factor to the health problems. Vitamin E is found naturally in some foods and its oil, known as vitamin E acetate, is a common nutritional supplement used in topical skin treatments.

While vitamin E acetate is not known to cause harm when ingested as a vitamin supplement or applied to the skin, experts warn that its molecular structure can be dangerous when inhaled. Vitamin E acetate must be very hot to vaporize; and once it does, it decomposes, subjecting users to inhale all kinds of unknown substances.

When the vapor cools down in the lungs, it returns to its original state and coats the lungs with whatever other chemicals were used in the vape.

Big Vape Companies Did Nothing to Warn Users of the Risks

Aside from the concerns over Vitamin E acetate, vaping products have been found to contain extremely harmful chemicals in the liquid, and use dangerous materials in the devices.

Harmful Material in the Devices

• Paint
• Fuel
• Hexamine (barbecue lighter fluid)
• Cadmium (used in car batteries)
• Toluene (industrial solvent)
• Acetic Acid (vinegar)
• Fuel
• Heavy metals like nickel and lead
• Aerosol
• Chromium
• Butane (lighter fluid) Nicotine
• Ammonia (harsh cleaning compound)
• Carbon Monoxide
• Arsenic (poison)
• Diacetyl (linked to lung disease)
• Stearic Acid (candle wax)
• Propylene Glycol (creates artificial smoke)
• Turpentine (harsh paint stripper)

E-cigarettes Are Not Healthy, E-cigarette Companies Are Not Doing Enough

There is currently very little, if any, regulation on e-cigarettes, and the FDA and CDC are only now getting involved because of the serious health concerns. This lack of regulation has created the perfect storm: money hungry e-cigarette companies that are pumping out deadly, unregulated, pretty products to users while the demand is at a high, and unsuspecting users enjoying a fad, unaware of the deadly consequences it may have.

On December 18, 2018, the U.S. Surgeon General declared e-cigarettes as an epidemic and described a “historic, unprecedented increase” in use. The Department of Health and Human Services noted that because vaping products contain a variety of chemicals and metal particles with an unknown long-term health impact, it declared a “youth vaping public health emergency.” The federal government banned the sale of vaping products to minors.

But while government and health officials are swift to address the concerns around vapes, e- cigarette advocates and e-cigarette companies, like Juul, have done the bare minimum to protect users from the harmful chemicals and possible adverse health effects caused by using vapes.

The American Vaping Association (AVA), which promotes e-cigarettes, blasted Michigan’s announcement of banning all flavored e-cigarette cartridges as E-cigarettes Are Not Healthy.

The AVA vowed to support any lawsuits challenging the rules limiting e-cigarettes. AVA president Greg Conley argued, “This shameless attempt at backdoor prohibition will close down several hundred Michigan small businesses and could send tens of thousands of ex-smokers back to deadly combustible cigarettes. These businesses and their customers will not go down without a fight.”

While a Juul spokesman conceded that flavored cartridges enticed teens to use vapes and it supports the decision to stop selling them, Juul believes that its menthol products, including its mint flavor, encourage adult smokers to switch from cigarettes to e-cigarettes and e-cigarettes should be available for purchase where tobacco and menthol-based cigarettes are sold.

Juul’s response is weak at best, and shows how little the company is concerned about the health of its users. E-cigarette users have the right to know what they are ingesting and e-cigarettes must become honest about the products they are pushing before it’s too late.

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Last year, Montana established an asbestos claims court specifically to hear cases that stem mostly from the Libby disaster involving W. R. Grace and Company and their asbestos-tainted vermiculite mine. Now, still overburdened by suits brought against Grace and others, the Montana Supreme Court has added six more judges to the claims court.

Though it’s been two decades since news of this asbestos disaster – one of the worst environmental disasters in the country – came to light, Libby residents and those close to them are still affected each and every day, mostly because hundreds of them have developed asbestos-related diseases.

Experts suggest that the backlog of cases from those harmed by the vermiculite in Grace’s mine may take a few more decades to be tried.

That’s not good news for many who have already had cases pending for more than 15 years, reports Montana Public Radio, but there is hope that the most recent appointment will help ease the burden of judges who already seem to be hearing cases all day, every day.

“Many [cases] have been tied up because of federal bankruptcy filings by W.R. Grace, the company that mined asbestos in Libby, which prevented the cases from proceeding in state court,” MTPR reported.

“Now that the federal proceedings have ended, Montana’s asbestos claims court has identified more than 2,200 pending cases alleging asbestos exposure against more than 40 individual defendants. The supreme court’s appointment of six more judges this month is a relief to attorneys and claimants in the thick of the battle.”

Montana formed the claims court not only to assist claimants/plaintiffs but also defendants whose own attorneys are consistently tied up in court.

The number of cases is a burden on everyone, MTPR points out, and frustrating for anyone involved on either side of the fence. District Judge Amy Eddy in Flathead County, Montana was the first appointed to the special asbestos claims court, and she says adding six more judges “only scratches the surface of the demand for legal resolutions.”

“Well, frankly it’s not nearly enough,” Eddy says. “We’ve got hundreds and hundreds of cases to try across primarily northwest Montana.”

“The Asbestos Claims Court is handling some of the most long-standing and complicated toxic exposure cases that the judiciary has handled in Montana,” Eddy explains. “I’m unaware of any other litigation with this scope of complexity and history in the state courts.”

Because so many Montana residents have died or been sicken by asbestos exposure, the state reports that they expect as many as 200 additional cases each year for at least the next decade or so, which means the state Supreme Court may likely need to consider appointing even more judges to join the seven already in place, all of which are voluntarily taking on the job of “asbestos judge” without further compensation above and beyond their regular salaries.

All work ceased at a suburban Philadelphia rock quarry in mid-December when workers discovered naturally-occurring asbestos at the site.

Employees at the Rockhill Quarry in East Rockhill, Bucks County, Pennsylvania exposed the fibrous material during routine excavation work and immediately contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to report the find. The DEP gave strict orders on how to proceed.

“The DEP ordered all mining, rock crushing and sizing, and other related activities at the quarry cease,” DEP spokeswoman Virginia Cain told the Bucks County Courier Times. “DEP has requested a letter from the operator outlining the most recent sampling and positive asbestos analysis, what additional investigations they are going to perform to address the recent asbestos test results, and the potential for additional asbestos-form minerals to be present at the site.”

She added that “no material is thought to have left the site,” and that the work stoppage would continue until the order was rescinded by the DEP.

The quarry is owned by Hanson Aggregates Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement, but is being leased and operated by Richard E. Pierson Materials Corp., a company that is currently working on a large construction project on the nearby Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Naturally-occurring asbestos isn’t all that common in the northeast portion of the country. Much more often, it’s found in the West and Southwest.

As a matter of fact, there have been instances in many locales in those parts of the country where the building of highways and housing developments had to be halted because of the discovery of dangerous asbestos rock.

However, Jeff Sieg, a spokesperson for Hanson Aggregates, downplayed the Rockhill Quarry find and told the newspaper that the discovery “does not indicate unsafe levels in the air, and there are no indications that the employees or surrounding community were at risk.” Hopefully, he’s correct.

The workers who discovered the asbestos seemed to be quick about identifying it and then reporting it. That allowed for minimum exposure and meant that no asbestos-containing rock made its way to the construction sites on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, where others could have been affected as well.

Sieg added that operations at the quarry could be suspended for some time and that – along with the DEP – the company is developing an operating plan that includes mitigation measures.

Despite a huge increase of asbestos imports into the United States, the Trump administration has denied a petition by an alliance of environmental groups who have called for increased reporting of asbestos importation as well as reports of use by U.S. manufacturers.

Involved in the coalition were the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Together they had requested that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) use its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to require importers and users of asbestos and asbestos-containing products to report on their activities and then disclose these reports to the public, allowing information about asbestos to flow freely.

But the EPA said “no”, it will not implement additional reporting on imports and usage of the toxic mineral. In denying the petition, the agency claimed that it is “aware of all ongoing uses of asbestos” and that there is no need for the information to be disseminated any further.

So why the concern? Because recent federal data shows a huge surge in asbestos imports into the U.S. for the year 2018, which leads one to believe that the EPA does not fully understand where and how much asbestos is being put to use in various places and industries throughout the country.

To those advocating for an asbestos ban or – at least – better control of the asbestos that’s already being used, this loose regulation of the mineral is simply not acceptable. Furthermore, the increase in imports is staggering and certainly should raise a red flag.

The U.S. International Trade Commission reports that in August 2018 alone, the U.S. imported 272 metric tons of asbestos, compared with just 13 metric tons in July.

“President Trump’s EPA not only refused to ban asbestos, which kills tens of thousands each year, it won’t even take a closer look at how much is imported and where and how it’s being used by companies,” said ADAO President and Co-Founder Linda Reinstein. “The hundreds of thousands of deaths caused from asbestos in the U.S. alone should be reason enough for the Trump administration to better inform the public about potential routes of exposure.”

“Ratcheting up reporting requirements for one of the deadliest substances known would be a layup for any other president or EPA chief,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “Shamefully, under Trump and Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, the agency is no longer in the business of promoting policies that protect public health. Instead, Trump and Wheeler have turned the EPA into an extension of the chemical industry, putting Americans’ lives at risk by rubber-stamping the industry’s deregulatory agenda.”

If you’re an HGTV junkie, chances are you’ve seen those renovation shows where the handsome host contractor comes across asbestos in his current project, groans a little, and then proceeds to tackle the problem quickly so that he can continue with that all-important renovation, which is scheduled to take only 10 days and cost just $10,000.

It’s a nice scenario, but such a scene generally does not accurately portray the time and money it takes to properly remove asbestos-containing materials from a home. In addition, shows like these don’t often mention that the abatement and disposal of toxic asbestos materials need to be done by a professional.

In Australia, where more than 4.000 individuals die each year from asbestos-related diseases, the government is urging DIY shows produced in that country to do a better job of warning the general public about the dangers of dealing with asbestos and the risks faced when it’s not handled properly.

Rod Smith, of Australia’s Bernie Banton Foundation – a group of individuals determined to bring attention to the plight of mesothelioma sufferers – believes that education paves the way to managing and preventing asbestos exposure and believes that DIY shows in his country and others simply aren’t doing what it takes to stress the seriousness of the issue.

“They are deadly,” Mr. Smith said of the renovation shows. “If we had our way, they would run warning banners at the bottom and during the program,” he added, stressing that he believes DIY projects – so popular these days – could usher in a whole new wave of mesothelioma cases in Australia and maybe in the United States as well.

Part of the problem, he opines, is the fact that most asbestos diseases don’t surface for 20, 30, or 40 years from exposure, making it difficult to raise alarm among those who are currently being irresponsible with asbestos during DIY and other construction projects. The consequences are just too far in the future.

But Smith is determined not to give up. He also believes that hardware stores and other places that sell equipment to DIYers should advertise the risks of asbestos with signs, fliers, and other types of warnings. “I wouldn’t know about it unless I had the disease,” he said. “They have signs for everything else, but not this. And this is a killer.”

Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations after it built more than 40 mobile and modular home parks in California for alleged violations of California asbestos-related laws at its many properties.

According to the Marin Independent Journal, the settlement resolves litigation filed by ten different California counties against Equity Lifestyle Properties Inc. and two related entities, MHC Operating Limited Partnership and Realty Systems Inc.

Prosecutors in Marin County recently joined the case because one of the properties in question is in San Rafael in that county.

In addition to the monetary settlement where the Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations, the company will also be required to spend $250,000 on an environmental project involving solar power installations capable of generating at least 100,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year. It can fulfill this obligation at one or more properties in the state, the settlement details note.

The alleged violations took place over a period of nine years – from 2005 to 2014 – and involved a variety of infractions that occurred during renovation and demolition projects.

These included failure to protect workers from asbestos exposure, improper asbestos disposal, failure to complete the necessary asbestos inspections before commencing work, and failure to regulate or monitor air quality during projects that involved the removal of asbestos.

Though the owners of Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. did not respond to requests by the Marin Independent Journal for an interview, Marin authorities noted that they found the company to be very responsive and that they were eager to right the wrongs they had done.

Still, one wonders why – in this day – companies would fail to follow rules about asbestos removal, considering what is known about the dangers of the toxic mineral and the diseases it can cause when tiny asbestos fibers are inhaled.

It’s likely that those who worked for Equity Lifestyle Properties during renovations and demolitions that involved asbestos will consider suing the company for failure to keep them safe.

And why not? It’s these individuals that could eventually be diagnosed with diseases such as mesothelioma cancer, caused when asbestos fibers become lodged in the lungs and form tumors.

It’s an aggressive disease that kills quickly but is totally avoidable, especially in instances such as this one.

Yet behavior like this will no doubt continue, especially by individuals who are looking to cut corners by skirting laws that will cost them a little more money like Chicago Company to Pay $1.5 million for asbestos violations.

They avoid paying dollars while their workers pay with their health and – potentially – their lives.

The New York Supreme Court has ruled that Ford Motor Company is not responsible for the death of an individual who worked as a garage mechanic on Ford automobiles for decades and was regularly exposed to asbestos-containing auto parts.

In the case of Mary Juni versus Ford, A. O. Smith Water Products, et al, the court found that Ford Motor Company is not responsible “viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to establish that respondent Ford Motor Company’s conduct was a proximate cause of the decedent’s injuries …”.

Hence, the $11 million verdict originally awarded to Mrs. Juni – whose husband Arthur Juni died of aggressive mesothelioma a few years ago – was rescinded.

In the suit, Mr. Juni claimed that Ford’s failure to warn him of the dangers of exposure to its asbestos-containing products was a substantial cause of his illness.

Although the jury returned a verdict in his favor, finding Ford Motor Company to be 49 percent liable, Supreme Court granted Ford’s motion to set aside the verdict.

During the trial, expert witnesses for the plaintiff testified that at the time of Arthur Juni’s employment, Ford products such as brake pads and clutches contained chrysotile asbestos and that Juni would have definitely inhaled asbestos dust caused by the work he and other mechanics in the garage were performing.

The jury also saw various internal Ford documents which demonstrated that Ford recognized that friction products in its vehicles “overexposed” mechanics to asbestos fibers, which could cause cancer, and noted that while Ford took steps to protect its own employees from exposure to dust from these products, it did not reach out to others who performed after-production work on their automobiles.

While this current case was not a victory for the plaintiff, many other mechanics have successfully sued Ford and other automobile manufacturers for illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos.

Every case is different, of course, and many who have been touched by asbestos diseases have been successfully in gaining compensation to assist with medical bills and other expenses.

In December, the Reuters News Agency published a major report which homed in on the fact that Johnson & Johnson executives knew about asbestos contamination in the company’s talc for decades yet told no one.

And now, the fall-out begins.

Drug inspectors in India were among the first to react, seizing samples of Johnson & Johnson’s famous Baby Powder from a factory in Baddi, intent on testing them to determine whether there is indeed asbestos present.

“On the basis of the news report, we are alerting staff to pick up samples. We will test them in a drug control lab here,” regional drug officer Surendranath Sai told Reuters.

It seems investors aren’t too happy with the latest revelations either. Reports show that J&J lost $50 billion in market value after the report was released. The company has also announced share buyback plans of up to $5 billion, Reuters notes in an article released earlier today.

Much of the negative publicity surrounding Johnson & Johnson and its talc-based products came about after a jury awarded $4.7 billion to 22 women with ovarian cancer in a trial that concluded this past July. All the women had been long-time users of J&J’s talc products.

Many began using baby powder during childhood and continued well into adulthood. They had no other exposure to asbestos. That case is now on appeal.

J&J has been successful in some appeals, failed in others. Nonetheless, the negative publicity has certainly drawn attention to the many inter-company memos that surfaced during trials, hinting at the fact that there was plenty of awareness within J&J that there might be an asbestos problem.

The Reuters exposé sealed the deal, with both product users and investors starting to doubt the safety of talc products that have long been staples of the American household.

Time will tell how much Johnson & Johnson will be affected by these realizations.

Reports show that there are already about 11,000 pending lawsuits filed against the company by talcum powder users that are now suffering from either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma. And who can blame them for taking the next step and going after J&J?

After all, it looks like the proof is now in the pudding…or, in this case, the talc.

After a 3-year promise that asbestos would disappear from their country, Canadians are delighted that the ban will begin this coming Sunday, though many advocates rallying for those with asbestos diseases say the country still has a long way to go in making the ban all-inclusive.

The federal regulations that were announced this past fall serve to fulfill a 2016 promise by the government that will prohibit the import, sale, and use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products. But there are still some exceptions.

“Although it’s not a total ban, it’s a step in the right direction,” Sandra Kinart, with the Sarnia group Victims of Chemical Valley, told the Sarnia Observer. “We will still be persevering on driving change for the future.”

The term “Chemical Valley” refers to a 15-mile-wide area in Sarnia, Ontario that includes some 60 chemical plants and oil refineries. Situated on Lake Ontario, the town is home to about 72,000 residents and scores of them (as well as generations before them) work for the industries there.

Whereas the smoke stacks in the region were once a sign of the province’s industrial prosperity, the high concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere now make Sarnia the most polluted location in Canada.

Most affected by the toxins is the Aamjiwnaang First Nations Reserve, which is literally surrounded by the vast amount of industry. Waves of various illnesses in that community can likely be blamed on exposure to hazards like asbestos and a variety of other chemicals.

According to Atlas Obscura, large companies like Dow Chemical, Sunoco, and Shell have denied problems in the area and insist that their plants are/were not responsible for illnesses or poor air quality in and around Sarnia.

However, the members of Victims of Chemical Valley feel differently. The organization, which was formed by widows and relatives of asbestos-exposed industrial workers in the Sarnia area, say the rate of mesothelioma among men in their community is more than five times the national average.

Even the local rate of asbestos-caused cancer among women has averaged three times the provincial average.

Those are notable figures, say Kinart and her fellow organization members, and she doesn’t like the fact that some uses of asbestos will be around for at least another 6 years.

That includes the asbestos used in the production of chlorine and caustic soda as well as some uses of residues left from mining asbestos, including extracting magnesium from the tailings left over after mining ceased in Canada in 2011.

Experts tell Kinart that the process used for extracting magnesium destroys the asbestos, but she’s skeptical.

“To me, that’s a great concern,” she told the Observer “When you know an asbestos fibre is so fine you cannot see it with the human eye, how are they going to get that out?”