Electronic cigarettes, also known as vaping, burst on the scene a few years with the promise of being far safer than smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products. Among the younger generation – teens and millennials, vaping swept the masses as if it was a requirement for all to try.

For the first few years, the e-cigarette industry went largely unchecked and unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, even though there were a number of medical professionals who questioned the safety and health risks of vaping. I’m not a health professional, but common sense should cause everyone to wonder about the safety of this latest fad or epidemic. I don’t care what kind of smoke it is, smoke of any kind always brings some particles and chemicals into the lungs and that is NEVER a good thing. Yet, vaping continued to grow in popularity and unregulated until a number of health concerns began to surface.

In August, I reported:

Over the past year or so, I’ve shared with you a number of posts about some of the harmful effects of smoking e-cigarettes, aka vaping, that have been surfacing. Doctors in Wisconsin are discovering another harmful and dangerous impact of vaping, as reported:

Doctors in Wisconsin have confirmed new cases of lung disease tied to vaping, officials with the state Department of Health Services said Thursday.

The new cases included older people in addition to teens, all of whom reported vaping or “dabbing,” which is vaping marijuana oils, extracts or concentrates.

Officials have confirmed a total of 12 cases and are investigating 13 other cases…

Patients with confirmed cases range in age from teens to 30 years old and have come from Dodge, Door, Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Waukesha and Winnebago counties, officials said.

Cases under investigation include patients in their 50s, according to Wisconsin health department officials. 

Symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, cough and weight loss. 

Some of the teens reported having trouble doing routine tasks such as washing their hair and tying their shoes.

And yet, the FDA has FAILED to take any action in the face of the growing health issues. Some private companies, local and state governments decided it was time to take action, but in most cases, their actions fall far short of doing what they should to protect the health of millions.

Perhaps after what happened to a 17-year-old high school athlete in Detroit, the FDA will finally take action to stop or severely regulate the vaping industry. The teen’s lungs were so severely damaged from vaping that doctors had no choice but to perform a double lung transplant to save the teen’s life.

Hassan Nemeh, MD, surgical director of thoracic organ transplant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and one of the surgeons to perform the transplant, commented about the condition of teen’s lungs:

“What I saw in his lungs is something I never saw before, and I have been doing lung transplants for 20 years. This is an evil I have not faced before.”

Prior to the transplant, the teen was connected to a heart-lung machine just to keep him alive long enough to find a donor set of lungs.

How many more teens or older people will have to undergo lung transplants or die before the FDA will finally take action to stop vaping?