Earlier this year, a 17-year-old ended up with a serious lung condition called bronchiolitis obliterans — better known as “popcorn lung.” He’d been vaping for three years.
Now, health experts are raising the alarm about how vaping could lead to this kind of permanent lung damage.
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Donal O’Shea, a chemistry professor from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been talking about just how serious this can be.
He says the real issue is the stuff used to flavor vapes. And it’s not new. Turns out, this problem goes back to when vapes first became a thing.
The term ‘popcorn lung’ originates from an industrial tragedy
In an article he wrote for The Conversation, Professor O’Shea shared where the term “popcorn lung” even came from.
Apparently, years ago, some workers at a microwave popcorn plant started getting really sick. Their lungs were damaged from a chemical they were breathing in at work. That chemical? Diacetyl.
The same harmful chemical is found in many flavored vapes
Here’s the scary part: that same diacetyl stuff is also found in a bunch of flavored vape liquids.
When it gets heated up and turned into a vapor, it becomes something you definitely don’t want to be breathing in. Professor O’Shea says it turns into a toxic inhalant.
This chemical causes irreversible lung damage
Professor O’Shea explains: “It causes inflammation and scarring in the bronchioles (the smallest branches of the lungs), making it increasingly difficult for air to move through.”
He warns: “There’s no cure for popcorn lung. Once the lungs are damaged, treatment is limited to managing symptoms.
“This can include bronchodilators, steroids, and in extreme cases, lung transplantation. For this reason, prevention — not treatment — is the best and only defence.”
The damage from breathing in diacetyl doesn’t go away. It sticks around. And it can seriously mess up your lungs.
Banning diacetyl hasn’t eliminated the risk
Diacetyl might be banned in e-cigarettes in places like the EU and the UK, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally gone.
Illegal vape products can still contain it. And it’s still used in products in the US and some other countries too.
Other toxic chemicals in vapes may trigger popcorn lung too
It’s not just about diacetyl either. Other nasty chemicals can cause similar problems.
Professor O’Shea notes: “Including volatile carbonyls like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde — both of which have also been detected in e-cigarette vapours.”
Flavored vape products include hundreds of unknown agents
There are loads of flavoring agents being used in vape liquids these days — over 180, according to Professor O’Shea.
And when those flavors are heated, they change.
He explains experts have estimated there being “over 180 different flavouring agents used in e-cigrarette products today” which, “when heated” break down into “new compounds” that haven’t all been “tested for inhalation safety.”
It’s impossible to isolate the exact cause in each case
“Because vapers’ lungs are exposed to so many chemicals, it’s not possible to directly prove that diacetyl is the cause of the disease in any specific case. But that doesn’t negate the proven risks of inhaling it,” he continues.
So yeah, even if you can’t always point to one exact cause, that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.
Combined exposure increases the danger
“Even if diacetyl isn’t the sole culprit, cumulative exposure to multiple chemicals and their byproducts could increase the risk of popcorn lung and other respiratory conditions.”
Basically, when your lungs are hit with a mix of chemicals like that, the risk just goes up.
Prevention is the only real solution
Subsequently, he believes ‘prevention’ rather than ‘treatment’ is the only way forward when it comes to vaping.
Once the damage is done, there’s really not much doctors can do. That’s why avoiding it in the first place is the safest move.