LANSING, Mich. — Health officials in the state of Michigan have announced an urgent consumer recall for marijuana vape cartridges after testing revealed that the products have exceedingly high levels of vitamin e acetate. Vitamin e acetate is an additive that health officials have identified as causing the epidemic of lung illnesses directly linked to […]
Marijuana Vape cartridges
LANSING, Mich. — Health officials in the state of Michigan have announced an urgent consumer recall for marijuana vape cartridges after testing revealed that the products have exceedingly high levels of vitamin e acetate. Vitamin e acetate is an additive that health officials have identified as causing the epidemic of lung illnesses directly linked to vaping. According to the Patch from Detroit, Michigan, the state’s marijuana regulatory authority announced the potential health crisis caused by tainted marijuana vaping products and instituted the recall program. The regulatory agency recalled nineteen individual products sold at various marijuana dispensaries across the state. The tainted products were available for sale before the state’s emergency rules concerning vitamin e acetate in vaping products went into effect on November 22, 2019.
Michigan’s Regulatory Agency for Marijuana announced the third recall in two months for vaping products that tested positive for excessively high levels of vitamin e acetate. Vitamin e acetate was singled out as the primary ingredient that leads to illnesses and deaths from vaping.
According to Michigan Live, the marijuana regulatory agency instituted stringent testing requirements on November 22, 2019. The agency determined that the recalled vaping products were made before the testing requirements became law. Regulators estimate that 3,400 vape cartridges were sold by authorized retailers in Michigan between April of 2019 and the first week of February 2020.
Interestingly, the state’s marijuana regulatory authority recalled vaping products sold after November 22, 2019, even if they passed the revised testing procedures. Regulators determined that the recalled cartridges were products of a larger batch of cartridges that failed testing. Consequently, the agency felt it advisable to recall all of the cartridges, even those that passed the testing, out of an exercise in due care and caution.
Vitamin e acetate is blamed for causing the death of at least 60 people and the hospitalization of about 2,700 others. Although used in cosmetics and food, vitamin e acetate is incompatible with normal lung functioning, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
