KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has started a criminal investigation into the nationwide increase of lung disease and deaths related to vaping and e-cigarettes that have killed seven people.
The investigation by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI), which was launched “shortly after” the mysterious lung illnesses were recorded, will focus on identifying what is making people sick as well as the supply chain.
“We are in desperate need of facts,” Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, told reporters in a call, according to The Huffington Post.
“Let me be clear, OCI is not pursuing any prosecutions associated with personal use of any controlled substances in these cases.”
“Although the investigation continues, no consistent e-cigarette pen or vaping product, substance, additive, or brand has been identified in all cases,” Dr Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
“Nor has any one product or substance been conclusively linked to lung injury in patients.”
The probe follows widespread recordings of seven deaths and 530 cases of illnesses associated with vaping habits in the nation.
