that vitamin E acetate, a cutting agent used in marijuana vape cartridges, is playing a role in the illnesses.
In a telephone briefing with reporters, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said evidence now suggests that vitamin E acetate was increasingly being added to cartridges containing THC - the high-producing compound in marijuana - beginning in June, when the outbreak began to ramp up.
In one report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, public health officials found that emergency room visits for the vaping lung injuries rose sharply beginning in June and peaked in September. Since then, emergency room visits have tapered off but still remain higher than when the outbreak started in June.
The study, which looked at lung samples from patients in 16 states, found vitamin E acetate in 94 percent of lung samples taken from patients who vaped THC.