电子烟健康危机:导致肺部疾病和癫痫

Vaping health crisis: the latest on lung injuries, and seizures

电子烟健康危机:导致肺部疾病和癫痫

Over the last several years, public health authorities have sounded the alarm about teenagers vaping — especially as the popular Juul vape took off on social media. But the more recent safety crises in vaping are a little more concrete: exploding vape pens, seizures, and lung injuries.

过去几年，公共卫生部门已发出关于青少年抽电子烟的危险信号——尤其是在Juul电子烟风靡社交媒体的时候。但近来，有关电子烟的安全隐患变得更为具体：电子烟笔爆炸、癫痫和肺部疾病。

Before the attention-grabbing lung injuries, lawmakers were already nervous about how many kids were taking up vaping. In December 2018, the US Surgeon General declared vaping "an epidemic."

在肺部疾病爆发前，立法者已对越来越多的青少年抽电子烟一事感到焦虑。2018年12月，美国公共卫生总监宣称，电子烟是“一种流行病。”

Some of vaping's risks have to do with their batteries, which can explode. Those explosions are rare, but sometimes deadly. Since June 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reported an uptick in reports of vaping-related seizures. Vaping has also been linked to a spate of lung injuries, some of them deadly, too — though it's unclear what precisely is causing the injuries.

电子烟的某些风险与其电池爆炸相关。虽然爆炸案例极为少见，但有时一旦发生，却会带来致命后果。自2018年6月，美国食品与药品监管局关于与电子烟相关的癫痫发作的报道已有所增加。电子烟还与一系列的肺部疾病相关，有些也是致命疾病——尽管造成这些疾病的具体原因尚不明确。

Policymakers have begun to take action: banning flavored vapes, for instance. The FDA has warned consumers not to use THC vapes. Some companies have also stopped selling e-cigs. Vape makers are still DIYing their own vape liquids, though, and teenagers have proven crafty in getting around age bans.

政策制定者已开始采取行动，例如：禁止多口味电子烟。美国食品与药品监管局已警告消费者不要抽四氢大麻酚电子烟。有些公司已停止出售电子烟。然而，电子烟生产商仍在自己制作电子烟油，而青少年也有各种各样的方法应对年龄限制问题。

Still, safety studies on vapes lag well behind the industry's popularity. The long-term effects of vaping are unknown; vapes are probably better than smoking, but that doesn't necessarily make them safe. We know so far that using high voltages in vapes can release formaldehyde-causing chemicals; we also know that vaping exposes users to more toxic chemicals and heavy metals than people who don't vape. We also know that vaping might increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, nicotine is still addictive — and we know addiction can be distressing.

尽管如此，关于电子烟的安全性研究仍比不上该行业的受欢迎程度。长期抽电子烟所产生的影响尚不可知；电子烟也许比香烟更健康，但这并不意味着它就是绝对安全的。到目前为止，我们知道电子烟设备使用高压会释放引起甲醇的化学物质；我们也知道，相比不抽电子烟的人而言，抽电子烟会使烟民接触更多的有毒化学物质和重金属。我们还知道，电子烟可能会增加人们患心脏病的风险。此外，尼古丁依旧会使人上瘾——我们知道，上瘾是十分痛苦的。

As of August 2019, the FDA had received 127 reports of seizures or other neurological symptoms. That's over the course of about a decade, but it's still pretty alarming. That investigation kicked off in April 2019, after three cases involving both seizures and Juul use were brought to the attention of the FDA in the fall of 2018. That investigation is still ongoing.

截至2019年8月，美国食品与药品监管局已收到127例关于癫痫或其他神经系统症状的报告。虽然统计时长跨度约为10年，但这一数据依然使人震惊。2019年4月前连续发生了3起癫痫发作案例，且2018年秋天Juul电子烟的使用也引起了美国食品与药品监管局的注意。相关部门自此展开了调查，目前调查仍在继续。