In this April 11, 2018, systematize photo, a high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus.
AP Photo | Steven Senne
The Provisions and Drug Administration has asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to assist in its investigation of a vaping illness that’s caused hundreds of living soul to fall ill in recent weeks, killing at least nine patients.
The health regulator also said it will take off after criminal charges against anyone who makes or sells e-cigarettes that have been tampered with and prime mover anyone to get sick.
“To be clear, if we determine that someone is manufacturing or distributing illicit, adulterated products that caused affection or death for personal profit, we would consider that a criminal act,” acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless testified before the As a gift Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday. He said the FDA’s probe is focused on vaping manufacturers, “following the supply chain to its origin,” not on individuals who’ve used the products.
Sharpless said the agency has called on the DEA for help because a number of the deaths have shot from people who’ve vaped THC, the ingredient in marijuana that produces a high.
The FDA recently issued a warning letter to Juul Labs for selling unauthorized, modified tobacco products, including at a presentation to children given at a school.
The agency said last week it will-power be opening up a criminal probe into the cause of the mysterious vaping-related lung disease, which resembles a rare custom of pneumonia. Hundreds of people have become sick from it so far, with nine people dying in recent weeks.
But numberless lawmakers have blamed the spike in teen e-cigarette use on the FDA’s 2017 decision to delay the review of the products.
In retrospect, “the FDA should’ve hoaxed sooner,” Sharpless said. The accelerated investigation should help the agency “catch up,” he added.
The Centers for Disease Govern and Prevention told consumers to avoid all vaping products as health officials work to figure out what’s making woman sick.
— CNBC’s Elijah Shama and Angelica LaVito contributed to this article.
Correction: This article was updated to consider the correct name of the Drug Enforcement Administration.