Belgium: The Death of an 18-year-old Attributed to the Use of the Electronic Cigarette

General News
The death of an 18-year-old attributed to the use of the electronic cigarette in Belgium

TOXIC: A Mixture of Cannabidiol with vitamin E acetate (oil), used in electronic cigarettes which has already caused deaths in the United States, is believed to have caused his death

It’s a first in the country. InBelgium, an 18-year-old man died of respiratory failure. The authorities attributed the death to the vaping and a mixture of harmful products contained in his electronic cigarette.

“The link with the electronic cigarette is established. There is no other explanation for this serious pneumonia in this patient, “said Health Minister Maggie De Block on Thursday. His cabinet then nuanced the point, evoking an “assumed” connection with the use of the e-cigarette, “without 100% certainty” for the moment. The services of the minister “contacted Thursday hospital” Brussels where the young man died, to clarify the situation with doctors.

Bronchitis that has worsened

“I asked my services to gather more information about the exact circumstances of death,” said Maggie De Block in a plenary session in the House. “Our government’s current policy on e-cigarettes will soon be updated based on the new Boards of Health Boards,” added the Minister.


She was questioned after the revelation by several media of the November 6th death of Raphael, an 18-year-old Brussels resident who had used an e-cigarette containing a cannabis derivative. It is, according to the first elements, of cannabidiol (CBD), a molecule with soothing properties, not stupefying, and legal, but which can be sold on the black market mixed with harmful products.

According to Raphael’s father quoted by the media, it was “around mid-September” that his son “tested CBD by vape with his brother and his mother. They did not have anything. About a fortnight after this first experience, he was seized with severe coughing, but the diagnosed bronchitis worsened and Raphael had to be hospitalized on October 4th. On October 10, his lungs stopped functioning and he was placed in an artificial coma until his death on November 6th.

A mysterious epidemic in the United States

The mixture of CBD with vitamin E acetate (oil), which has already caused deaths in the United States, is believed to have caused death, said RTL-TVI. In a July report, the World Health Organization (WHO) ruled that e-cigarettes were “undeniably harmful” and could not be recommended as a tool to help stop smoking. tobacco consumption.

US health authorities have classified electronic cigarettes as “dangerous” for young people, while the number of high school students has almost doubled in the United States between 2017 and 2018. This country is all the more cautious that a mysterious epidemic of pulmonary diseases linked to vaping has already affected more than 2,000 Americans and resulted in 39 deaths .

According to the authorities, these diseases were caused by one of the ingredients of liquid refills with THC (the psychoactive substance of cannabis), mostly sold on the black market, vitamin E oil.

Leave a Reply

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked *