US regulators said Wednesday they are investigating reports that e-cigarettes — increasingly widespread in America and elsewhere — may cause seizures.
“We have reports indicating that some people who use e-cigarettes, especially youth and young adults, are experiencing seizures following their use,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement.
The FDA has reviewed “voluntary adverse event reports,” finding “a total of 35 reported cases of seizures following use of e-cigarettes between 2010 and early 2019,” it said.
“We believe these 35 cases warrant scientific investigation into whether there is in fact a connection.”
The use of e-cigarettes — colloquially known as vaping — began to take off among young Americans in the 2010s, and overtook cigarette smoking in 2014.
The US categorizes e-cigarettes — which deliver nicotine, often as part of fruit or sweets-flavored vapor — as tobacco products, a definition not shared by all countries, reports AFP.
