Professor O’Shea disclosed in an article for The Conversation that the phrase “popcorn lung” originated with multiple workers experiencing lung issues from working at a microwave popcorn factory employing a chemical called diacetyl.
Like the popcorn factory, flavoured vapes include the chemical diacetyl, which, aerosolised, produces a ‘toxic inhalant’.
Professor O’Shea says, “It causes inflammation and scarring in the bronchioles (the smallest branches of the lungs), so making it increasingly difficult for air to move through.”
He issues a caution: “Popcorn lung cannot be cured. Once the lungs are compromised, treatment consists only of symptom management.
“This can involve in severe circumstances lung transplantation, steroids, and bronchodilators. Prevention, then rather than therapy, is the best and only defense.”
Not only is diacetyl the only ingredient present in vapes that can produce this effect.
Breathing diacetyl produces “permanent” consequences with “often disabling lung damage”.
