Michigan testing, labeling rules for marijuana vaping products updated

Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency issued updated rules regarding vaping products Thursday, Feb. 6.

The agency is requiring any vaping product that contain ingredients originating outside the regulated market to be tested for potentially deadly vitamin E acetate. All inactive ingredients, required to be Food and Drug Administration-approved for inhalation, must also be listed on product labels.

THC distillate oil used to fill interchangeable cartridges inhaled using electronic vaporizers, sometimes referred to as vape pens, became a focus of the Marijuana Regulatory Agency following a national outbreak of deadly lung illnesses earlier this year.

The Centers for Disease Control “strongly linked” THC vaping products containing vitamin E acetate to illnesses that resulted in 60 deaths, including one in Michigan, and more than 2,700 hospitalizations.

While vitamin E acetate is safely used in topical products and in food, it “may interfere with normal lung functioning” when inhaled, the CDC said.

Vaping cartridge manufacturers added vitamin E acetate as a less-expensive, inconspicuous filler to dilute THC oil, increase product volume and thereby profits. [Read more at MLive.com]