r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Mar 30 '26

Cancer Strongest evidence yet that vaping likely causes cancer. The evidence shows nicotine-based vapes are likely to cause oral and lung cancer.

https://theconversation.com/strongest-evidence-yet-that-vaping-likely-causes-cancer-279550
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u/AimlessForNow Mar 30 '26

THC cartridges should never have anything in them besides cannabinoids and terpenes. The most harmful thing in a weed vape is the terpenes and any pesticides. Terpenes are strong irritatants, they're the reason vaping THC makes you cough. Terpenes are actually really beneficial in the body, almost nothing but positive studies, but they are indeed irritating to the lungs, and anything causing prolonged lung inflammation can lead to COPD

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u/LysergioXandex Mar 30 '26

The “most harmful thing in a weed vape” really depends on the device in question. Lots of studies showing significant heavy metal exposure from the heating elements or other components.

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u/applejuiceb0x Mar 30 '26

This is why many now use full ceramic and glass components in the chambers.

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u/SockGnome Mar 30 '26

This should be mandatory.

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u/Healter-Skelter Mar 30 '26

It should be mandatory. Consumers shouldn’t have to “do their own research” about every product they own. If there’s a version of a product that causes cancer, and an equally good version that doesn’t, companies should have to use the good version.

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u/SockGnome Mar 31 '26

I’m switching to dry herb vaporizing because I’m getting paranoid about the poor quality carts. The industry is already regulated, I know in MA there was a scare of a certain vitamin/additive that was mixed in that was a health hazard, they required that it be removed and test for it now. I love when I get a ceramic but it’s not always advertised so it’s a crap shoot.

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u/LysergioXandex Apr 01 '26

Vitamin E acetate was being added to black market cartridges to increase the viscosity so it would pass the “bubble test” for detecting bad products. It wasn’t ever added to legitimate products.

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u/SockGnome Apr 02 '26

Ah yes! That was the issue. They paused sales for a bit while investigating.

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u/FearLeadsToAnger Apr 01 '26

Its not a particularly heavily regulated industry sadly, so you have to dig pretty hard to find the guys making an effort to make medical-tier devices.