SAME DIFFERENT DAY

Words: Jordan Millar

Despite the support of Cancer Research UK and history itself the vape industry is still batting away concerns over popcorn lung.

This horrifying headline – and variations of it – have recently been circulating online, painting a terrifying picture of the most effective stop smoking tool ever devised.

But the shock story, which was picked up by mainstream news outlets like LADbible and the Daily Mail, has left sceptics asking the question…

According to reports, Abby Flynn had been vaping for about a year and a half when she found herself struggling to breath and rushed to Milton Keynes University Hospital.

Flynn – who’s had asthma since childhood – said she’s never smoked before and started using disposables because they were ‘trendy’.

Apparently, the 20-year-old’s ‘addiction’ got so strong, that she was getting through one singleuse device every day and even developed an ‘attachment’ to her vape.

That is, until she found herself allegedly fighting for breath and suffering with a cough so ‘awful’ that she decided to take a trip to the walk-in centre.

Speaking of the ‘panicking’ ordeal, Flynn said: “It was really scary. Initially I didn’t know what was wrong…I knew I had asthma but it wasn’t really feeling like an asthma attack.”

The Buckinghamshire resident was then taken to resus, put on oxygen, given medication and subjected to an X-ray.

She claims doctors asked her if she used disposables and eventually diagnosed her with bronchiolitis obliterans; a condition more commonly known as ‘popcorn lung’.

They allegedly then told her she needed to quit vaping within the next 10 years otherwise she could end up needing an oxygen machine.

Flynn said: “I was quite shocked when they told me because all my friends vape – everyone from 18 to 25 – so for it to happen to me and not anyone else… I was a bit like ‘what?’.”

But it’s not just Flynn who was surprised, with a crowd of harm reduction advocates, vapers and exsmokers calling ‘BS’ on the diagnosis.

They highlighted that there have been no confirmed cases of popcorn lung linked with vaping and that e-cigarettes DO NOT cause the devastating condition…a fact that’s even supported by Cancer Research UK.

Critics said popcorn lung is actually caused by diacetyl; an additive that has been banned in the UK and is not found in legal products.

Responding to Flynn’s claims, leading economist Christopher Snowdon said: “Difficult to know who’s lying here but someone is. There is no evidence that vaping causes ‘popcorn lung’.”

Another critic suggested that the Milton Keynes University Hospital ‘should be investigated’ while others said the story was ‘rubbish’ and questioned why there were no quotes from the doctors who issued the diagnosis.

These sceptical comments were echoed by thousands of Twitter users, who took to the social platform to share their disbelief.