Vaping risks
Vaping presents a complicated health picture. The severe acute, even lethal, pulmonary injuries from vaping are a current medical mystery.
That vaping products with a variety of chemical flavorings and other additives could be more toxic than smoking tobacco with its own set of chemical additives is strange. One bad assumption of vaping manufacture is that additives approved for food consumption are OK for vaporization exposure of the lungs. The digestive tract has powerful biochemical defenses, most prominently in the liver, against toxic chemicals in food. Lung biochemical defenses against inhaled chemicals are very different.
Another severe problem concerns vaping marijuana cannabinoid compounds such as THC. Many of the vaping concoctions sold as THC are actually so-called “synthetic marijuana” compounds, which might not be chemically related to marijuana compounds at all. They are strongly and sometimes badly psychoactive. They are produced in underground drug labs to stay one step ahead of the legal system’s capacity to analyze their chemical structure and classify them illegal.
Worse, some foul drug manufacturers put opioids, such as fentanyl, in THC vapes and have put users in comas. It is reminiscent of the old days of ethyl alcohol prohibition, when unscrupulous underground producers would spike liquors with methanol, causing blindness and death.
As far as the modern vaping scene goes, it is a jungle out there.
William Mautz
Hilo
A not-so-regal offer
The Regal Cinemas’ new Regal Unlimited movie offer is misleading.
The advertising brochure at the Prince Kuhio Plaza theater lists films to be viewed through December, with a statement that the 12-month Regal Unlimited subscription includes all movies in the brochure. This is not the case in Hilo, where three of the listed Sept. 27 shows are not being shown!
A call to Regal confirmed that not all movies on their brochure and app are displayed at all of their theaters.
The other disconcerting problem is that all subscriptions must be via their Regal app on a smart phone, which must be used to get tickets. However, only one person can subscribe on a phone; each individual who wants to use Regal Unlimited must have a separate phone.
In our situation, with only one mobile phone for the two of us married folks, we can only sign up for one of us!
Neal Herbert
Hilo
