Washington Post (November 8, 2019):
“Potential culprit found in vaping-related lung injuries and deaths - CDC describes ‘breakthrough’ in finding vitamin E acetate in lung fluids of patients”
Federal health officials have identified vitamin E acetate in the lung fluids of 29 people sickened in the outbreak of dangerous vaping-related lung injuries. The discovery is a “breakthrough” that points to the oil as a likely culprit in the outbreak that has [sickened more than 2,000 people and killed at least 39, a top official said Friday.
These findings provide direct evidence of vitamin E acetate at the primary site of injury within the lungs,” said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest findings point to growing evidence of vitamin E acetate as “a very strong culprit of concern.”
The findings announced Friday do not rule out other possible compounds or ingredients that may be causing the lung injuries. But Schuchat described the lab results as a “breakthrough” in the investigation. CDC tested for a wide range of substances that might be found in patients’ lung fluids, including plant oils and petroleum distillates, such as mineral oil. But, she said, “No other potential toxins were detected.”
CDC officials found vitamin E acetate, an oil derived from the vitamin, in all 29 samples of lung fluid collected from patients who had fallen ill or died from lung injuries. … The 29 patients are from 10 states, representing a diverse geographical area, making the findings “much more robust” than if all the patients were from a single location.
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CDC (November 8, 2019):
“Evaluation of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid from Patients in an Outbreak of E-cigarette, or Vaping, Product Use - Associated Lung Injury - 10 States, August - October 2019”
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Dr Michael Seigel (November 8, 2019):
“CDC Announces “Major Breakthrough” that I Recognized and Reported Two Months Ago; Outbreak is Almost Certainly Not Associated with Legal Nicotine Vapes”
This finding does represent a major breakthrough for four reasons:
1. The vitamin E acetate oil was detected in the actual lung tissue of the case patients.
2. The vitamin E acetate oil was detected in every single one of the lung tissue samples from these 29 case patients.
3. The samples came from 10 different states, confirming that the outbreak seems to have a common cause, rather than geographic variation.
4. Three of the patients whose lung samples revealed vitamin E acetate had reported using only nicotine-containing products, thus confirming that there is significant under-reporting which may explain why about 11% of the patients do not report vaping THC.
This is significant because although not all of the case patients admitted to using THC vapes, the finding of vitamin E acetate in their lungs essentially proves that they were indeed vaping THC oils. This does not mean that they were lying …
At this point, it is time for state policy makers and politicians to immediately discontinue their conflation of this outbreak with the problem of youth e-cigarette use. It is time for all policy makers, health agencies, and health professionals to immediately stop stating or implying that legal, nicotine-containing e-liquids have anything to do with the outbreak.
At this point, it is also clear that states which have issued emergency regulations to ban e-cigarettes or flavored e-cigarettes are not justified in using their emergency powers for this purpose since it is almost assuredly the case that those store-bought products have nothing to do with the outbreak.
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I’ve got one thing to say to these phony scrambled-eggs festooned ass-clowns at CDC/FDA - drop dead.
CDC = Centers for Disease Cockups and Pretension 
