Illicit Product Quality: What's Actually in a Black-Market Vape?
Illicit vaping products have no quality control. Testing reveals: incorrect nicotine labeling, contamination with heavy metals, and in some cases, dangerous adulterants. The illicit market's quality problem is a public health risk created by regulation.
Testing of illicit vaping products has found: nicotine concentrations that don't match the label, heavy metal contamination from poor manufacturing, and in some cases, vitamin E acetate (the EVALI adulterant) in products falsely labeled as nicotine. **The illicit market has no quality control—and the consumers who buy from it have no way to assess what they're inhaling. The regulatory restrictions that created the illicit market are exposing consumers to risks that the legal market was designed to prevent.**
