Not only syrup medicine, UM Surabaya lecturer says vape also has the potential to cause acute kidney failure

• 01 Nov
• 2022

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Not only syrup medicine, UM Surabaya lecturer says vape also has the potential to cause acute kidney failure

• Article
• By Uswah Sahal
• Health
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Recently, we were shocked by the findings of Diethylene Glycol (DEG) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) contamination in syrup medicines. Syrup drugs initially used propylene glycol as a solvent, but due to the scarcity and high price of these substances, some irresponsible drug manufacturers then switched to using DEG and EG as a substitute for solvents in syrup drugs.

It is known that syrup medicine is the type of drug most often consumed by children, because it is easier to consume and has a variety of flavors that are liked by young children. So that the occurrence of DEG and EG contamination is then suspected as the main factor causing acute kidney failure in children.

Vella Rohmayani Lecturer in Medical Laboratory Technology (TLM) UM Surabaya explained that propylene glycol has so far not only been commonly used as a solvent for syrup medicines. However, this type of solvent is also found in vape ingredients.

Electric cigarettes, or better known as vapes, are widely consumed by active smokers in all walks of life. Starting from young people, adults to old age, even among female smokers.

Vape is used as an alternative choice for active smokers, because so far many people believe that vape is friendlier to health when compared to conventional cigarettes, but this fact is certainly not true.

The issue that vape is healthier and safer to use has succeeded in making many conventional smokers switch to consuming vape. It even led to a spike in the number of smokers in Indonesia.

“Like syrup medicine, so far vape also uses a mixture of propylene glycol solvents. So it does not rule out the possibility that vapes are also indicated to have DEG and EG contamination as is the case with syrup drugs," explained Vella Tuesday (1/11/22)

According to Vella, switching to using vape as an alternative to conventional cigarettes was in fact not the right choice.

"Therefore, vape users, also known as vaping, need to be vigilant because using vape actually causes various health problems. One of them is that it can cause the problem of acute kidney failure, “concluded Vella.