Investigation of Vaping Fluids Recovered From New York State E-Cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury Patients.

E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a serious pulmonary condition that is associated with the extended use of certain vaping products. EVALI was first characterized in the summer of 2019 and has since been reported in all 50 U.S. states. From August 2019 through June 2021, the New York State Department of Health has reported more than 197 confirmed cases emanating from all regions of the state. The Wadsworth Center at the New York State Department of Heath received vaping cartridges recovered from EVALI patients for chemical analysis of their contents. Untargeted analytical methods using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry as well as targeted analyses for a variety of analytes including cannabinoids, pesticides, vitamin E acetate (VEA) and mycotoxins were used to characterize the composition of the vaping fluids and several commercial vaping fluid additives. From the analyses of the 284 e-cigarette devices recovered from patients, 82 were found to be nicotine-containing pods, and 202 devices containing cannabis oil, apparently from unauthorized or black-market dealers. The fluids from the cannabis-oil cartridges tended to have lower levels of THCs (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol + Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol) and total cannabinoids compared with those of commercially produced formulations and contained significant levels of diluents including VEA, medium-chain triglycerides, polyethylene glycol, and castor oil. VEA was the diluent most frequently detected, which was present in 132 (65.3%) of the vaping fluids that contained cannabis oil. When present, VEA ranged from 2.0 to 67.8% of the total mass of the oil with a mean content of 37.0%. In some cases, two or three diluents were detected in the same sample. The ratio of VEA to THCs varied widely, from 0.07 to 5.34. VEA and specifically the high ratios of VEA to THCs in black-market vaping fluids may be causative in EVALI. The safety of additional components and additives that are present in vaping fluids are likewise of concern.

Multilaboratory Collaborative Study of a Nontarget Data Acquisition for Target Analysis (nDATA) Workflow Using Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Accurate Mass Spectrometry for Pesticide Screening in Fruits and Vegetables.

Nontarget data acquisition for target analysis (nDATA) workflows using liquid chromatography-high-resolution accurate mass (LC-HRAM) spectrometry, spectral screening software, and a compound database have generated interest because of their potential for screening of pesticides in foods. However, these procedures and particularly the instrument processing software need to be thoroughly evaluated before implementation in routine analysis. In this work, 25 laboratories participated in a collaborative study to evaluate an nDATA workflow on high moisture produce (apple, banana, broccoli, carrot, grape, lettuce, orange, potato, strawberry, and tomato). Samples were extracted in each laboratory by quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS), and data were acquired by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to a high-resolution quadrupole Orbitrap (QOrbitrap) or quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) mass spectrometer operating in full-scan mass spectrometry (MS) data-independent tandem mass spectrometry (LC-FS MS/DIA MS/MS) acquisition mode. The nDATA workflow was evaluated using a restricted compound database with 51 pesticides and vendor processing software. Pesticide identifications were determined by retention time (tR, ±0.5 min relative to the reference retention times used in the compound database) and mass errors (δM) of the precursor (RTP, δM ≤ ±5 ppm) and product ions (RTPI, δM ≤ ±10 ppm). The elution profiles of all 51 pesticides were within ±0.5 min among 24 of the participating laboratories. Successful screening was determined by false positive and false negative rates of <5% in unfortified (pesticide-free) and fortified (10 and 100 µg/kg) produce matrices. Pesticide responses were dependent on the pesticide, matrix, and instrument. The false negative rates were 0.7 and 0.1% at 10 and 100 µg/kg, respectively, and the false positive rate was 1.1% from results of the participating LC-HRAM platforms. Further evaluation was achieved by providing produce samples spiked with pesticides at concentrations blinded to the laboratories. Twenty-two of the 25 laboratories were successful in identifying all fortified pesticides (0-7 pesticides ranging from 5 to 50 µg/kg) for each produce sample (99.7% detection rate). These studies provide convincing evidence that the nDATA comprehensive approach broadens the screening capabilities of pesticide analyses and provide a platform with the potential to be easily extended to a larger number of other chemical residues and contaminants in foods.

Analysis of Cannabinoid-Containing Fluids in Illicit Vaping Cartridges Recovered from Pulmonary Injury Patients: Identification of Vitamin E Acetate as a Major Diluent.

Beginning in June of 2019, there was a marked increase in reported cases of serious pulmonary injury associated with vaping. The condition, referred to as e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), does not appear to involve an infectious agent; rather, a chemical adulterant or contaminant in vaping fluids is suspected. In August of 2019, the Wadsworth Center began receiving vaporizer cartridges recovered from patients with EVALI for analysis. Having no a priori information of what might be in the cartridges, we employed untargeted analyses using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify components of concern. Additionally, we employed targeted analyses used for New York medical marijuana products. Here, we report on the analyses of 38 samples from the first 10 New York cases of EVALI for which we obtained cartridges. The illicit fluids had relatively low cannabinoid content, sometimes with unusual Δ9-/Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol ratios, sometimes containing pesticides and many containing diluents. A notable diluent was α-tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E acetate; VEA), which was found in 64% of the cannabinoid-containing fluids. To investigate potential sources of the VEA, we analyzed six commercial cannabis-oil diluents/thickeners. Three were found to be >95% VEA, two were found to be primarily squalane, and one was primarily α-bisabolol. The cause(s) of EVALI is unknown. VEA and squalane are components of some personal care products; however, there is growing concern that vaping large amounts of these compounds is not safe.

Identification of cocaine and its metabolites in urban wastewater and comparison with the human excretion profile in urine.

The most relevant human urinary metabolites of cocaine (nine metabolites) were measured in urban wastewater in Italy and USA. A novel analytical method based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry allowed the identification of ecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester and the pyrolytic derivatives of cocaine in untreated wastewater. The aim of this study was to verify whether the pattern of cocaine metabolites in wastewater reflected the human excretion profile in urine. The performance of the method was good, with recoveries higher than 60% and limits of quantifications in the low ng/L range. The stability in untreated wastewater was assessed for all metabolites and the best storage condition resulted freezing samples immediately after collection and keep them frozen until analysis. All the selected compounds were measured in wastewater at concentrations up to 1.5 µg/L and their weekly loads were calculated during a five weeks monitoring campaign in Milan (Italy). The profiles of cocaine metabolites in wastewater matched with those in human urine reported in the literature, suggesting that measures in wastewater reflect the real human excretion and that wastewater analysis is suitable for assessing drug consumption. Benzoylecgonine was confirmed as the best target for estimating cocaine use by wastewater analysis, while cocaine itself should not be considered because its amount in wastewater is affected by other environmental sources such as transport, handling and consumption. Results suggested that the measurement of other metabolites in combination with benzoylecgonine might reflect 60% of an administered dose of cocaine providing also information on different patterns of use.