That’s verbatim the title of the NPR article.

NPR can be wrong.

Sure, but a link to an article using the given title of that article is appropriate. The HN title isn’t claiming that thing; it’s a link to a publication saying that.

It's a vape juice additive and this problem only arose because of the prohibition.

Depends on where marijuana products end up on the regulatory spectrum. Vitamin E acetate is added to thicken the THC + solvent solution, because to users, a thicker solution appears to mean that the THC is less diluted than it actually is.

If marijuana products are regulated like supplements are today, there's really no reason why less than scrupulous vape cartridge manufacturers wouldn't do exactly what they're doing today. There's no regulatory oversight when it comes to supplements.

It's a black-market additive to make their watered down product appear genuine.

It’s an THC product additive, that’s not used in non-THC vape juices. The title is perfectly accurate, even if it could be a little more verbose. I know a lot of commenters here have a vested political interest in promoting marijuana and its derivative products as safe, but you can’t change the facts because of that.

I believe the CDC also found it in illicit nicotine cartridges

The CDC have not found it in any nicotine cartridges. The CDC have also not found the substance in the lungs of any vape users who didn’t use THC products. There are also jurisdictions which have reported finding it in 100% of seized THC cartridges.

It was found in carts that had THC and nicotine combined. That makes it about as much as a nicotine additive as a THC additive, if we are using the incredibly low standards of "found in coexistence with substance sometimes" as the definition of additive.

Many products which contain THC have Vitamin E (acetate) added to them. I understand the desire to not have "THC" and "carcinogen" in the same headline, but the headline is factually accurate.

“Additive” is a word that implies that it performs some function in the product. (The technical jargon equivalent word being “excipient.”)

The proper term for vitamin E acetate is “cutting agent.” Like talc in cocaine. Neither the original manufacturer nor the consumer wants it in there; it was effectively MITMed into the product.

A very precise analogy: you wouldn’t call cyanide a “Tylenol additive”, right?

As others in the thread have pointed out, manufacturers of THC products who add it do so as a thickening agent. I would term that performing a function.

Bakers who put alum in their bread as a whitening agent were "performing a function" with that alum, but it's still considered adulteration. The addition of Vitamin E Acetate to THC oil seems to be unambiguous adulteration.

Just because people are saying it doesn’t make it true. It doesn’t even make sense as a thickening agent. It’s not more valuable if it’s thicker and it becomes more difficult to handle and to fill cartridges.

It’s used to water down the product and sell more cartridges with the same amount of THC oil. The exact same thing cocaine dealers do with talc powder or some shady bars do watering down their bottles.

I have no idea why you've been downvoted since you're plainly right. Do people think it a coincidence that the products found to be doing this seem to all be black market? Adulteration is common practice in the criminal drug industry. That's one of the major reasons so many people supported legalization in the first place, how could people have forgotten this?

It performs the function to make the dealer more money, as others have pointed out, it is a cutting-agent not an additive.