more. all right. now to the vaping-related illnesses which is a separate part of this story. any closer to establishing what s causing it? well, they know what the me pond preponderance. they re no longer counting possible illnesses. just probable and diagnosed illnesses. so they ve still got to finish that investigation. but the preponderance looks like it s some sort of thc oil that people are putting using in their vaporizers. that oil may have a compound known as vitamin e acetate. what do these people have in common? vaping, yes. what were they vaping? these are the products. is there a single product that comes to the top of the list. and is there a particular compound of concern? they re part way through that
get exactly the contents. our suspects believe it s thc oil, it s pure. if that s the case, it s 150 times more potent than what the label says it is. it is labeled as candy. the average parent that would see this label, this product in their kid s bedroom, it almost looks like it s a candy product. sour patch or cherry flavored. it has nothing to do with the fact that it s filled with drugs. shepard: sheriff beth, what s the best advice you could give your parents to think my kids are fine. they wouldn t be involved in anything like this. what do you look for? we had a grade school last year that we had anywhere from ten to 13-year-old kids that were all starting to take this up and parents were saying it s just cherry flavored water. it s not a big deal. right now, all of this is coming out of its forward and as a parent myself of two high school students, if i ever saw my kids,
the fda planned to go after flavored vaping pods announced in the oval office today our anne thompson has the latest on the vaping epidemic reporter: the vaping epidemic today getting presidential attention. we can t allow people to get sick and we can t have our youth be so affected reporter: the administration promising to take flavored e-cigarettes off the market, used it says by 5 million american children. what we re doing today is ensuring that kids will not have access to the products they have been seeking and using, which are these flavored e-cigarette products. reporter: a dramatic step to regulate the devices linked to six deaths and almost 500 reported lung injuries in wisconsin today, evidence from a law enforcement crackdown, seizing dozens of jars of thc oil, the active ingredient in marijuana, from an illegal vaping operation 20-year-old tyler huffheins was the master mind sarks officials, turning out 3,000 to 5,000
he was transferred to our icu and connected to life support. we had to of course medically induced coma so he wouldn t move to take the breathing tube out and one week he was stayed on this. and we did so much testing. looking into any kind of infectious cause, farm logic, et cetera. at the end we found that the mom went to the room of the patient and found he had a fake cartridge of thc oil. they sent it and found it was found with thc and vitamin e. ainsley: when you buy this oil you don t know what s in them. no, you don t. especially if you buy them off the street. ainsley: street drug. brian: as you make it harder for teens to get get it
important to note that while these cases are associated with vaping, the exact cause is not proven. possible culprits include the vaping process itself, the substance inhaled, such as thc oil, that, of course, is the main chemical in marijuana, or some combination. tom? clayton sandell for us tonight. clayton, thank you. now, to the race for 2020. front-runner democrat joe biden under scrutiny tonight for a story he often tells on the campaign trail about pinning a medal on a serviceman in afghanistan. but there are questions tonight about how much of that story biden got right. here s abc s senior national correspondent terry moran. reporter: for years, joe biden has been recounting a story of american heroism and heartbreak on the front lines, recently telling a crowd in new hampshire how he traveled to afghanistan to pin a silver star on a young navy captain. one of his buddies got shot, fell down a ravine about 60 feet. this guy climbed down a ravine, carried his guy up on