Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has issued a warning about devices marketed by a company called Discreet Vape that look nearly identical to metered dose inhalers used for rescue medications for asthma. The PUFFiT and PUFFiT-X devices are advertised as “the discreet choice” for smoking “dry herbal blends.”
Discreet Vape, based in Hong Kong, appears to have marketed the PUFFiT device since 2012 and the PUFFiTX, a forced air device, since 2013. The company’s website says that it will ship the devices internationally “in a plain postal box and marked ‘Aromatherapy Vaporizer.'”
The TGA expresses concern that the devices “may inadvertently appear to be used to treat the symptoms associated with asthma” and that they might cause “confusion to patients who use MDI respiratory medicines with products such as the PUFFiT and PUFFiT-X smoking devices, particularly for younger or elderly patients in times of respiratory distress.” The agency asks users of the devices to store them where they are not accessible to friends or family members.
Read the TGA safety advisory.
