The WHO has announced that it is renaming monkeypox to “mpox”, apparently to avoid stigmatization of monkeys. They expedited the name change through the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) process.

The CDC labelled an outbreak of lung injury in people using contaminated THC products as “e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI)” in October 2019. This name suggests that the fatal lung disease was caused by the use of legal, store-bought, nicotine-based e-cigarettes, when in fact it was later proven to be caused by illegal, black-market THC vaporizers contaminated with Vitamin E Acetate by criminals.

This false and misleading name has scared people who smoke from switching to very much safer e-cigarettes, and has even caused some vapers to switch to smoking. The CDC’s incorrect name has probably caused more deaths than the original outbreak.

Despite much controversy, and a letter from experts, the CDC has declined to change the name.

We need to approach the ICD directly and ask them to change the name of EVALI, rather than relying on the CDC to correct its mistake.

There is a “Proposal Platform” to request changes to the International Classification of Diseases at https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/proposal-platform.

We need to ask the ICD to make this change! As long as the name “EVALI” exists it will be used to stigmatize humans who vape and will discourage smokers from switching to vaping e-cigarettes.