BREAKTHROUGH NEWS: Doctors just announced that vaping has been conclusively linked to permanent lung disease. Sadly, many teens have already been diagnosed. Diacetyl, or 2,3 butanedione, is a flavouring agent that becomes a Experts show that flavored e cigarettes cause irreversible lung damage. A U.S. teen developed "popcorn lung" after secretly vaping for 3 years a permanent, life altering disease. Officially known as bronchiolitis obliterans, the It's official. Flavored e cigarettes cause permanent lung damage. And doctors are already seeing it happen. In the United States, a teenager developed something called popcorn lung after secretly vaping for three years. Teen goes on life support with lung damage vaping habit to blame