Last year the Trump Administration eliminated the CDC Office on Smoking and Health and fired the FDA Center for Tobacco Products leadership, paving the way for FDA to even more closely embrace the tobacco industry’s “harm reduction” marketing messages. OSH ran the effective “Tips from Former Smokers” advertising campaign, supports state health department tobacco controlContinue reading “Congress revives CDC Office on Smoking and Health”
Author Archives: Stanton Glantz
UCSF makes 60,000 more Juul documents public, bringing total to 4.9 million documents so far
The UCSF Industry Documents Library added close to 60,000 Juul Labs documents produced by the Settling States in the multistate litigation against Juul Labs. Files include memos, emails, flavor focus group reports, prospective investor reports, support tickets and more. This brings the total number of Juul Labs files to 4.9 million documents and growing! CheckContinue reading “UCSF makes 60,000 more Juul documents public, bringing total to 4.9 million documents so far”
FDA broke the law when it did not allow TPSAC to vote on whether to allow PMI to make modified risk claims for ZYN
The FDA held a meeting of its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) on January 22, 2026 to discuss Swedish Match’s application to make the modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) claim for its ZYN flavored nicotine pouches “Using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer,Continue reading “FDA broke the law when it did not allow TPSAC to vote on whether to allow PMI to make modified risk claims for ZYN”
RFK Jr strongly endorses tobacco industry harm reduction argument for ecigs and nicotine pouches
In a video interview circulated by Danny Gillis owner of SevierVapor and Executive Director Tennessee Smoke Free Association, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr strongly endorses e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches for “harm reduction.” He also cites industry arguments that nicotine helps people with Alzheimer’s disease and dimentia (at 50 seconds in theContinue reading “RFK Jr strongly endorses tobacco industry harm reduction argument for ecigs and nicotine pouches”
FDA should not authorize marketing flavored ZYN a modified risk claim because they will harm youth
My colleagues at UCSF and Stanford have submitted this public comment to FDA opposing its approval of Swedish Match (owned by Philip Morris International) claim that ZYN is less dangerous because of particular adverse effects on youth (PDF). The TPSAC tracking number is mk4-kp68-wmg2 and the general docket tracking number is mk5-q1p5-yauh on Regulations.gov. FDAContinue reading “FDA should not authorize marketing flavored ZYN a modified risk claim because they will harm youth”
The gateway has two doors in England, too
With some notable exceptions. e-cigarettes have been embraced by British tobacco control advocates and public health authorities more enthusiastically than anywhere else in the world, including authorities at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and University College London (UCL). Now, Emily Banks, Andrew Bush, Charlotta Pisinger, and Sam Egger have published Signs of increased smokingContinue reading “The gateway has two doors in England, too”
FDA should not authorize marketing ZYN nicotine pouches as having lower risk because the claim is likely to be misinterpreted to mean ZYN has been approved by FDA for cessation and consumers do not understand that they need to switch completely to get the purported benefits
My colleagues at UCSF and Stanford have submitted this public comment to FDA opposing its approval of Swedish Match (owned by Philip Morris International) claim that ZYN is less dangerous because it will be misunderstood as saying FDA endorsed ZYN (PDF). The TPSAC tracking number is mk4-kxvh-7j9n and the general docket tracking number is mk5-q1p5-yauhContinue reading “FDA should not authorize marketing ZYN nicotine pouches as having lower risk because the claim is likely to be misinterpreted to mean ZYN has been approved by FDA for cessation and consumers do not understand that they need to switch completely to get the purported benefits”
FDA should not authorize marketing flavored ZYN nicotine pouches as modified risk products because Swedish Match failed to provide evidence specific to ZYN demonstrating that they will benefit the health of the population, including youth
My colleagues at UCSF and Stanford have submitted this public comment to FDA opposing its approval of Swedish Match (owned by Philip Morris International) claim that ZYN is less dangerous (PDF). The TPSAC tracking number is mk4-k6rg-rvku and the general docket tracking number is mk5-q1p5-yauh on Regulations.gov. Here is the comment: FDA’s should not authorizeContinue reading “FDA should not authorize marketing flavored ZYN nicotine pouches as modified risk products because Swedish Match failed to provide evidence specific to ZYN demonstrating that they will benefit the health of the population, including youth”
HTP attract youth, act as a gateway to cigarettes, and keep adults smoking
The cigarette companies have introduced several generations of heated tobacco products (HTP) going back to the 1960s in the hope that generating the nicotine aerosol the consumer inhales by heating rather than burning the tobacco would lower risk by avoiding the toxic combustion products created by burning tobacco. None of these earlier products were successfulContinue reading “HTP attract youth, act as a gateway to cigarettes, and keep adults smoking”
New paper by Hajek group presents misleading incomplete results about dual use when using e-cigs as cessation aid
One concern about giving smokers e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid is that doing so instantly converts them into dual users (smoking both cigarettes and e-cigarettes), which adds the risks of e-cigarette use to cigarette use. Peter Hajek’s group just published Patterns of e-Cigarette Use and Smoking Cessation Outcomes: Secondary Analysis of a Large RandomisedContinue reading “New paper by Hajek group presents misleading incomplete results about dual use when using e-cigs as cessation aid”