We have known for a long time that the tobacco companies have developed sophisticated strategies to “create doubt” and attack scientific results that threaten their profits. Similar strategies have been identified for other industries. Now Rebecca Goldberg and Laura Vandenberg have published “The science of spin: targeted strategies to manufacture doubt with detrimental effects onContinue reading “Many industries share “spin” strategies to undermine science they don’t like”
Author Archives: Stanton Glantz
Lots of smoking in this year’s Oscar movies
2020 was a difficult year for everyone, including the movies, because of COVID-19. The Academy Awards have been delayed and many of the nominated films were released on video on demand rather than into theaters. As a result, some do not appear in the SFM “Top 10 box office” database. We did review all the films thatContinue reading “Lots of smoking in this year’s Oscar movies”
California ban on flavored tobacco products will save lives & money, create jobs
Last year the California legislature passed SB793, which ended the sale of almost all flavored tobacco products. Led by RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris, the multinational tobacco companies spent over $20 million collecting signatures to force a referendum on the law. Forcing a referendum is an established tobacco industry strategy to shift the field ofContinue reading “California ban on flavored tobacco products will save lives & money, create jobs”
Marijuana joints produce 3.5 times as much secondhand smoke as a Marlboro
Tobacco cigarettes are such strong sources of indoor air pollution that the only way to get acceptable indoor air quality is to make spaces smokefree. Now, Wayne Ott and colleagues have done a real-world study of the levels of pollution caused by smoking a joint (or a bong or vaping cannabis) and found that marijuanaContinue reading “Marijuana joints produce 3.5 times as much secondhand smoke as a Marlboro”
The biological evidence of e-cig dangers keeps piling up
Rachel Keith and Aruni Bhatnagar just published “Cardiorespiratory and Immunologic Effects of Electronic Cigarettes,” which is a nice overview of the growing biological evidence base that e-cigarettes have a lot of adverse health effects, many similar to cigarettes. This material is particularly important because the people who continue to promote e-cigarettes for “harm reduction” continueContinue reading “The biological evidence of e-cig dangers keeps piling up”
FDA can streamline reviewing e-cigs as consumer tobacco products by starting with key questions about use
On February 16, 2021, Mitch Zeller, Director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), published an update on FDA’s progress in handling the waterfall of applications for premarket authorization of new tobacco products (PMTA) and other applications from tobacco companies. Everyone was expecting a large number of PMTA applications for new products to comeContinue reading “FDA can streamline reviewing e-cigs as consumer tobacco products by starting with key questions about use”
UCSF and Johns Hopkins University Launch Digital Trove of Opioid Industry Documents
The UCSF Truth Tobacco Documents Library is 20 years old and had led to over 1000 publications, including not only academic papers, media stories, documentaries and government reports. The tobacco documents have transformed the discussion of tobacco globally. Now, the UCSF LIbrary, working with Johns Hopkins, is launching a major expansion of a sister collectionContinue reading “UCSF and Johns Hopkins University Launch Digital Trove of Opioid Industry Documents”
Public comment supporting USPS regulation against mailing all e-cigs (including cannabis)
My colleagues at UCSF and Stanford and I just submitted the following public comment supporting Postal Service regulations to prohibit mailing e-cigarettes and their components to implement recent Congressional legislation. This not only includes nicotine devices but also non-nicotine devices, including cannabis. We also suggested some technical clarifications to make sure there are no loopholes.Continue reading “Public comment supporting USPS regulation against mailing all e-cigs (including cannabis)”
FDA should ignore Philip Morris request to tell public nicotine doesn’t cause cancer
Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that Philip Morris had asked FDA to convince Americans that nicotine isn’t that bad, citing research showing that most wrongly think that nicotine causes cancer. This effort seems part of Philip Morris effort to promote its IQOS heated tobacco product as well as Juul e-cigarettes (in which Altria, parent ofContinue reading “FDA should ignore Philip Morris request to tell public nicotine doesn’t cause cancer”
UK study shows nondaily ecig use associated with significantly less quitting cigs
A recent paper published in Addiction, “The effectiveness of using e-cigarettes for quitting smoking compared to other cessation methods among adults in the United Kingdom,” found that the odds of 30 day smoking cessation among smokers motivated to quit were cut by a factor or 4 among nondaily e-cig users compared to people who didContinue reading “UK study shows nondaily ecig use associated with significantly less quitting cigs”
Stanton Glantz blog 