FDA ignores current science to give Juul a pass

Not surprisingly, on July 17, 2025, FDA authorized the sale of Juul tobacco and menthol e-cigarettes.  I wish I could say that I am “not surprised” because during the 2024 campaign President Trump announced that he would “save vaping,” but, on reading FDA’s scientific justification (the Technical Product Lead report [TPL]), I found that theContinue reading “FDA ignores current science to give Juul a pass”

Disposable ecigs expose users to much higher levels of toxic metals than earlier generations of ecigs or cigarettes

Mark Salazar, and his colleagues at UC Davis new paper “Elevated Toxic Element Emissions from Popular Disposable E‑Cigarettes: Sources, Life Cycle, and Health Risks” provides a comprehensive analysis that shows that how popular disposable e-cigarettes (Esco Bar, Flum Pebble, and ELF Bar) expose users to levels of toxic metals that are orders of magnitude higherContinue reading “Disposable ecigs expose users to much higher levels of toxic metals than earlier generations of ecigs or cigarettes”

What will happen to CDC’s successful Tips from Former Smokers media campaign and 1-800-QUITNOW service?

In addition to the National Youth Tobacco Survey and other national surveys, the now-shuttered CDC Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) provided technical support and $82 million to support state health departments (zeroed out on April 26, 2025), provided through the National Tobacco Control Program, and prepared dozens of Surgeon General’s reports on smoking andContinue reading “What will happen to CDC’s successful Tips from Former Smokers media campaign and 1-800-QUITNOW service?”

Dual cigarette and e-cig use increases human risk of lung cancer 40 times

As summarized in an earlier blog post, exposure to e-cigarette aerosol accelerates tumore growth and spread (metastasis) among established cancers. This effect is distinct from actually causing the cancer (i.e., carcinogenesis). Indeed, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine (PG/VG), the primary solvents in e-liquid and which have been assumed to be inert are major causes ofContinue reading “Dual cigarette and e-cig use increases human risk of lung cancer 40 times”

UCSF adds 151k Juul documents to Truth Tobacco Documents Library, bringing total to 2.9 million Juul documents

The UCSF Industry Documents Library just released 151.079 new Juul documents, bringing the total to 2,880,772 documents in the JUUL Labs collection and 17,893,389 documents in the Truth Tobacco Documents Library. This new batch of documents includes social media presence reports, marketing campaigns, focus group findings, product design, and more. In partnership with the UniversityContinue reading “UCSF adds 151k Juul documents to Truth Tobacco Documents Library, bringing total to 2.9 million Juul documents”

Secondhand cannabis and tobacco smoke both increase cancer risk

The pro-cannabis advocacy group California NORML recently reported that it had successfully kept an exemption for cannabis use in the smokefree multiunit housing provision of the draft ordinance that the Oakland City Council approved on first reading on November 12, 2024.  Their posting includes two inaccurate statements dismissing the cancer risks of secondhand cannabis andContinue reading “Secondhand cannabis and tobacco smoke both increase cancer risk”

Oakland City Council should advance law making bar patios smoke-free and make multi-unit housing tobacco and cannabis smoke-free at November 12 hearing

On November 12, the Oakland City Council will hold a public hearing on a proposed Oakland Smoke-Free Bar Patios and Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing Ordinance introduced by Councilperson Dan Kalb.  The ordinance as proposed would close a loophole that allows smoking on outdoor bar patios and also make multi-unit housing tobacco smoke-free.  Unfortunately, the current draft ordinanceContinue reading “Oakland City Council should advance law making bar patios smoke-free and make multi-unit housing tobacco and cannabis smoke-free at November 12 hearing”

Register for free UCSF indusry documents workshop Oct 8

Registration is now open for the UCSF Annual Tobacco and Other Industry Documents Workshop. The workshop, which is a joint project of UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education and the UCSF Library will again be held virtually on October 8th from 9am-12:15pm Pacific Time. Participants will gain comprehensive knowledge of UCSF’s Industry DocumentsContinue reading “Register for free UCSF indusry documents workshop Oct 8”

Wide-ranging podcast with ProfGlantz

Douglas County Oregon Public Health recently released an hour long interview Mitchell Kilkenny conducted with me covering everything from how I got involved with tobacco control through secondhand smoke’s effects to our recent research showing that for for many diseases e-cigarettes have indistinguishable risks to smoking, why the tobacco free generation” is a bad idea,Continue reading “Wide-ranging podcast with ProfGlantz”

e-cig PG/VG and nicotine promote tumor growth and metastasis

E-cigarettes deliver nicotine to users by aerosolizing “e-liquid” that is a solution containing nicotine and flavoring agents. The solvent used to dissolve these elements usually consists of propylene glycol and glycerin (PG/VG), which is recognized by the FDA as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) for ingestion (eating), so people generally don’t worry about it. InContinue reading “e-cig PG/VG and nicotine promote tumor growth and metastasis”