E-cigarettes and Harm Reduction: An Evidence Review, the latest in a series of reports it has published since 2007 endorsing e-cigarettes for harm reduction. In this report, the RCP minimizes the adverse health effects of nicotine (beyond addiction), concluding that “There is little evidence of a long-term harmful physiological effect of nicotine that is notContinue reading “Why does the Royal College of Physicians report on ecigs and harm reduction minimize knowledge of the adverse effects of nicotine beyond addiction?”
Category Archives: cancer
Heated tobacco products damage human lung function as much as cigarettes
Philip Morris has aggressively promoted its heated tobacco product (HTP) IQOS all over the world as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes based on the fact that IQOS delivers lower levels of some combustion products than cigarettes. IQOS is the most populat HTP in Japan, and other tobacco companies make similar claims for their HTP.Continue reading “Heated tobacco products damage human lung function as much as cigarettes”
Read the behind scenes story of the 1964 Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health
The 1964 Report on Smoking and Health represented a turning point in the history of tobacco in the United States and the world. Now Don Shopland [photo above], who at the time was an eighteen year-old, “newly working at the National Library of Medicine,” who found himself moonlighting for the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee thatContinue reading “Read the behind scenes story of the 1964 Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health”
Over 1 million previously secret Juul documents now available, with more to come
The UCSF Industry Documents Library released another 519,000 new Juul Labs documents, bringing the total number of documents to 1,053,233. This is about one-quarter of the complete collection of more than 4 million documents. Check out the Juul documents here.
Smoking cessation quickly reduces mortality, within 3 years
It’s been long-established that quitting smoking prolongs life and that quitting young (below about 40) eliminates all or almost all the mortality costs of smoking. The new paper Smoking Cessation and Short- and Longer-Term Mortality by Eo Rin Cho and colleagues extends this case to more recent data and from several countries. While they confirmContinue reading “Smoking cessation quickly reduces mortality, within 3 years”
First longitudinal evidence linking e-cig use and death
Shauna Goldberg Scott and her colleagues recently published the first longitudinal evidence (where people are followed forward in time, the strongest kind of epidemiological study) showing that e-cigarette use was associated with increased risk of death. Their paper, Demographic, Clinical, and Behavioral Factors Associated With Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Use in a Large Cohort inContinue reading “First longitudinal evidence linking e-cig use and death”
Netflix documentary Big Vape is worth watching
Like Jamie Ducharme’s book Big Vape, the four hour (in four episodes) Netflix documentary Big Vape tracks Juul’s development from an idea by two Stanford grad students to compete with Big Tobacco by creating a less dangerous product to replace cigarettes into part of the tobacco industry. It does a particularity good job of highlightingContinue reading “Netflix documentary Big Vape is worth watching”
Improving EPA’s cumulative risk assessment procedures
In response to President Biden’s 2021 Executive Orders to advance racial equity, increase resources for underserved communities, and address the climate crisis, the Environmental Protection Agency has developed and released “Draft Proposed Principles of Cumulative Risk Assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act.” While the draft includes many good points, in some ways it willContinue reading “Improving EPA’s cumulative risk assessment procedures”
UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond
Today the Oral History Center at the University of California Bancroft Library published an oral history of my career, which is freely available to all. Beginning in elementary school in Cleveland, Ohio, the history follows me through college and gradual school. It discusses my work to develop the emergency protocols for the Apollo 5 missionContinue reading “UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond”
Watch “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests”
On May 31, 2023, I delivered an invited lecture to the Associação Brasileira de Estudos do Álcool e outras Drogas (Brazilian Association for the Study of Alcohol and Other Drugs) entitled “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests.” As the title indicates it is a comprehensive review of the current state of knowledgeContinue reading “Watch “E-cigarettes: Harm enhancement and protection of global tobacco interests””