The World Health Organization has released a call to action and supporting technical note that provides detailed guidance for countries on how to battle the e-cigarette epidemic. The WHO both supports countries who have prohibited the import and sale of e-cigarettes and provides detailed evidence-based guidance for those who allow sale of e-cigarettes. The Biden WhiteContinue reading “WHO issues important call to action on ecigs”
Category Archives: e-cigarettes
New strong evidence that Juul is more toxic to lungs and hearts than earlier e-cigs
Two new papers strongly suggest that Juul (and, likely, other fourth generation e-cigarettes) are more dangerous than earlier tank systems. One, Differential Toxicity of Electronic Cigarette Aerosols Generated from Different Generations of Devices In Vitro and In Vivo, finds that Juul has higher pulmonary toxicity than earlier tank systems and the second, Nicotine Formulation InfluencesContinue reading “New strong evidence that Juul is more toxic to lungs and hearts than earlier e-cigs”
E-cigs associated with increased heart attacks; dual use is worse
Muhammad Talal Ashraf and his colleagues recently published “Association between e‑cigarette use and myocardial infarction: a systematic review and meta‑analysis” that pools the results of epidemiological studies and found that overall e-cigarette users are more likely to have had heart attacks than nonusers (odds ratio [OR] 1.44; 95% CI 1.22-1.74). They also found that dualContinue reading “E-cigs associated with increased heart attacks; dual use is worse”
Synthetic cooling agents make e-cigarettes more attractive and easier to inhale
Sales of “ice” e-cigarettes have been increasing rapidly, with US sales growing by more than 10 times from 2017 to 2021. In 2023 57.9% of US youth used ice e-cigarettes, often combined with other flavors (such as strawberry ice, frosted mint or tobacco ice). Ice e-cigarettes are being marketed around the world. The cooling effectContinue reading “Synthetic cooling agents make e-cigarettes more attractive and easier to inhale”
Drop in smoking not correlated with increased youth vaping
E-cigarette advocates have often argued that the increase in youth e-cigarette use is not a problem because it represents youth shifting from cigarettes. Earlier work based on analysis of trends and risk profiles in youth participating in the National Youth Tobacco Survey has contradicted this assertion, showing that e-cigarettes were attracting youth at low riskContinue reading “Drop in smoking not correlated with increased youth vaping”
New national data shows kids using “ice” tobacco products; FDA needs to include them in pending menthol product standards
Last week the CDC and FDA published the 2023 statistics on youth tobacco use from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (FDA press release). The good news is that high school student overall tobacco use is down significantly compared to 2022 (from 16.5% to 12.6%), driven in large part by a drop in e-cigarette use (fromContinue reading “New national data shows kids using “ice” tobacco products; FDA needs to include them in pending menthol product standards”
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”
Regulations prohibiting import and sales of e-cigs work; Brazil and Thailand should keep them
Dozens of countries have issued regulations simply prohibiting the import and sale of e-cigarettes. These policies are under attack in Brazil and Thailand (again). Industry advocates argue that a better policy would be to legalize and regulate these products. The actual evidence tells a very different story. While policies prohibiting the import and sale ofContinue reading “Regulations prohibiting import and sales of e-cigs work; Brazil and Thailand should keep them”
New well-done RCT shows that giving smokers free e-cigarettes creates more dual users than switchers or quitters
Matthew J. Carpenter and colleagues recently published what is probably the most informative randomized controlled clinical trial of the effect of giving current cigarette smokers free e-cigarettes on their nicotine consumption: Effect of unguided e-cigarette provision on uptake, use, and smoking cessation among adults who smoke in the USA: a naturalistic, randomised, controlled clinical trial. They recruitedContinue reading “New well-done RCT shows that giving smokers free e-cigarettes creates more dual users than switchers or quitters”
Stanton Glantz blog 