The tobacco companies, including e-cig company Juul, tout their electronic age verification technology as an effective way to reduce youth use and argue against stricter regulation. I have long been concerned that this technology would also allow the companies to collect marketing information that couple be used to promote their products the second that theyContinue reading “Altria’s electronic age verification system is used to gather consumer data and promote products”
Category Archives: e-cigarettes
MA, NY, RI and WA consistently saw big drops in sales after states banned sales of flavored e-cigs
More and more localities and states have stopped waiting for the FDA to get rid of flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol, and enacted local laws or policies ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. (Others, led by San Francisco, have banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products.) Fatma Ali and colleagues at the CDC Foundation, CDCContinue reading “MA, NY, RI and WA consistently saw big drops in sales after states banned sales of flavored e-cigs”
E-cig science has marched on; it is important that decision making and education be based on the current state of knowledge
In January 2021, I published a blog post making the point that the 2018 National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report on e-cigarettes was out of date. Now, Physicians for a Smoke Free Canada has published an extensive update detailing specifically how the science on e-cigarettes has advanced since then 2018, noting thatContinue reading “E-cig science has marched on; it is important that decision making and education be based on the current state of knowledge”
More real world evidence that e-cigs make it harder to quit cigarettes
The evidence that e-cigarettes do not work for smoking cessation just keeps piling up. The latest high quality real world study, “Effectiveness of e-cigarettes as aids for smoking cessation: evidence from the PATH Cohort Study, 2017-19,” published by Ruifeng Chen and colleagues at UCSD in Tobacco Control reports on the association between e-cigarette use andContinue reading “More real world evidence that e-cigs make it harder to quit cigarettes”
A wide range of e-cigarettes similarly harm artery function as much as cigarettes
The whole harm reduction and reduced exposure frameworks that the FDA and others use to assess alternative inhaled tobacco products assumes that the specific details of the aerosol that these products deliver to users has a substantial effect on risks. New research by Poonam Rao, Matt Springer, and their colleagues at UCSF raises serious questionsContinue reading “A wide range of e-cigarettes similarly harm artery function as much as cigarettes”
High school student use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes fell after the San Francisco flavor ban took effect
San Francisco’s experience continues to be a central issue as localities and states continue to debate legislation ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, including the tobacco companies’ effort to overturn California’s flavor ban by forcing a referendum on it. Results from the 2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey show that that, compared to the surveyContinue reading “High school student use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes fell after the San Francisco flavor ban took effect”
e-cig users have more COVID-19 symptoms
It is well-established that smokers and former smokers who are infected with COVID-19 do worse. (How smoking affects risk of infection is still an open question.) Now, there is evidence that vaping makes COVID worse among people who are infected. David McFadden and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic have published “Symptoms COVID 19 Positive VapersContinue reading “e-cig users have more COVID-19 symptoms”
The e-cig gateway has two doors
When people talk about the “gateway effect” of e-cigarettes, they are usually referring to the first gateway: the fact that never-smoking kids who initiate nicotine use with e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking cigarettes than youth who never try e-cigarettes. E-cig enthusiasts dismiss these studies by invoking the “common liability” theory which asserts thatContinue reading “The e-cig gateway has two doors”
The fact that daily ecig users quit more is not relevant to FDA CTP’s assessment of whether to authorize the sale of e-cigs
The new paper “Association of e-cigarette use with discontinuation of cigarette smokers among adult cigarette smokers who were initially planning to quit” in JAMA Open Network by Karin Karza and colleagues confirms that smokers who use e-cigarettes daily are more likely to quit cigarettes than those who don’t use e-cigarettes. Also consistent with earlier studies,Continue reading “The fact that daily ecig users quit more is not relevant to FDA CTP’s assessment of whether to authorize the sale of e-cigs”
Ecig enthusiasts respond to criticism that they selectively cited the science by ignoring the conclusions of the papers they do cite
In addition to the excellent paper by Samet and Barrington-Trimis the American Journal of Public Health recently published two letters to the editor — one from Wasim Maziak and one from me — criticizing the paper “Balancing consideration of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes.” That paper argues that concerns over youth e-cigarette use needsContinue reading “Ecig enthusiasts respond to criticism that they selectively cited the science by ignoring the conclusions of the papers they do cite”
Stanton Glantz blog 