I have written several times about the differences between e-cigarettes as a consumer product and as a cessation medicine. pointing out that population observational studies are relevant for e-cigarettes as a consumer product and randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are relevant for e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation therapy. Now the US Preventive Services Task Force, aContinue reading “US Preventive Services Task Force finds evidence on e-cigs as a medicine for quitting “insufficient””
Category Archives: e-cigarettes
Three years later the NASEM report on e-cigs is out of date
Physicians for a Smokefree Canada just released this blog post which is an excellent summary of how the state of knowledge has advanced substantially since the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released its report on e-cigarettes in 2018. While the report was a good summary of the evidence when it was prepared, weContinue reading “Three years later the NASEM report on e-cigs is out of date”
How health groups defeated Juul’s effort to rewrite San Francisco’s e-cigarette regulations
The tobacco companies have been turning to the initiative and referendum process to undo California tobacco control laws and regulations. (The most recent example is the industry’s successful forcing of a referendum on SB 793, the ban on flavored tobacco products the legislature passed last summer.) In 2019 Juul, makers of the wildly popular e-cigaretteContinue reading “How health groups defeated Juul’s effort to rewrite San Francisco’s e-cigarette regulations”
Youth e-cig use triples likelihood of daily cig smoking
The evidence that e-cigarettes are a gateway for smoking is strong and consistent. Now John Pierce and his colleagues have made that connection even stronger by showing that e-cigarette use strongly predicts daily cigarette smoking. (Previous studies measured current cigarette smoking, meaning in the past 30 days.) Their paper, “Use of E-cigarettes and Other TobaccoContinue reading “Youth e-cig use triples likelihood of daily cig smoking”
12 Senators ask FDA for details on ecig premarket review process
September 9, 2020 was the deadline for e-cigarette companies to submit their applications for premarket review to the FDA, a so-called premarket tobacco product application (PMTA). To date, FDA has approved a few PMTAs, most notably for Philip Morris’ IQOS heated tobacco product. The process has not been transparent and health groups and a publicContinue reading “12 Senators ask FDA for details on ecig premarket review process”
Good news: Youth e-cig use dropped in 2020
The CDC recently reported big drops in e-cigarette use between 2019 and 2020 (high school dropped from 27.5% to 19.6% and middle school dropped from 10.5% to 4.7%). As the figure above (courtesy of CDC.) shows, however, e-cig use is still very high, way above where cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use were nine years earlierContinue reading “Good news: Youth e-cig use dropped in 2020”
Register for UCSF “It’s about a Billion Lives” symposium on Jan 29, 2021
Registration is now open for UCSF’s annual “It’s About a Billion Lives” Symposium will be held Friday January 29, 2021 from 8:00am–12:30pm Pacific Time by Zoom webinar. In addition to the oral presentations, there will be posters from other UCSF research. KEYNOTE: “Half a century later it is still about social acceptability,” Stanton A. Glantz,Continue reading “Register for UCSF “It’s about a Billion Lives” symposium on Jan 29, 2021″
Congress extends ban on mailing cigs to include all e-cigs, including marijuana vapes
The recent legislation Congress passed to fund the government included a provision extending the PACT Act’s prohibition on sending cigarettes through the mail to include e-cigarettes. This will go a long way to closing down internet e-cigarette sales which, despite assurances from the e-cig companies and FDA, cannot be effectively age-gated. The law also requiresContinue reading “Congress extends ban on mailing cigs to include all e-cigs, including marijuana vapes”
E-cigs as consumer products don’t help smokers quit
Richard Wang, Sudha Bhadriraju and I just published a comprehensive meta-analysis of the association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation, “E-Cigarette Use and Adult Cigarette Smoking Cessation: A Meta-Analysis,” in American Journal of Public Health. Unlisk earlier meta-analyses, we made a distinction between population observational studies, which are valuable for assessing the effects of e-cigarettesContinue reading “E-cigs as consumer products don’t help smokers quit”
COVID-19 incidence and death correlated with vaping across states
There is a robust literature showing that e-cigarette use damages lung function and compromises immune function in the respiratory system, which makes it reasonable to expect that e-cigarette use would be associated with more COVID-19 infections and deaths. So far, there has been one study (in youth and young adults) showing increased risk of developingContinue reading “COVID-19 incidence and death correlated with vaping across states”
Stanton Glantz blog 