Using e-cigarettes (vaping) has been promoted as a much safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. However, a new head-to-head comparison of actual disease in e-cigarette users compared to cigarette smokers published in Public Health Reports shows that this assertion is wrong. This new analysis of 124 studies on the association of e-cigarette use with disease outcomesContinue reading “E-cigarettes are nearly as risky as cigarettes; dual use is worse: The evidence continues to pile up”
Category Archives: smoking
What the BAT chief scientist had to say about causality half a century ago
E-cigarette advocates, global warming deniers and social media companies continue to sidestep the implications of research showing dangers of their products by, among other things, retreating behind the high walls of claims that the evidence is not “causal.” To put these claims in context, it is worth re-reading the last couple paragraphs from our bookContinue reading “What the BAT chief scientist had to say about causality half a century ago”
Congress revives CDC Office on Smoking and Health
Last year the Trump Administration eliminated the CDC Office on Smoking and Health and fired the FDA Center for Tobacco Products leadership, paving the way for FDA to even more closely embrace the tobacco industry’s “harm reduction” marketing messages. OSH ran the effective “Tips from Former Smokers” advertising campaign, supports state health department tobacco controlContinue reading “Congress revives CDC Office on Smoking and Health”
The gateway has two doors in England, too
With some notable exceptions. e-cigarettes have been embraced by British tobacco control advocates and public health authorities more enthusiastically than anywhere else in the world, including authorities at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and University College London (UCL). Now, Emily Banks, Andrew Bush, Charlotta Pisinger, and Sam Egger have published Signs of increased smokingContinue reading “The gateway has two doors in England, too”
New paper by Hajek group presents misleading incomplete results about dual use when using e-cigs as cessation aid
One concern about giving smokers e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid is that doing so instantly converts them into dual users (smoking both cigarettes and e-cigarettes), which adds the risks of e-cigarette use to cigarette use. Peter Hajek’s group just published Patterns of e-Cigarette Use and Smoking Cessation Outcomes: Secondary Analysis of a Large RandomisedContinue reading “New paper by Hajek group presents misleading incomplete results about dual use when using e-cigs as cessation aid”
Plain language summary of meta-analysis of ecigs and disease available
Last year we published “Population-Based Disease Odds for E-Cigarettes and Dual Use versus Cigarettes” that showed that some disease risks of e-cigarettes are indistinguishable from cigarettes and for others they on only slightly lower. This paper continues to attract interest, so I prepared a one page plain language summary, together with some frequently asked questions.Continue reading “Plain language summary of meta-analysis of ecigs and disease available”
E-cigarettes increase harm to smokers, so should not be promoted as a harm reduction strategy (in 10 slides) now available in 10 other languages
My blog post “E-cigarettes increase harm to smokers, so should not be promoted as a harm reduction strategy (in 10 slides)” has attracted a lot of interest, so I have translated it into 10 other languages. Click below to download. These translations were done with Powerpoint. If native speakers have suggestions for improvement, feel free toContinue reading “E-cigarettes increase harm to smokers, so should not be promoted as a harm reduction strategy (in 10 slides) now available in 10 other languages”
People who smoke both tobacco and cannabis are even more sensitive to paying more for cigarettes than those who just smoke cigarettes
Raising the cost of a pack of cigarettes, whether because of taxes or price hikes, has long been associated with lower consumption. The new paper Differential Responsiveness to Cigarette Prices by U.S. Adults Who Do and Do Not Use Cannabis by Tingting Yao and her UCSF colleagues shows that cigarette smokers who currently use cannabisContinue reading “People who smoke both tobacco and cannabis are even more sensitive to paying more for cigarettes than those who just smoke cigarettes”
New Pesko et al paper supporting e-cigs ignores current science
Several people have asked me what I thought of the just-published paper E-Cigarettes in Historical Context—Innovation, Risk, and Regulation by Michael Pesko, Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Rachel Fung and Neal Benowitz. Like other similar papers published by some of these people, the Pesko paper relies on the 7 year old 2018 National Academies of Science, Engineering andContinue reading “New Pesko et al paper supporting e-cigs ignores current science”
International Pediatric Association publishes position paper concluding that “e-cigarettes are not an effective harm reduction strategy for adults and pose a serious risk to nicotine naïve youth”
On October 10, 2025, the International Pediatric Association (IPA) published a landmark position paper, “E-Cigarettes and the Nicotine Epidemic: Statement From the International Pediatric Association,” in Pediatrics, the international peer-reviewed journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The paper concluded, “In contrast to early hopes and assumptions, e-cigarettes are not an effective harm reductionContinue reading “International Pediatric Association publishes position paper concluding that “e-cigarettes are not an effective harm reduction strategy for adults and pose a serious risk to nicotine naïve youth””
Stanton Glantz blog 