Popular lore is that Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik invented e-cigarettes in 2003 to help people quit smoking. The Times of London reported that it didn’t work for him. Instead of “switching completely” he is a dual user, vaping and smoking at the same time. Hon Lik’s experience is what you would expect from the strongContinue reading “E-cig inventor Hon Lik is still smoking”
Category Archives: smoking
FCTC stimulated smoking bans and pictorial warnings but not tax increases or ad bans
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) committed Parties to, among other things, implement tobacco demand reduction measures including smokefree laws, strong health warning labels and increase tobacco taxes. Previous studies, including some of our work, have generally shown that countries followed treaty ratification by implementing at least some of these policies. Now HeikkiContinue reading “FCTC stimulated smoking bans and pictorial warnings but not tax increases or ad bans”
E-cigarettes don’t help smokers stay off cigarettes
Last week the FDA authorized the sale of RJ Reynolds’ (BAT’s US subsidiary) Vuse e-cigarette despite heavy use by kids because “the manufacturer’s data demonstrates its tobacco-flavored products could benefit addicted adult smokers who switch to these products – either completely or with a significant reduction in cigarette consumption – by reducing their exposure toContinue reading “E-cigarettes don’t help smokers stay off cigarettes”
Even more evidence that youth who start with e-cigs triple the odds that they will later smoke cigarettes
As more studies are published on the link between youth e-cigarette use and subsequent cigarette smoking youth, people continue publish meta-analyses summing up the results. The latest such meta-analysis, recently published in PLOS One by Sze Lin Yoong and colleagues, “Association between electronic nicotine delivery systems and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems with initiation of tobaccoContinue reading “Even more evidence that youth who start with e-cigs triple the odds that they will later smoke cigarettes”
No quitting benefit for e-cigs over FDA-approved therapies … and lots of dangerous dual use
The FDA Center for Tobacco Products concern about balancing potential benefits of e-cigs with demonstrated risks to youth presumes that adults using e-cigarettes will switch completely to e-cigs and that e-cigs are substantially less risky than cigarettes. Bekir Kaplan and colleagues’ new paper Effectiveness of ENDS, NRT and medication for smoking cessation among cigarette-only users:Continue reading “No quitting benefit for e-cigs over FDA-approved therapies … and lots of dangerous dual use”
New studies for UK, Netherlands and Flanders and US confirm gateway effects of e-cigs to combusted tobacco products
Three new studies add to the already overwhelming case that e-cigarettes are a gateway to combusted product use; two of these studies also show that combusted tobacco use predicts later e-cigarette use among youth. These studies are benefit from the fact that the data were collected relatively recently, which is important because e-cigarette technology isContinue reading “New studies for UK, Netherlands and Flanders and US confirm gateway effects of e-cigs to combusted tobacco products”
More evidence that smoking makes COVID-19 worse
Kade Patanavanich and I published a meta-analysis that concluded that a history of smoking was associated with COVID-19 disease progression in August 2020 that was based on 19 papers. We just published an update, “Smoking is associated with worse outcomes of COVID-19 particularly among younger adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis” based on 46 papers.Continue reading “More evidence that smoking makes COVID-19 worse”
New WHO report highlights falling cigarette use and challenges that new tobacco products pose to public health and implementation of the FCTC
On July 27, 2021 the WHO released the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic 2021: addressing new and emerging products, its eighth such report. The good news is that it documents solid progress in reducing tobacco use. After over a century of growth, “between 2007 and 2019, smoking rates decreased from a global averageContinue reading “New WHO report highlights falling cigarette use and challenges that new tobacco products pose to public health and implementation of the FCTC”
More details on how menthol helps Big Tobacco keep kids hooked
Keeping menthol in cigarettes (and other tobacco products) has been a priority for the tobacco companies ever since they got it exempted from the characterizing flavor ban in the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that gave the FDA jurisdiction over tobacco products. The already-strong case for banning menthol just got stronger withContinue reading “More details on how menthol helps Big Tobacco keep kids hooked”
More direct evidence that SF flavor ban worked
Last year we published a paper on implementation of San Francisco’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products (including menthol) that reported that health department inspectors found high compliance with the flavor ban when they visited retailers. Now, Doris Gammon and colleagues have shown that the law virtually eliminated sales of flavored tobacco productsContinue reading “More direct evidence that SF flavor ban worked”
Stanton Glantz blog 