On April 22, 2025, Bill Owens the executive producer of CBS’s 60 Minutes resigned, “saying he’s losing the freedom to run it independently.” He was presumably reacting to corporate meddling in 60 Minutes‘ journalism. Donald Trump was suing 60 Minutes for $20 billion over an interview they did with Kamala Harris. More important, CBS parentContinue reading “This is not the first time a sale of CBS caused problems for 60 Minutes”
Category Archives: smoking
18 Senators write HHS leaders asking for details on cuts to tobacco programs and specific plans to meet legal obligations
On April 22, 2025, 18 Democratic senators wrote HHS Secretary Kennedy and the leaders of the FDA and CDC expressing concern about Trump Administration decisions to decapitate and cut the FDA Center for Tobacco Products and shut down the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, actions that will cost billions in health costs by nextContinue reading “18 Senators write HHS leaders asking for details on cuts to tobacco programs and specific plans to meet legal obligations”
Trump gives Big Tobacco a big gift: He killed the National Youth Tobacco Survey, blinding public, researchers, and policy makers to the effects of changing tobacco industry products and practices
The now-shuttered CDC Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) has conducted the National Youth Tobacco Survey since 1999. The survey provides important surveillance about how youth tobacco use is changing. After Congress created the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, it partnered with CDC to expand the scope and depth of the survey, including increasing detailsContinue reading “Trump gives Big Tobacco a big gift: He killed the National Youth Tobacco Survey, blinding public, researchers, and policy makers to the effects of changing tobacco industry products and practices”
Shuttering CDC and FDA tobacco offices will increase the deficit by billions of dollars (right away)
Trump shuttering the CDC Office on Smoking and Heath and decapitating the FDA Center for Tobacco Products will not only increase tobacco-caused disease but will also make the federal budget deficit worse (and cost American people and businesses a lot of money in avoidable medical costs). The only winners will be the big tobacco companiesContinue reading “Shuttering CDC and FDA tobacco offices will increase the deficit by billions of dollars (right away)”
“Hard core” smokers are melting away in response to established tobacco control policies
The whole argument for promoting e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and other “potentially reduced risk” tobacco products is built on the assumption that there is a “hard-core” of smokers who “cannot or will not quit” using established smoking cessation therapies or in response to population level tobacco control interventions (e.g., clean indoor air laws, media campaigns, orContinue reading ““Hard core” smokers are melting away in response to established tobacco control policies”
Three year study finds that fourth-generation e-cigarettes like Juul associated with continued smoking and vaping
Most studies of the association between e-cigarette use and smoking and nicotine cessation have been conducted with the earlier generation e-cigarettes, which do not deliver nicotine as effectively as the fourth generation e-cigarettes pioneered by Juul. (These e-cigarettes use protonated nicotine [also called nicotine salts] to increase nicotine delivery to the user.) Our meta-analysis ofContinue reading “Three year study finds that fourth-generation e-cigarettes like Juul associated with continued smoking and vaping”
Historical and political context for Philip Morris International’s continuing medical education courses on harm reduction: Implications for current product regulation
In mid-2024 Drs. Robert Jackler, Pam Ling and others learned that the for-profit medical company Medcape was offering a continuing medical education course on tobacco harm reduction sponsored by Philip Morris International that promoted the industry position that smokers could reduce risk by switching from cigarettes to “less risky” products, such as smokeless tobacco. MostContinue reading “Historical and political context for Philip Morris International’s continuing medical education courses on harm reduction: Implications for current product regulation”
Heated tobacco products increase risk of metabolic syndrome more than smoking
The tobacco companies have been aggressively promoting heated tobacco products (HTP), including Philip Morris IQOS, BAT’s glo and JTI’s Ploom, as safer alternatives to cigarettes as part of the companies’ efforts to reposition themselves as “part of the solution” to the tobacco problem. Similar to e-cigarettes, they argue that these products are safer because theContinue reading “Heated tobacco products increase risk of metabolic syndrome more than smoking”
Dual use is not an intermediate condition on the way from cigarettes to “switching completely” or quitting
Discussion of potential harm reduction associated with the use of e-cigarettes assumes that smokers will “switch completely” from cigarettes to e-cigarettes or stop both tobacco products. Advocates of this view, including the US FDA, recognize and accept that this process may include a period of dual use in which smokers use both products. Now JosefContinue reading “Dual use is not an intermediate condition on the way from cigarettes to “switching completely” or quitting”
Dual cigarette and e-cig use increases human risk of lung cancer 40 times
As summarized in an earlier blog post, exposure to e-cigarette aerosol accelerates tumore growth and spread (metastasis) among established cancers. This effect is distinct from actually causing the cancer (i.e., carcinogenesis). Indeed, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine (PG/VG), the primary solvents in e-liquid and which have been assumed to be inert are major causes ofContinue reading “Dual cigarette and e-cig use increases human risk of lung cancer 40 times”
Stanton Glantz blog 