Juul damages vascular function in people as much as a cigarette

There are several studies in people showing that earlier generations of e-cigarettes inhibit normal blood vessel function as well as studies in animals showing that this is the case for a wide variety of e-cigarettes, including Juul. Now Ziyad Ben Taleb and colleagues have shown that Juul inhibits blood vessel function just like cigarettes doContinue reading “Juul damages vascular function in people as much as a cigarette”

CTP should finalize the rules prohibiting menthol in cigarettes and prohibiting characterizing flavors in cigars, including menthol analogs

The fact that menthol is the most important additive in tobacco products is clear from the fact that the tobacco companies made exempting menthol from the ban on characterizing flavors in the original 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act as well as the companies ongoing (unsuccessful) efforts to fight local and state prohibitionsContinue reading “CTP should finalize the rules prohibiting menthol in cigarettes and prohibiting characterizing flavors in cigars, including menthol analogs”

FDA should finalize its updated list of Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents by December 2023

In April 2022, I pointed out that one of the nerdy, but very important, parts of the FDA tobacco product regulatory process is the list of “Hazardous and Potentially Hazardous Compounds” (HPHC) list that FDA released in 2012. This list contains 93 bad chemicals — mostly carcinogens — that FDA identified as important when assessingContinue reading “FDA should finalize its updated list of Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents by December 2023”

UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond

Today the Oral History Center at the University of California Bancroft Library published an oral history of my career, which is freely available to all. Beginning in elementary school in Cleveland, Ohio, the history follows me through college and gradual school.  It discusses my work to develop the emergency protocols for the Apollo 5 missionContinue reading “UC publishes oral history of Stanton Glantz: Putting Cardiovascular, Epidemiological, Economic, Political, and Policy Research into Action at UC San Francisco and Beyond”

More evidence that England’s (and Canada and US FDA) enthusiastic approach to e-cigarettes is a disaster

In April 2023, David Hammond and colleagues published trends in high school use of e-cigarettes, cigarettes and other tobacco products in three e-cigarette-countries with policies to promote adult use of e-cigarettes for harm reduction: England, Canada and the US.  In the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC) Youth Tobacco and Vaping Survey England, whichContinue reading “More evidence that England’s (and Canada and US FDA) enthusiastic approach to e-cigarettes is a disaster”

First US study linking e-cig use to metabolic syndrome; dual use worse than smoking

The list of diseases associated with e-cigarette use keeps growing. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions characterized by abdominal obesity, abnormal blood lipids, elevated blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and cancer among other outcomes. Earlier research from Korea found an association between e-cigaretteContinue reading “First US study linking e-cig use to metabolic syndrome; dual use worse than smoking”

FDA has what it needs to prohibit “non-menthol” cigarettes

On April 19, 2023, Politico published “RJR uses California as test market for skirting upcoming national menthol cigarette ban” describing how RJR has been promoting its “non-menthol” cigarettes as a way to get around California’s prohibition on the sale of all tobacco products. According to the article California AG Rob Bonta is “investigating” what hisContinue reading “FDA has what it needs to prohibit “non-menthol” cigarettes”

Any e-cig use among young smokers increases odds of smoking in late adolescence

While it is well-established that youth who initiate nicotine use with e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking and that e-cigarettes are expanding nicotine addiction, no one had examined whether e-cigarette use promotes continued smoking among youth. Now Brian Kelly and colleagues have published a well-done paper addressing that question: E-cigarette use among early adolescentContinue reading “Any e-cig use among young smokers increases odds of smoking in late adolescence”

Detailed changing use patterns of e-cigs and cigs shows harm enhancement for adults and youth

Until the advent of e-cigarettes nearly 20 years ago tobacco use patterns were pretty stable.  Almost everyone who smoked tobacco smoked cigarettes with a few people smoking cigars.  And some people used smokeless tobacco.  With the advent of e-cigarettes and other new tobacco products, this situation has become much more complicated, particularly since some inContinue reading “Detailed changing use patterns of e-cigs and cigs shows harm enhancement for adults and youth”

Switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes does not reduce respiratory symptoms

Jonathan Berlowitz and colleagues’ new paper Cigarette‒E-cigarette Transitions and Respiratory Symptom Development adds to the already strong case that e-cigarette use increases the risk of respiratory symptoms and that dual use (using e-cigarettes while smoking cigarettes) is more dangerous than using either product alone. Most important, switching from cigarettes only to e-cigarettes only did notContinue reading “Switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes does not reduce respiratory symptoms”