Heated tobacco products damage human lung function as much as cigarettes

Philip Morris has aggressively promoted its heated tobacco product (HTP) IQOS all over the world as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes based on the fact that IQOS delivers lower levels of some combustion products than cigarettes. IQOS is the most populat HTP in Japan, and other tobacco companies make similar claims for their HTP.Continue reading “Heated tobacco products damage human lung function as much as cigarettes”

Read the behind scenes story of the 1964 Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health

The 1964 Report on Smoking and Health represented a turning point in the history of tobacco in the United States and the world. Now Don Shopland [photo above], who at the time was an eighteen year-old, “newly working at the National Library of Medicine,” who found himself moonlighting for the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee thatContinue reading “Read the behind scenes story of the 1964 Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health”

Over 1 million previously secret Juul documents now available, with more to come

The UCSF Industry Documents Library released another 519,000 new Juul Labs documents, bringing the total number of documents to 1,053,233. This is about one-quarter of the complete collection of more than 4 million documents. Check out the Juul documents here.

Contrary to public position, Juul founders wanted to attract former and non-smokers from the beginning

Juul co-founders Adam Monsees and James Bowen portray themselves as idealistic entrepreneurs committed to improving the health of billions of adult smokers with no intent to sell nicotine to non-smokers. Documents released as part of the settlement of North Carolina’s lawsuit against Juul, however, tells quite a different story. In particular, Monsees & Bowen’s 2006Continue reading “Contrary to public position, Juul founders wanted to attract former and non-smokers from the beginning”

Juul’s internal playbook opens a rare window into influence in Washington

Nicholas Florko at StatNews just published an excellent piece using the newly-released Juul internal documents to describe how the company worked behind the scenes in Washington all the way down to local governments to influence, legislators, the Administration, regulatory agencies, local governments and public opinion generally by campaign contributions, quietly hiring a range of politicalContinue reading “Juul’s internal playbook opens a rare window into influence in Washington”

Banning menthol leads a quarter of menthol smokers to quit

The two justifications for the FDA’s proposed product standard prohibiting menthol cigarettes and cigars are (1) it will reduce youth initiation, and (2) it will help menthol smokers to quit. Now Sarah Mills and colleagues have published a review and meta-analysis of the effects of menthol bans around the world, The Impact of Menthol CigaretteContinue reading “Banning menthol leads a quarter of menthol smokers to quit”

Relevant to COP10: Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame

Yogi Hendlin, Eileen Han and Pam Ling’s new paper Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame provides a detailed analysis of how the multinational tobacco companies have developed and used the companies efforts to reposition themselves a source for “clean” nicotine while simultaneously maintaining and expanding their sales of cigarettes and other “traditional” tobacco products whereContinue reading “Relevant to COP10: Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame”

COP10 delegates need to base decisions on latest e-cig evidence, not the same old studies e-cig advocates promote

In the lead up to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Tenth Conference of the Parties that starts today, advocates for e-cigarettes and other “reduced harm” tobacco products have been busy again arguing that delegates should embrace these products. In reviewing some of this material, I have been struck by the fact that theirContinue reading “COP10 delegates need to base decisions on latest e-cig evidence, not the same old studies e-cig advocates promote”

First 280,000 Juul documents publicly available, millions more to come

One of the key provisions of North Carolina’s 2021 settlement with Juul was that the documents produced in litigation would be made available to the public. The settlement required that the documents be made available through a depository run by a North Carolina university. To accomplish this, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University LibrariesContinue reading “First 280,000 Juul documents publicly available, millions more to come”

Read Times (London) insightful articles detailing tobacco companies’ hidden efforts to protect vaping

Times of London investigative reporter Billy Kneber published four excellent articles documenting how major tobacco companies have been manipulating England to promote and protect e-cigarettes. While , as he notes, the strategies are nothing new, but the specific details provide important insights into the industry’s successes in England, including specific organizations and people and how theContinue reading “Read Times (London) insightful articles detailing tobacco companies’ hidden efforts to protect vaping”