The desire to reach “hard core” smokers, typically characterized as smokers who “cannot or will not quit,” is one of the core justifications for e-cigarettes and other new alternative tobacco products are part of the industry’s “harm reduction” agenda. Now Miranda Harris and her Australian colleagues have produced a systematic review debunking the hardening hypothesisContinue reading “Tobacco control policies are “softening” smokers”
Category Archives: tobacco control programs
Proposed FDA menthol rules sent to Biden OMB for approval before release for public comment
One February 24, 2022, the FDA submitted two proposed rules on menthol to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review before public release: “Tobacco Product Standard for Menthol in Cigarettes” and “Tobacco Product Standard for Characterizing Flavors in Cigars.” The OMB can approve the proposed rules as submitted, deny them, or approveContinue reading “Proposed FDA menthol rules sent to Biden OMB for approval before release for public comment”
Strong, but not weak, bans on the sale of flavored tobacco reduce availability of these products
The evidence that flavor bans substantially lower sales of menthol and other flavored tobacco products work continues to accumulate. Ralph Welwean and colleagues just published “Evaluating the Impact of Strong and Weak California Flavored Tobacco Sales Restriction Policies on the Tobacco Retail Environment” that, as the title indicates, evaluated the effectiveness of local laws prohibitingContinue reading “Strong, but not weak, bans on the sale of flavored tobacco reduce availability of these products”
MA, NY, RI and WA consistently saw big drops in sales after states banned sales of flavored e-cigs
More and more localities and states have stopped waiting for the FDA to get rid of flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol, and enacted local laws or policies ending the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. (Others, led by San Francisco, have banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products.) Fatma Ali and colleagues at the CDC Foundation, CDCContinue reading “MA, NY, RI and WA consistently saw big drops in sales after states banned sales of flavored e-cigs”
High school student use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes fell after the San Francisco flavor ban took effect
San Francisco’s experience continues to be a central issue as localities and states continue to debate legislation ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, including the tobacco companies’ effort to overturn California’s flavor ban by forcing a referendum on it. Results from the 2019-20 California Student Tobacco Survey show that that, compared to the surveyContinue reading “High school student use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes fell after the San Francisco flavor ban took effect”
Survey of laws on new tobacco products in Latin America and the Caribbean available
The multinational tobacco companies have been aggressively promoting new tobacco products including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products around the world. Now Eric Crosbie and his colleagues at the University of Nevada Reno and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids just published “New tobacco and nicotine products in Latin America and the Caribbean: assessing the marketContinue reading “Survey of laws on new tobacco products in Latin America and the Caribbean available”
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”
FDA can and should prioritize youth over Juul and other e-cigs sales while it ponders the long term
After years of delays and deadline extensions that allowed thousands of e-cigarettes to remain on the market without any FDA premarket review and millions of kids to become nicotine addicts, health groups successfully sued FDA to force action. As a result, on July 11, 2019 Judge Paul Grimm ordered FDA to require premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) forContinue reading “FDA can and should prioritize youth over Juul and other e-cigs sales while it ponders the long term”
An unbalanced consideration of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes
Several people have asked me what I thought of the recent essay by Balfour et al and a group of former presidents of the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research, “Balancing consideration of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes,” that argues that concerns over youth e-cigarette use needs to be “better balanced” against the valueContinue reading “An unbalanced consideration of the risks and benefits of e-cigarettes”
FDA’s recent press release raises 3 issues on how CTP is judging e-cigs
On August 26, 2021, FDA denied marketing orders for around 55,000 flavored e-cigarettes because the manufacturers had not made the case that authorizing the sale of these products was “appropriate for the protection of public health,” the standard in the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that gave the FDA jurisdiction over tobaccoContinue reading “FDA’s recent press release raises 3 issues on how CTP is judging e-cigs”
Stanton Glantz blog 