FDA pulls some menthol e-cigs off the market: What about the rest?

Last week FDA took the important step of denying permission for Logic Technology to market is menthol e-cigarettes.  In its press release, FDA specifically recognized the attraction of menthol e-cigarettes to youth: For non-tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, including menthol-flavored e-cigarettes, existing evidence demonstrates a known and substantial risk with regard to youth appeal, uptake and use. RecentContinue reading “FDA pulls some menthol e-cigs off the market: What about the rest?”

New report explains menthol marketing from the beginning and why we need to end it

Robert Jackler and his colleagues at the Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising recently released “ADVERTISING CREATED & CONTINUES TO DRIVE THE MENTHOL TOBACCO MARKET: Methods Used by The Industry to Target Youth, Women, & Black Americans,” an encyclopedic history of menthol marketing in the United States. Jackler and his colleagues complement aContinue reading “New report explains menthol marketing from the beginning and why we need to end it”

FDA and CDC release data highlighting FDA’s continuing failure to protect kids from ecigs

The FDA and CDC just published the first results from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco survey in the CDC’s MMWR.  The 2022 survey shows that 1 in 4 youth use menthol e-cigs, further strengthening the case that FDA should end its de facto authorization of menthol e-cigs Specifically, 26.6% of kids say menthol is theirContinue reading “FDA and CDC release data highlighting FDA’s continuing failure to protect kids from ecigs”

1.7 million more kids started smoking above historical trends after ecigs became widely used

Melissa Harrell and her colleagues just published important quantitative information adding to the case that e-cigs are promoting rather than replacing cigarette smoking among youth. Their new paper, “Impact of the e-cigarette era on cigarette smoking among youth in the United States: A population-level study,” estimates changes in youth smoking prevalence after 2014 when e-cigContinue reading “1.7 million more kids started smoking above historical trends after ecigs became widely used”

Thai kids who start with e-cigs more likely to go on to add cigs

Kade Patanavanich, Methavee Worawattanakul, and I just published “Longitudinal bidirectional association between youth electronic cigarette use and tobacco cigarette smoking initiation in Thailand” in Tobacco Control. This paper shows that in Thailand, as in richer countries, never-smoking youth who use e-cigarettes are more likely to become smokers than kids who don’t use e-cigarettes. (Kids whoContinue reading “Thai kids who start with e-cigs more likely to go on to add cigs”

33 state Juul settlement does not seem to have fixed problems with earlier settlements

On September 6, 2022, Connecticut Attorney General AG Tong announced that 33 states and Puerto Rico who were suing Juul for its predatory marketing had reached a settlement in principle. Tong’s press release stated, “Both the financial and injunctive terms exceed any prior agreement JUUL has reached with states to date.” While the devil isContinue reading “33 state Juul settlement does not seem to have fixed problems with earlier settlements”

FDA should prohibit all menthol flavor additives, compounds, constituents, and ingredients in cigarettes, and should not limit the proposed standard to prohibiting menthol as a “characterizing flavor”

My colleagues at UCSF and other universities and I have submitted this comment to the FDA in response to its proposal to prohibit the use of menthol in cigarettes. A PDF of the comment is here. The Regulations.gov tracking number is l6b-ew3y-c1ye. FDA should prohibit all menthol flavor additives, compounds, constituents, and ingredients in cigarettes,Continue reading “FDA should prohibit all menthol flavor additives, compounds, constituents, and ingredients in cigarettes, and should not limit the proposed standard to prohibiting menthol as a “characterizing flavor””

Since FDA has made a mess of Juul, the health community & Congress should force FDA to ban menthol e-cigs now

The day after FDA denied Juul’s application to continue selling its e-cigarettes on June 23, 2022, Juul sued and obtained an emergency Stay from the US Court of Appeals.  On July 5, the FDA announced that it was issuing its own Administrative Stay and allowed Juul to remain on the market while the FDA considersContinue reading “Since FDA has made a mess of Juul, the health community & Congress should force FDA to ban menthol e-cigs now”

White House OKs FDA moving forward on reducing nicotine in cigs; FDA can and should ban menthol ecigs now

On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration announced that FDA would be moving forward to develop a product standard limiting nicotine in cigarettes and other combusted tobacco products to nonaddictive levels. FDA has been formally considering such a rule for a long time. In 2018, FDA solicited public comment on such a rule. At thatContinue reading “White House OKs FDA moving forward on reducing nicotine in cigs; FDA can and should ban menthol ecigs now”

Health groups call on Netflix to honor its promise to get smoking out of its kid programming

Sixteen health organizations and four individuals wrote Netflix on June 6, reminding them that last year Netflix pledged to get rid of smoking in their programming that appeals to youth. Netflix never published a formal policy and, judging from the smoke-filled new season on Stranger Things, doesn’t care how many kids it delivers to BigContinue reading “Health groups call on Netflix to honor its promise to get smoking out of its kid programming”