It’s been long-established that quitting smoking prolongs life and that quitting young (below about 40) eliminates all or almost all the mortality costs of smoking. The new paper Smoking Cessation and Short- and Longer-Term Mortality by Eo Rin Cho and colleagues extends this case to more recent data and from several countries. While they confirmContinue reading “Smoking cessation quickly reduces mortality, within 3 years”
Tag Archives: health
British smokers understand risks of e-cig use better than a lot of British health officials and scientists
England remains the country in which the government and (most of the) health establishment continue to aggressively promote e-cigarettes as a better alternative to cigarettes. As a result, Sarah Jackson and her colleagues were concerned about the results of their latest survey of smokers’ attitudes towards e-cigarettes, reported in their paper Trends in Harm PerceptionsContinue reading “British smokers understand risks of e-cig use better than a lot of British health officials and scientists”
More information on how ecigs increase cardiovascular disease risk
The evidence that e-cigarette use is associated with increased cardiovascular disease keeps accumulaing, together with studies on the specific pathophysiological mechanisms through which e-cigarette use increases disease risk. The recent review by Huiqi Zong, Zhekai Hu and colleagues, Electronic cigarettes and cardiovascular disease: epidemiological and biological links, is the most recent summary of this evidence.Continue reading “More information on how ecigs increase cardiovascular disease risk”
FDA needs to reconsider its promotion of the “continuum of risk” for e-cigarettes
As of February 22, 2024, the FDA was continuing to embrace the idea that there is a “continuum of risk” with combusted tobacco as the riskiest and e-cigarettes being substantially less risky. As a result, FDA promotes e-cigarettes as a way for smokers to reduce risk. This view is based on the fact that e-cigarettesContinue reading “FDA needs to reconsider its promotion of the “continuum of risk” for e-cigarettes”
Cannabis use linked to increase in heart attack and stroke risk
Many people think cannabis is “medicine” and so ignore its heath effects. Abra Jeffers, Amy Byers, Salome Keyhani and I just published Association of cannabis use with cardiovascular outcomes among US adults in the Journal of the American Heart Association that found that cannabis use is associated with adverse cardiovascular events with heavier use (moreContinue reading “Cannabis use linked to increase in heart attack and stroke risk”
E-cigs have similar risks to cigs for some diseases and nearly as high for others. Dual use riskier than smoking alone
It is an article of faith among e-cigarette advocates that they are substantially less risky than cigarettes. Rather than being based on the actual associations between e-cigarette use and disease, this belief is based on the fact that e-cigarettes do not burn tobacco, so avoid the toxic combustion products that cigarettes produce. In recent years,Continue reading “E-cigs have similar risks to cigs for some diseases and nearly as high for others. Dual use riskier than smoking alone”
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”
Replacing 50% of cigs with ecigs or HTP had no lung benefit
E-cigarette advocates and tobacco harm reduction advocates, as well as the FDA, have long promoted a 50% reduction in cigarette smoking as a positive outcome when assessing the value of e-cigarettes (recent example). The FDA’s use of this benchmark is particularly surprising because in 2021 FDA scientists published a meta-analysis of the effects of smokers reducingContinue reading “Replacing 50% of cigs with ecigs or HTP had no lung benefit”
Stanton Glantz blog 