February 3, 2019
Candice Bowling and I just published “Conflict of Interest Provisions in State Laws Governing Medical and Adult Use Cannabis” in American Journal of Public Health. We evaluated the conflict of interest provisions in all the available state medical and adult use cannabis laws and generally found that they were not adequate to address the pressures associated with the rapidly-emerging legal cannabis industry.
Here is the abstract:
February 3, 2019
Aaron Baum, I, and others just published “Estimating the long-run relationship between state cigarette taxes and county life expectancy” in Tobacco Control that contributes to the growing literature that tobacco taxes can help reduce health disparities. Using life expectancy data from all US counties from 1996 trough 2012, we found that a one-dollar increase in cigarette tax per pack (in 2016 dollars) translated to an increase in life expectancy of 1 year over the following decades, with the first 6-month increase in life expectancy appearing after 10 years. There was a larger life-expectancy benefit of increases in cigarette excise taxes in lower-income counties compared with higher-income counties, which is evidence that cigarette taxes can help reduce health disparities.
Here is the abstract:
January 28, 2019
Philip Morris International's Foundation for a Smokefree World (FSFW), a thinly disguised part of the company's efforts to market its IQOS heated tobacco product and rehabilitate PMI's image, is seeking to partner with WHO.
Today a letter signed by 89 health organizations and 170 public health leaders (including me) was sent to the WHO DIrector General urging WHO to reject FSWS's offer. The letter is accomanied by two short briefing papers, one analyzing FSFW's strategy of framing its efforts under the Sustainable Development Goals, and another summarizing some of the actions by a wide range of organizations to block FSFW's efforts on behalf of the PMI and the tobacco industry generally.
WHO should promptly reject FSFW's latest efforts as a violation of FCTC Artcle 5.3.
January 19, 2019
Eric Crosbie, Stella Bialous, and I just published “Memoranda of understanding: a tobacco industry strategy to undermine illicit tobacco trade policies” in Tobacco Control. This paper expands our understanding of how tobacco companies have worked for decades to co-opt governments to undermine effective control of illegal cigarette smuggling. It reinforces the importance of FCTC Article 5.3 and ratification and effective implementation of the new Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products.
Here is What This Paper Adds:
What is already known on this subject
- For decades, transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) have promoted voluntary self-regulation agreements to avoid stricter tobacco control regulations.
- TTCs have been directly or indirectly involved with and benefiting from illicit tobacco trade for decades.
- TTCs have promoted their own tracking system (Inexto Suite, previously known as Codentify) to displace government action to monitor the supply side of illicit tobacco trade.
What important gaps in knowledge exist on this topic
January 16, 2019
My colleagues at UCSF, Georgia State University, and Stanford just submitted this public comment to FDA. The tracking number on Regulations.gov is 1k3-97pu-m56t. A PDF of the comment is here. We also submitted this comment to TPSAC for its consideration; this letter, which summarizes the main points in the comment, is available here.
The revised Swedish Match modified risk tobacco product application for General Snus fails to provide evidence that the claim is not misleading and will have a beneficial effect on the population as a whole