August 24, 2018
My colleagues at UCSF and I have submitted this public comment to FDA on the RJ Reynolds application to market Camel Snus as a reduced risk tobacco product. The regulations.gov tracking number is 1k2-9510-wmcl. A PDF of the comment is available here.
Docket Number: FDA-2017-N-4678-0001
The Dynamic Population Modeler (+1) Used to Show Population Health Benefits Does Not Justify Issuing a MRTP Order for Camel SNUS Products
August 22, 2018
Our colleagues at the Public Healh Institute have prepared several public comments on California's cannabis regulations that they have offered as models for others. In addition to the comments themselves, Lynn Silver's transmittal email (below) sums up the current state of play in California pretty well. The point about preempting local laws is particularly troubling as is the fact that BCC plans to run the research program rather than relying on an independent agency like UC.
Comment to California Department of Public Health, Bureau of Cannabis Control, Department of Food and Agriculture.
Dear Colleagues,
August 21, 2018
We just published "Association Between Electronic Cigarette Use and Myocardial Infarction" in American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Here is the UCSF press release describing the study:
Risk of Heart Attacks Is Double for Daily E-Cigarette Users
New Analysis Shows Five-Fold Risk for People Who Use Both Cigarettes and E-Cigarettes Daily
Use of e-cigarettes every day can nearly double the odds of a heart attack, according to a new analysis of a survey of nearly 70,000 people, led by researchers at UC San Francisco.
The research also found that dual use of e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes — the most common use pattern among e-cigarette users — appears to be more dangerous than using either product alone. The study found that the risks compound, so that daily use of both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes raises the heart attack risk five-fold when compared to people who don’t use either product.
This is the first study to examine the relationship between e-cigarette use and heart attacks, and begins to fill the understanding of the effects of e-cigarettes on long-term health. The study was published Aug. 22, 2018, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The data were first presented in February in Baltimore at the 2018 annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
August 21, 2018
August 18, 2018
This 45 minute lecture, prepared for the 14 FDA/NIH-sponsored TCORS, reviews why people think e-cigarettes are a sensible part of a tobacco harm-reduction strategy as originally envisioned my Michael Russell in his 1976 widely-repeated "people smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar" statement and whether the current evidence supports that hope. Watch it here.