November 21, 2017
The way that the FDA is rushing this application is really short-circuting effecting public participation in reviewing the IQOS application. And they are not giving their Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee anywhere near enough time to provide a thoughtful analysis on the application.
Here is the health groups' letter to FDA (PDF).
November 21, 2017
Mr. Mitchell Zeller
Director, Center for Tobacco Products
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
Re: Docket No. FDA-2017-D-3001
Dear Director Zeller:
This letter renews the October 11, 2017 request made by the undersigned organizations, that FDA extend the deadline for submission of comments in the above-designated docket until six months following the publication of the final installment of the application and requests a similar postponement for the submission of public comments to the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). We reiterate our request.
November 21, 2017
Matthew Springer, Bonnie Halpern-Felsher and I just published “Marijuana, Secondhand Smoke, and Social Acceptability” in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Here are the first couple paragraphs:
On April 20, 2017, at 4:20 in the afternoon, 15 000 people in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park lit marijuana joints during the annual “420 Day.” In cannabis culture, April 20 has become an international countercultural holiday; people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis, typically around 4:20 pm.
The giant cloud of secondhand marijuana smoke was visible from the University of California, San Francisco, half a mile away. The cloud embodied the revelers’ new freedom on this first 420 Day since California voters legalized recreational marijuana in November 2016. The smoke cloud, however, was also part of a growing source of air pollution. ….
You can read the whole thing for free here.
November 21, 2017
Matthew Springer and his colleagues at UCSF have submitted this public comment to the FDA. The tracking number is 1k1-8zxa-mq9v and a PDF of the comment is available here.
The evidence PMI presents in its MRTP application for IQOS is misleading and does not support the conclusion that IQOS will not harm endothelial function; independent research done in a more relevant physiological model shows that IQOS harms endothelial function as much as conventional cigarettes
Matthew L. Springer, Ph.D., Pooneh Nabavizadeh, M.D., and Leila Mohammadi, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Cardiovascular Research Institute
UCSF Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science
University of California, San Francisco
Docket Number: FDA-2017-D-3001
November 20, 2017
November 21, 2017
The sugar industry buried scientific research almost 50 years ago that pointed to negative health effects of sugar, ceasing funding the research when it reflected negatively on the industry's interests, according to a new UC San Francisco study.
In a study to be published Nov. 21, 2017 in PLOS Biology, the authors said their analysis of internal documents bolsters evidence that the sugar industry has manipulated science in order to protect commercial interests, and to influence regulations and public opinion.
According to the study, the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) funded animal research, called Project 259, to evaluate the effects of sucrose on cardiovascular health. Then, when evidence from the project seemed to indicate that sucrose might be associated with heart disease and bladder cancer, the foundation ended the research without publishing the results or revealing any evidence of harm.
November 20, 2017
The latest e-cig love fest at the 2017 E-cig Summit in England has been bouncing around the internet, so I thought it would be worth summarizing some of the evidence debunking common e-cig myths. The list of citations is nowhere near exhaustive, but illustrates why these myths are myths.
Myth 1: There is no gateway effect.
A recent meta-analysis shows 100% consistent evidence that never cigarette smoking youth who begin nicotine use with e-cigarettes are significantly more likely to progress to cigarette smoking than youth who do not use e-cigarettes. There have been several additional longitudinal studies published that have shown the same thing since this meta-analysis was published, including one from England.
There are also consistent data showing that e-cigarettes attract youth at low risk of beginning tobacco use with cigarettes and expanding the overall nicotine use market.