November 16, 2014
Robert McMillen and colleagues just presented "Susceptibility To Electronic Cigarette Use Among Current Nonsmokers" at the American Public Health Association meeting, which adds to the growing case that e-cigarettes are not just being used as a replacement for cigarettes among current users, but are attracting new people to nicotine addiction and, perhaps, leading long-term former smokers to relapse to nicotine use.
"Susceptability" is a measure of the liklihood of future use that is a validated predictor of future cigarette smoking behavior.
This national study of adults (18+ years old) found that 6.7% of never smokers and 13.9% are susceptable to starting to use e-cigarettes, with higher susceptablity among people who have seen e-cigarette advertising.
Here are their conclusions:
• Over 20% of young adult never and former smokers who have never tried e-cigarettes are susceptible to using them in the future.
• The substantial number of vulnerable young adult nonsmokers illustrates the imperative for sales and marketing regulation to protect nonsmokers from being recruited to e-cigarette use and possible nicotine addiction.
• Until the risks of e-cigarettes are better defined, it is irresponsible to allow an unrestrained industry to encourage uptake of a potentially hazardous product.
November 16, 2014
This research, led by UCSF professor Matt Springer, is being presented today (November 16, 2014) at the American Heart Association Annual Scientific Sessions.
Study Highlights:
November 12, 2014
On November 10, 2014, the Minnesota Department of Health put out a press release reporting that in 2014 12.9 percent of high school students had smoked and e-cigarette in the last 30 days compared to 10.6 percent of high school students who had smoked a conventional cigarette in the last 30 days. (28 percent of high school students had ever tried an e-cigarette.)
This result is being hailed by e-cigarette enthusiasts like the American Council on Science and Health and Mike Siegel as evidence that e-cigarettes are not causing kids to smoke cigarettes and even suggest that e-cigarettes may deserve credit for the drop in cigarette smoking
November 11, 2014
The International Journal of Enviromental Research and Public Health just published two papers by authors from Lorillard Tobacco reporting that "neither the e-cig liquids and collected aerosols, nor the extracts of the SLT or NRT products produce any meaningful toxic effects in four widely-applied in vitro test systems, in which the conventional cigarette smoke preparations, at comparable exposures, are markedly cyotoxic and genotoxic," and "exhaled e-cigarette areosol does not increase bystander exposure for phenolics and carbonyls above the levels observed in exhaled breaths of air." The second paper also reports virtually no nicotine in the exhaled e-cig aerosol.
November 10, 2014
E-cigarette enthusiasts, as well as much of the research on e-cigarettes, assumes that use will be concentrated among current smokers who are either using e-cigarettes to quit or reduce smoking. For example, the American Heart Association in its recent policy statement on e-cigarettes says, “Among never smokers, 0.7% were currently users (past 30 days), which indicates that few never smokers
who try e-cigarettes continue their use.”
Lauren Dutra and I recently reviewed the evidence that a substantial and growing minority of youth using e-cigarettes have never smoked conventional cigarettes.
There are several recent papers that show substantial e-cigarette use among never-smoking adults or adults who have long-since quit smoking.