December 11, 2014
In our paper, "When health policy and empirical evidence collide: the case of cigarette package warning labels and economic consumer surplus," published in American Journal of Public Health in February 2014, we raised a concern that the FDA would expand its practice of discounting health benefits of other public health regulations that would encourage healthy eating.
On December 8, 2014 Reuters reporter Sharon Begley reported that the FDA did just that in their new rule requiring calorie information to be added to many menus in chain restaurants and other food vendors.
The FDA estimated that the cost of the lost pleasure could be as much $5.27 billion, essentially wiping out any economic benefits if the medical savings of reduced diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems is at the lower end of the benefits that the FDA estimated ($5.3 billion to $15.8 billion of 20 years).
December 10, 2014
There are four surveys that have been recently published that show increaing e-cigarette use among youth from Wales, Scotland, Hawaii, and Connecticut. These data support earlier findings in young adults that e-cigarette use is associated with higher susceptability to cigarette smoking.
Data collected in 2014 for the Welsh government among 10 and 11 year olds reported "Exposure to secondhand smoke in cars and homes, and e-cigarette use among 10-11 year old children in Wales: CHETS Wales 2" found:
December 4, 2014
The harm reduction enthusiasts often point to the fact that people with mental illness have hihger smoking rates than thee general public and suggest that this group would particularly benefit from using e-cigarettes.
Jodi Prochaska and Rachel Grana examined the relationship between e-cigarette use and quitting cigarettes in people with serious mental illness enrolled in a clinical trial of different smoking cessation therapies (usual care, brief treatment, and extended treatment). While the trial was not examining e-cigarettes as one of the interventions -- the trial started before the e-cigarette market started growing rapidly -- the investigators recorded e-cigarette use among participants.
They found that e-cigarette use grew over time, but was not associated with increased quitting or even greater cigarette consumption than people not using e-cigarettes.
Here is the abstract:
Background
We examined electronic cigarette (EC) use, correlates of use, and associated changes in smoking behavior among smokers with serious mental illness in a clinical trial.
Methods
December 4, 2014
Heikki Hiilamo and I recently published, "Old wine in new bottles: Tobacco industry’s submissionto European Commission tobacco product directive public consultation" in Health Policy. This evaluation of submissions by the industry and allied groups co companies and allied groups to the EC on the tobacco product directive and found that the industy used standard industry arguments against regulation and, particularly, opposed any meaningful policies that would actually reduce the harm of using tobaco products.
Here is the abstract:
December 3, 2014
Heikki Hiilamo and I just published "Implementation of effective cigarette health warning labels among low and middle income countries: State capacity, path-dependency and tobacco industry activity" in Social Science and Medicine. This paper adds to the empirical case that the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control significantly accelerated implementation of health warning labels, including graphic warning labels, in low and middle income countries.
We also found that: