December 13, 2019
This ad is being published in The Hollywood Reporter (December 13) and Variety (December 17) weekly editions.
The data show we've made substantial progress in reducing kids’ exposure from big-budget, all-fiction PG-13 movies. However, smoking by fictional characters in biographical dramas and smoking on popular streaming platforms pose substantial new risks.
December 11, 2019
“I am furious that the tobacco industry is targeting children yet again and profiting from their addiction.”
-Pete Briger
We are grateful to Pete and Devon Briger for endowing an international postodoctoral fellowship at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Here is the story UCSF just released about the gift:
November 25, 2019
My colleagues at UCSF (and Stanford) just submitted this public comment to FDA on the material FDA specifies that tobacco companies need to submit as part of the premarket tobacco marketing applications. Our comment highlights some items that need further clarification or other tweaking. We also provide a redlined version of the propsed rule that implements the changes we suggested. The regulations.gov tracking number is 1k3-9dik-7qka. A PDF of the comment is available here.
November 23, 2019
Jacob George and colleagues recently published “Cardiovascular Effects of Switching From Tobacco Cigarettes to Electronic Cigarettes” in Journal of the American College of Cardiology. This nicely-done study measured changes in blood vessel function in cigarette smokers before and a month after they switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes and found that vascular function improved after switching.
A particularly interesting result is that the improvement was seen in women but not men. There are gender differences in heart disease mechanisms and risks (especially before menopause). This paper highlights the importance of considering gender effects when assessing effects of e-cigarettes on the cardiovascular system.
Like other studies of the effects of e-cigs on vascular function, the effect was independent of nicotine.
This paper does differ from most of the literature, which shows that e-cigs have similar effects on blood vessels as cigarettes (some recent examples are here), but, as noted above, this study is well done and the results contribute to the overall evidence base on ecigs and cardiovascular function.
Here is the abstract:
November 22, 2019
Earlier this week the State of California sued Juul, alleging a wide range of efforts to addict kids and violate a range of California laws.
Every one of these law suits adds more details to our understanding of how Juul made its billions. The thing that struck me in the California case is the detailed explanation about how Juul's "state of the art" online agre verification system let a ton of kids buy Juul and collected informationn that could be used to email marketing materials to kids.
Beginning on page 41, the case explains the purposeful holes in the online verification system and how Juul gamed the system to allow kids to get through. In addition to incomplete verifications, the system allowed -- indeed, encouraged -- multiple attempts for kids who did not get through.