August 21, 2016
Thomas Willis and colleagues just published “E-cigarette use is differentially related to smoking onset among lower risk adolescents” in Tobacco Control. They followed 1136 youth forward in time for a year and found that e-cigarettes were attracting youth at low risk of smoking to initiate use with e-cigarettes and that kids who started with e-cigarettes were much more likely to be smoking cigarettes a year later than kids who did not start with e-cigarettes.
More important, they found that the effects were biggest in the low risk kids. In particular, if blows away the assertion made by e-cig enthusiasts that kids who start with e-cigs would be smoking conventional cigarettes anyway.
Here is their “What this paper adds” block from the paper:
August 21, 2016
I just published this piece on The Conversation at https://theconversation.com/big-tobacco-aims-its-guns-to-kill-california... (Visit that site to see the graphics.)
Big Tobacco aims its guns to kill California tobacco tax
August 21, 2016 8.21pm EDT
August 5, 2016
Despite the fact that the rules under India’s tobacco control law mandate that, “Promotional materials and posters of film and television programmes shall not depict any tobacco products or their usage in any form,” posters for the feature film Dishoom show popular actor John Abraham smoking a cigarette.
This situation echoes the US situation when Hollywood’s inclusion of smoking in television advertisements for movies effectively promoted cigarettes on television despite the prohibition on cigarette advertising on television. The difference, of course, is that what Bollywood is doing in India is a violation of law.
On August 2, 2016, the Indian NGO HRIDAY filed a complaint with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, noting that large versions of the poster showcasing Abraham, the lead actor, were prominently displayed at public places across the country and violated Indian law and urged Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to direct the filmmakers to stop using such irresponsible promotional materials.
August 4, 2016
After a long battle, including lawsuits that went to the Supreme Court, the Government of India implemented strong policies to counter the effects of smoking and other tobacco use in movies.
Now, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which fought sensible regulation of onscreen smoking, is trying to re-open the issue and roll back the current rules, which will make it easier for the kind of backroom deals between multinational tobacco companies and Bollywood described in the World Health Organization (WHO) 2016 report, Smoke-free movies: From evidence to action:
August 3, 2016
Ventura County just released a very well done report on severe problems with the proposed marijuana legalization initiative, The 2016 California Marijuana Initiative and Youth: Lessons from Alcohol Policy
Here is their press release; the report is here; I also deposited a copy in the UC eScholarhip library where it is freely available here.