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.
November 8, 2014
The City of Chicago has gone way beyond then FDA and prohibited the sale of flavored tobacco products (not just cigarettes) within 500 feet of schools. Pro-tobacco forces immediately sued, making the usual claims that the law was unconstitutional, would destroy business, and was preempted by federal law and requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting the city from enforcing the law. (The two industry filings are here and here.)
The city vigorously defended the law (responses here and here) and the judge refused to grant the TRO.
Two things about the decision were especially encouraging: