October 3, 2014
E-cigarette enthusiasts are now routinely saying that the effects of nicotine are no more bothersome than caffeine (for example, Peter Hajeck and John Britton on BBC).
They (and the media quoting them) should read Chapter 5 "Nicotine" of the 2014 Surgeon General's report. Here are the conclusions:
1. The evidence is sufficient to infer that at high-enough doses nicotine has acute toxicity.
2. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine activates multiple biological pathways through which smoking increases risk for disease.
3. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine exposure during fetal development, a critical window for brain development, has lasting adverse consequences for brain development.
4. The evidence is sufficient to infer that nicotine adversely affects maternal and fetal health during pregnancy, contributing to multiple adverse outcomes such as preterm delivery and stillbirth.
September 30, 2014
A couple days ago ACS CAN in California launched its website to reward California politicians who have accepted ACS' challenge to swear off tobacco money,
This is a step in the right direction, but the real need is to hold those who do take tobacco money, including Governor Jerry Brown, accountable (not just leave them off the list of "good guys").
Here is their press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2014
Contact: Stephanie Winn McCorkle
Associate Director of Media Advocacy, Western Region
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
Phone: 916 802-4033
Email: [email protected]
“SNUFF TOBACCO MONEY OUT OF CALIFORNIA POLITICS”
LAUNCHES WEBSITE TO EXPOSE POLITICANS
SACRAMENTO – Nearly 50 candidates and officeholders have taken the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) up on its challenge to “just say no” to Big Tobacco campaign money. With the launch of its www.notobaccomoney.org website today, September 29, 2014, ACS CAN goes public with the names of candidates who have signed the pledge to swear off tobacco campaign cash.
September 30, 2014
Shareholders Challenge Major Hollywood Studios to Account for 1,000,000 Smoking Deaths (press release and NY Times story)
Surgeon General and CDC Directly Link Smoking in Movies to Youth Initiation that Could be Eliminated with an R Rating
Milwaukee, WI – Today (September 26, 2014) faith-based shareholders, who are part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the shareholder advocacy organization As You Sow, filed shareholder resolutions with The Walt Disney Company and Viacom (parent of Paramount) asking the Hollywood movie studios to respond to the Surgeon General and CDC report that an R rating of films with smoking imagery could save 1,000,0 lives.
September 25, 2014
Maciej L. Goniewicz and Lily Lee have published a paper, "Electronic Cigarettes Are a Source of Thirdhand Exposure to Nicotine" in Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The title says it all, but here is the abstract:
Introduction: Substances remaining on the surfaces in areas where people have smoked contribute to thirdhand exposure. Nicotine from tobacco smoke has been shown to react with oxidizing chemicals in the air to form secondary pollutants, such as carcinogenic nitrosamines. While previous studies have demonstrated thirdhand exposure to nicotine from tobacco smoke, none has investigated whether nicotine from electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can also be deposited on various surfaces.
Methods: Three brands of e-cigarettes were refilled with varying nicotine concentrations. We released 100 puffs from each product directly into an exposure chamber. Surface wipe samples were taken from five indoor 100cm2 surfaces (window, walls, floor, wood, and metal) pre and post release of vapors. Nicotine was extracted from the wipes and analyzed using gas chromatography.
September 25, 2014
Sara Borderud and colleagues from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center just published an exceptionally well-done longitudinal study, "Electronic Cigarette Use Among Patients with Cancer,' on how use of e-cigarettes affects success in people trying to quit smoking as part of an organized smoking cessation program. It showed that, at best, the e-cigarette users did no better in quitting smoking and likely did a lot worse than smokers trying to quit who did not use e-cigarettes.
They assessed e-cigarette use among patients with cancer who had joined an evidence-based smoking cessation program at Sloan Kettering. The followed the patients for 6 to 12 months and assessed quitting success among people using e-cigarettes and those not using them.
In addition to being a prospective longtudinal study, other strengths include the fact that the investigators controlled for a range of demographic variables, the type of cancer the smokers had, and, most important, how addicted to nicotine they were (a common complaint about other studies from e-cigarette advocates).