August 31, 2019
Robert Tarran and his colleagues at UNC recently published “Chronic E-Cigarette Use Increases Neutrophil Elastase and Matrix Metalloprotease Levels in the Lung” in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. They inserted bronchoscopes into the lungs of 14 e-cigarette users and measured levels of enzymes in their lungs. They found high levels of protease, an enzyme that, when too high, cause emphysema by essentially dissolving lung tissue. The levels were as high as observed in smokers.
They also studied the effect of nicotine on cultured immune cells from lungs and found that higher levels of nicotine produced more proteases.
These findings challenge the conventional wisdom among e-cigarette enthusiasts (and the FDA) that e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes and that nicotine per se does not have any adverse health effects beyond being an addictive drug.
Here is the abstract:
August 22, 2019
This statement will appear in the voter guide delivered to every San Francisco voter this fall.
They don’t seem to understand that all SF’s ordinance says is that for e-cigs to be sold in SF, they need to get a premarket order from FDA, something Juul and the other e-cig companies could have done 3 years ago.
They also seem happy to see the flavor ban repealed and Juul writing San Francisco’s public health laws.
Will they be making public appearances for Juul, too?
August 22, 2019
At a time when there is growing concern about severe lung disease in young people who have been using e-cigarettes (some with nicotine, some with cannabis), the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) has been sitting on $20 million in research funds allocated under California Prop 64.
This is of particular concern because all the cases in California have involved vaping cannabis.
It is not clear if the problem is due to adulterated cannabis – all the cases in California were from people who bought he product on the illicit market – issues related to vaping per se (like inhaling propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin, metal ions from the e-cig heater) or some combination of factors.
We do know that e-cigarettes have a lot of bad effects on lungs and that these factors are not just due to nicotine.
My colleagues who have been trying to do research on health effects of cannabis have been particularly frustrated by the fact that BCC has been sitting on the research money that could have supported investigations that would have developed the knowledge to understand this sudden emergency.
BCC has said that it has been busy getting the legal market off the ground and research just wasn’t a priority.
August 21, 2019
I asked Mark Pertschuk, the lawyer who runs Grassroots Change’s Preemption Watch, whether he thought the language in Juul’s initiative would overturn San Francisco’s ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes (as well as other existing laws related to e-cigs). Here is what he wrote me:
August 20, 2019
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Truth Initiative Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control
Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
University of California San Francisco
Dear Dr. Glantz:
Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on the impact of San Francisco’s Juul initiative, and specifically Section 19N.5-6(a), on the ongoing marketing of e-cigarettes to children and young people.
The Juul initiative mirrors the tobacco industry’s favorite tool for undermining and invalidating effective public health policies: Preemption.[1] As a practical matter, were the Juul initiative to pass it would supersede and invalidate San Francisco’s ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, including Juuls. That ban was overwhelmingly adopted by 68% of San Francisco voters in a transparent democratic process in 2018.
August 8, 2019
On August 6, forty-three state and territorial Attorneys General wrote America's leading media companies asking them to "eliminate or exclude tobacco imagery in all future original streamed content for young viewers."
The AGs cited the US Surgeon General's 2014 conclusion that on-screen smoking recruits young people to smoke and Truth Initiative's 2018 discovery of high tobacco content in popular streaming shows. Their letter also asked media companies with on-demand services to: