November 30, 2018
The New York Times recently reported that Juul is working to develop a pod with lower nicotine content that will deliver the same “hit” by increasing the voltage in the device. Running at a higher temperature increases nicotine delivery, as well as generation of the other toxic chemicals in e-cigarettes.
This effort to sidestep EU rules on nicotine in e-cigarettes is one more illustration of how Juul is acting like any other tobacco company in working to get around the rules. The fact that they are modifying the product in a way that increases the risks is especially cynical given that they claim to be interested in harm reduction.
Alan Shihadeh and Tom Eissenberg at VCU identified this loophole in the EU regulations way back in 2015 in their paper “Electronic Cigarette Effectiveness and Abuse Liability: Predicting and Regulating Nicotine Flux” when they wrote:
November 30, 2018
Recently David Levy and colleagues published “Examining the relationship of vaping to smoking initiation among US youth and young adults: a reality check” in Tobacco Control. In this paper they used data from all the surveys over time that measured youth and young adult e-cigarette use and smoking and concluded
There was a substantial increase in youth vaping prevalence beginning in about 2014. Time trend analyses showed that the decline in past 30-day smoking prevalence accelerated by two to four times after 2014. Indicators of more established smoking rates, including the proportion of daily smokers among past 30-day smokers, also decreased more rapidly as vaping became more prevalent.
The inverse relationship between vaping and smoking was robust across different data sets for both youth and young adults and for current and more established smoking. While trying electronic cigarettes may causally increase smoking among some youth, the aggregate effect at the population level appears to be negligible given the reduction in smoking initiation during the period of vaping's ascendance.
November 22, 2018
My colleagues at UCSF, Georgia State University, and Stanford submitted this comment to the FDA on PMI's MRTP application for IQOS. The tracking number is 1k2-96n7-7zl0 and a PDF of the comment is available here.
Documents related to the comment:
PMI response to November 22, 2017 information request
PMI powerpoint on THS-PMTA05-NOC study from TPSAC mtg
November 17, 2018
As part of its ongoing research into to the epidemic use of JUUL by American youth, the Stanford Research into Tobacco Advertising (SRITA) project is comprehensively documenting the company’s promotional activities. This is a great resource to support research, advocacy, and policymaking that is freely available to everyone.
Recently uploaded:
over 1400 JUUL advertisements, social media postings, and images from sampling events: tobacco.stanford.edu/pods/juul
30 JUUL promotional videos: http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/videolist_juul.php
70 Comparisons between JUUL and traditional tobacco advertising: http://tobacco.stanford.edu/juultobaccocomparison
They are in the midst of adding a comprehensive “pod device” section with advertising of JUUL-a-Likes. So far Logic’s compact, Phix, and Myle have been uploaded to http://tobacco.stanford.edu/tobacco_main/main_pods.php
November 5, 2018
In response to exploding youth use of e-cigarettes, led by Juul, the FDA has been talking tough but doing little. The statement issued on October 31, 2018, by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on his meetings with industry suggests that he is falling into their old “youth smoking prevention” trap, by “welcoming voluntary steps by companies” and viewing their proposals to address youth e-cigarette use as “thoughtful.” The path he is following promises to make FDA complicit in promoting the e-cigarette epidemic.
Before he and the FDA proceed down this path, they should carefully read what the 2012 Surgeon General Report Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults has to say about what the industry is really up to.
He and the FDA should start with this overall conclusion from Chapter 5: “The tobacco companies’ activities and programs for the prevention of youth smoking have not demonstrated an impact on the initiation or prevalence of smoking among young people.”