November 14, 2017
Matthew Springer and his group presented an important new study that adds to the case the Philip Morris’ IQOS has effects just like cigarettes. Here is AHA’s description of the study.
Heat-not-burn tobacco products may be ‘not so hot’ at protecting blood vessel function
ANAHEIM, California, Nov. 14, 2017 — Heat-not-burn devices may eliminate users’ exposure to tobacco smoke, but the vapor they produce has the same negative impact on blood vessel function as smoking, according to a preliminary animal study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2017, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.
November 13, 2017
I just submitted this public comment to the FDA on PMI's Modified Risk Tobacco Product application for IQOS. The tracking number is 1k1-8zrx-juh9 and a PDF of the comment is avaiable here.
PMI’s Own Data on Biomarkers of Potential Harm in Americans Show that
IQOS is Not Detectably Different from Conventional Cigarettes,
so FDA Must Deny PMI’s Modified Risk Claims
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Principal Investigator, UCSF Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science
University of California San Francisco
Docket Number: FDA-2017-D-3001
November 13, 2017
November 10, 2017
This letter, sent to the San Francisco supervisor who is sponsoring legislation on how to implement legalized marijuana in San Francisco, urges her to keep public health issues in mind. So far, the health community has been all but absent from the public discussion (except Americans for Nonsmokers Rights). (A PDF of the letter on letterhead is here.)
November 3, 2017
Supervisor Malia Cohen
City Hall
San Francisco, CA
c/o [email protected]
Dear Supervisor Cohen,
After working with you on your path-breaking tobacco control legislation, we have been surprised that the cannabis legislation that you are carrying forth is not addressing the serious public health issues raised by legalization. We urge you to broaden the focus of the discussion beyond the business of cannabis to consider the public health implications of this legislation before it is finalized.
November 9, 2017
Clayton Velicer, Gideon St. Helen, and I just published “Tobacco papers and tobacco industry ties in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology” in the Journal of Public Health Policy. RTP is one of the journals that the tobacco and other industries use to publish their work. We show a strong pro-tobacco industry orientation in the editors and conclusions in the papers published there. Scientists and regulators need to be aware of these biases.
Here is the abstract
November 7, 2017
Tingting Yao and our colleagues just published “Relationship between spending on electronic
cigarettes, 30-day use, and disease symptoms among current adult cigarette smokers in the U.S.” in PLOS ONE. This paper shows that smokers who use e-cigarettes report having more chest pain, are more likely to notice blood when brushing their teeth, to have sores or ulcers in their mouth, and to have more than one cold than smokers who did not use e-cigarettes in the last 30 days. Even after controlling for cigarettes smoked per day, e-cigarette expenditures or use was associated with greater odds of wheezing and shortness of breath.
This paper adds to the evidence that dual use of e-cigarettes with cigarettes is more dangerous than smoking cigarettes.
Another interesting finding is that the amount of money spent on e-cigarettes is a better predictor of health effects than reported e-cigarette use. This variable may capture differences in e-cigarette systems as well as how heavily they are used.
Here is the abstract: