June 12, 2017
In March 2014 Lauren Dutra and I published Electronic Cigarettes and Conventional Cigarette Use Among US Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Study in JAMA Pediatrics. This paper showed that those youth who experimented with cigarettes (i.e., answered “yes” to the question “Have you ever smoked a cigarette, even a puff?”) were much more likely to be established smokers (smoked 100 cigarettes) than youth who did not use e-cigarettes. We concluded “Use of e-cigarettes does not discourage, and may encourage, conventional cigarette use among U.S. adolescents.”
In writing the paper, Lauren Dutra and I took care not to use the word “cause” and noted that cross-sectional studies do not allow causal conclusions because they are a snapshot in time. (Of course, you cannot smoke your 100th cigarette before smoking your 1st cigarette, so reverse causation is not an issue in this case.)
Despite the care we took on this point, Farsalinos and Polosa criticized this paper on the grounds that one cannot conclude causation from a cross-sectional study.
June 12, 2017
Comment on Proposed Regulation:
DPH-17-004
Medical Cannabis Manufacturing License
April 18, 2017
Daniel G. Orenstein, JD, MPH
Postdoctoral Fellow
Candice M. Bowling, JD, MPA
Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanton A. Glantz, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Center for Tobacco Control Research & Education
University of California, San Francisco
530 Parnassus Ave., Suite 366
San Francisco, CA 94143
[email protected]
June 12, 2017
Incorporating public health best practices from tobacco and alcohol regulation is necessary to protect public health by providing more information to consumers, restricting harmful formulations, and preventing abusive industry marketing tactics
General Comments
June 5, 2017
On May 26, 2017, we submitted this public comment on FDA's proposal to do more research on text warning labels for cigarettes. The tracking number is 1k1-8wlw-uulv. It is available as a PDF here./sites/g/files/tkssra4661/f/u9/UCSF%20TCORS%20comment%20on%20warning%20labels%20study-1k1-8wlw-uulv.pdf
FDA’s Proposed Collection of Information on the Experimental Study on Warning Statements for Cigarette Graphic Health Warnings
Should be Addressing the Graphic Images, not Merely the Textual Statements
Docket Number: FDA-2017-N-0932
UCSF TCORS
Lauren Lempert, Minji Kim, Lucy Popova,[1] Stanton Glantz
May 26, 2017
April 24, 2017
The FDA’s initial effort to implement graphic warning labels was blocked by the courts because warnings are supposed to be “factual” not “emotional.” Lucy Popova and colleagues just published a nice paper showing that this is a false dichotomy. The paper, “Factual text and emotional pictures: overcoming a false dichotomy of cigarette warning labels,” was published in Tobacco Control.
Here is the abstract:
Background In reviewing the first set of pictorial warning labels in the USA, the courts equated textual labels with facts and information, and images with emotion. This study tested the differences in perceived informativeness and emotion between textual and pictorial cigarette warning labels.
April 19, 2017
On Monday April 17, 2017, Supervisor Malia Cohen introduced legislation to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol, in the City and County of San Francisco. While several other cities have enacted restrictions on flavors (and some that included menthol), this is the first blanket prohibition.
Introduction of this important law builds directly on educational activities about how menthol is used to target African American and other communities led by my colleague Valerie Yerger, Carol McGruder, and Phil Gardiner. The educational activities have been and will continue to be a key element of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center's SFCAN partnership with San Francisco to quickly reduce cancer in San Francisco. This is a great example of research translation from the ivory tower to the community.