March 31, 2017
The UCSF Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Archive is well-known an widely used by tobacco control researchers and advocates, as well as people interested in a wide range of other topics, such as global warming deniers (many of who have histories of working for Big Tobacco).
Few people realize that the tobacco documents are now part of the larger multi-industry UCSF Industry Documents Library that has included documents from Pharma for several years.
Now we have added a third collection of documents, the new Chemical Industry Documents Archive that has been launched with nearly 2,000 documents and more to come in May and beyond.
March 30, 2017
Every time I have posted a comment on a new study showing that e-cigarettes adversely affect blood vessels and blood in ways that increase risk of a heart attack, a friend and colleague who remains part of the (shrinking) collection of e-cigarette enthusiasts emails me and with he comment that, “if they are so bad where’s the evidence that e-cigarettes increase the risk of a heart attack?”
The first evidence just appeared.
Using the National Health Interview Survey (NIHS), a large national survey done in the US, Nardos Temesgen and colleagues at George Washington University, found that the odds of a heart attack increased by 42% among people who used e-cigarettes.
This increase in risk was on top of the increases in risk due to any smoking that the e-cigarette users were doing. This is a particularly important finding because most e-cigarette users are dual users who keep on smoking at the same time that they use e-cigarettes. What this means is that dual use of e-cigarettes with cigarettes is substantially more dangerous than smoking alone.
March 23, 2017
Eric Crosbie, Patricia Sosa, and I just published “Defending strong tobacco packaging and labelling regulations in Uruguay: transnational tobacco control network versus Philip Morris International” in Tobacco Control. It shows how local and international tobacco control advocates collaborated to defend Uruguay’s strong graphic warning labels against PMI’s trade challenge and provides a model for similar collaborations globally.
In order to facilitate dissemination, we have also translated the paper into Spanish and also made it available for free on the UCSF open access server as well as directly from the journal. Here are the links:
Tobacco Control: English version http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2017/03/22/tobaccocontrol-2017-053690
Tobacco Control: Spanish version http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/suppl/2017/03/15/tobaccocontrol-2017-053690.DC1/Uruguay_UCSF_published-Spanish.pdf
UCSF (free access): English version http://escholarship.org/uc/item/07n9m5wn#
March 22, 2017
The Regulations.gov tracking number is 1k1-8vee-7yms. A PDF version is here.
The FDA’s Proposed Tobacco Product Standard Limiting NNN Levels in Finished Smokeless Tobacco Products is Well-Justified, but the Regulatory Impact Analysis Understates Benefits and Overstates Costs
Docket Number: FDA-2016-N-2527
UCSF TCORS
Wendy Max, Lauren Lempert, Benjamin Chaffee, Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Eunice Neeley, Lucy Popova,[*] Peyton Jacob, Stanton Glantz
March 22 2017
In its proposed rule setting a tobacco product standard requiring that the mean level of N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) in finished smokeless products sold in the U.S. must not exceed 1.0 μg/g of tobacco, the FDA took a major positive step towards protecting public health and reducing cancer risks associated with smokeless tobacco use. Congress gave FDA the express authority to regulate the design and contents of tobacco products by creating tobacco product standards, and UCSF TCORS applauds FDA for taking this action.
March 22, 2017
On March 15, 2017, several friends of mine, together with others, released “Ending Cigarette Use By Adults In A Generation Is Possible: The Views Of 120 Leaders In Tobacco Control,” which attracted moderate press attention.
While I agree that cigarette use could be ended in generation – actually in 5-10 years – if we could muster the political clout to implemented what we know works – I take strong exception to the pro-industry harm reduction arguments in this report. Indeed, I believe that some of the policies advocated in the report will slow progress.
As one of the 120 “leaders” who responded to the poll used to construct this document, I strongly object to the subtitle, “The views of 120 leaders in tobacco control.” The views in this report do not reflect my views. While the body of the report contains a disclaimer stating that it is only the authors’ views, the title suggests something quite different.