January 30, 2017
Amanda Fallin-Bennett, Maria Roditis, and I just published “The carrot and the stick? Strategies to improve compliance with college campus tobacco policies” in Journal of American College Health. The title sums up the whole paper pretty well.
Here is the abstract:
Objective: Tobacco-free policies are being rapidly adopted nationwide, yet compliance with these policies remains a challenge. This study explored college campus key informants’ experiences with tobacco policies, and their perceived benefits, drawbacks, and outcomes.
Participants: The sample for this study was 68 key informants representing 16 different California universities with varying tobacco policies (no smoking indoors and within 20 feet of entrances, designated smoking areas, 100% smoke-free, and 100% tobacco-free).
Methods: Qualitative, descriptive study. Semistructured interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis.
January 25, 2017
January 24, 2017
Most people know me for my work on tobacco, but I have also been active in higher education funding policy. Here is a press release abot a major new report I helped write. The full report is available here.
Public Higher Education: Free Tuition for California Students to the UC, CSU and Community College Systems Is Possible Today
January 24, 2017--A tuition-free college education in California is possible. A new policy paper released today demonstrates that it is entirely possible today to provide the same accessible, low-cost university experience that California successfully offered its students from the 1960s through the 1990s.
The report demonstrates that we can revive the California Master Plan for Higher Education—eliminating tuition, restoring state per student funding to where it was in 2000 (adjusted for inflation), and providing seats for all students—would only cost the median California household $48 per year.
The paper, The $48 fix: Reclaiming California’s Master Plan for Higher Education, is collaboratively authored by a working group of academics whose exhaustive research points the way to a logical, coherent way for California to afford no-cost community college and university tuition.
January 22, 2017
Lauren Dutra and I just published “E-cigarettes and National Adolescent Cigarette Use: 2004–2014” in Pediatrics. Here is the press release that UCSF issued on it:
E-Cigarettes are Expanding Tobacco Product Use Among Youth
First National Analysis Shows E-Cigarettes Attract Low-Risk Adolescents Who Were Unlikely to Start Smoking
January 19, 2017
The Hill just reported that the FDA has issued its first ever product standard, to limit the amount of tobacco-specific nitrosamine N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) to 1 microgram per gram of smokeless tobacco. The FDA would also require an expiration date on smokeless tobacco (because this carcinogen builds up over time due to bacterial action in the tobacco).
Here is the FDA’s summary of the proposed rule, which is scheduled to be released for public comment on Monday in the Federal Register.
SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a tobacco product standard that would establish a limit of N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) in finished smokeless tobacco products. FDA is taking this action because NNN is a potent carcinogenic agent found in smokeless tobacco products and is a major contributor to the elevated cancer risks associated with smokeless tobacco use. Because products with higher NNN levels pose higher risks of cancer, FDA finds that establishing a NNN limit in finished smokeless tobacco products is appropriate for the protection of the public health.