September 7, 2016
The WHO recently released “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Electronic Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS/ENNDS)” in anticipation of a discussion of these issues at the Seventh Conference of the Parties, which will be held in India in November 2017. The report has a cautious summary of the current state of the science and a set of very sensible regulatory options, all of which should be implemented now.
People can read the report for the details on the science summary, but the single most important statement is
The magnitude of these risks is likely to be smaller than from tobacco smoke, although there is not enough research to quantify the relative risk of ENDS/ENNDS over combustible products. Therefore, no specific figure about how much “safer” the use of these products is compared to smoking can be given any scientific credibility at this time. Existing modelling studies indicate, however, that in order for there to be a potential population-wide net health benefit from ENDS/ENNDS at present usage rates, these products would need to be at least three times “safer” than cigarettes. [citations deleted]
September 5, 2016
Laurie Zawertailo and colleagues from the Toronto just published a well-done study, “Concurrent e-cigarette use during tobacco dependence treatment in primary care settings: Association with smoking cessation at 3- and 6-months,” in Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
This large study followed 6526 Canadians who were trying to quit smoking forward in time for 6 months. They compared people who did and did not use e-cigarettes and found that smokers who used e-cigarettes were 30% less likely to successfully quit smoking at 3 months and half as likely to have quit at 6 months than those who did not use e-cigarettes.
They also found no significant effect on reducing the number of cigarettes per day at either time. Whether smokers were explicitly using e-cigarettes as part of the quit attempt also did not affect quitting success.
These results, including the fact that whether e-cigarettes are being used explicitly for quitting. are consistent with the meta-analysis that Sara Kalkhoran and I published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine (odds ratio [OR] 0.72, 95% CI 0.57 – 0.91).
Here is the abstract:
September 5, 2016
This blog post has been replaced with http://tobacco.ucsf.edu/court-opens-door-fda-authorizing-%E2%80%9Cteddy-...
September 1, 2016
The New York Times has an excellent article about the tobacco industry’s efforts to block the FDA’s tepid efforts to regulate e-cigarettes shows that the pro-e-cigarette effort is now dominated by big tobacco companies. The cigarette companies clearly see e-cigarettes as part of their integrated business model, not as a competing technology that will drive them out of the highly profitable cigarette business.
While there is a lot of interesting material in the article about the industry’s lobbying and the fact that the bill in Congress to hobble the FDA was written by Philip Morris and that former Senator Mary Landrieu “forgot” to register as a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, the most incisive bit of information for me is the fact that an industry lobbyist was working inside the Obama White House Office of Management and Budget, which has consistently held back and watered down FDA’s efforts.
The Times reported,
August 30, 2016
A tobacco control advocate passed along this email, dated 30 August 2016:
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Subject: Opportunities for e-cigarette companies in TV and film [MARKETING]
We are representing a Hollywood feature film which offers really great featured product placement for an electronic cigarette partner. If you aren’t the primary point we should be speaking with, I’d greatly appreciate your updating me to who is the relevant individual.
STARBRIGHT is an upcoming $27MM budget film, from the producers of Life of Pi, X-Men and Divergent. The film is a very highly stylized fantasy/adventure, with distribution secured throughout Europe for Q1/Q2 2018, and the US pending shortly. We shoot in Louisiana and Oklahoma from September 15 – December 2016, and in Sicily, Italy January 15 – 31, 2017.
I’d like to talk with you about the opportunity, and would need to have you sign a confidentiality agreement so we can share more details ... [Link deleted]
I look forward to receiving your feedback!
[Name deleted]
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