October 22, 2019

Stanton A. Glantz, PhD

Calif Dept of Public Health launches great campaign to warn kids and parents about vaping

I must admit to have been underwhelmed by California Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order to deal with the epidemic of severe lung disease and death in people vaping THC and nicotine.

But now the California Department of Public Health has launched a stunning campaign, "Outbreak," of video and radio ads warning kids and their parents as well as young adults to stop vaping everything.  It points people to the Department's VapeOutbreak.org website for more details.

The ads are careful to remain true to the CDC's recommendation that people stop all vaping because, as of this date, the specific causes of the severe lung disease are not know.

What is known is that 31% of victiums of severe lung disease were vaping THC alone, 10% were vaping nicotine alone, and the rest were doing both.

The arguments coming out of vaping advocates (both of nicotine and THC) is that the problems are limited to "illicit" products.  The fact is that no authoritaive body has said that. 

I am at a meeting at NIH of people working on tobacco regulatory science.  Mitch Zeller, head of FDA Center for Tobacco Products summed up the current situation when he said that no single cause has been identified.  He also noted that it may be that several things are causing these illnesses.  That is what most of the other people I talked to (and I) think.

The Governor and CDPH are to be commended for this outstanding campaign.  Other states should get and run the California ads.

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