- Details
- Category: September 2018
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC on Friday he was “completely in support” of the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed crackdown on e-cigarettes. “We are not going to permit e-cigarettes to become a pathway to nicotine dependency” or the use of combustible tobacco, Azar said in an interview with CNBC.
He said he disagreed with a belief that banning e-cigarettes would push youth towards traditional cigarettes.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued more than 1,000 warning letters to retailers and manufacturers of e-cigarettes. It is, according to an FDA press release, “the largest coordinated enforcement effort in the FDA’s history.” In the letters, the FDA gives manufacturers, including JUUL, just 60 days to demonstrate that they can keep the nicotine-infused products out of the hands of minors. If the companies don’t succeed, the administration could ban candy-like flavors like mango and crème brûlée, which the FDA sees as particularly appealing to teens. “JUUL Labs will work proactively with FDA in response to its request,” said a JUUL spokesperson. “We are committed to preventing underage use of our product, and we want to be part of the solution in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people.”
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Most Americans think vaping is as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes, or even worse, according to a new poll. That should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched the campaign to demonize vaping and nicotine explode during this decade. Key findings of the poll were: 50% of Americans believe vaping is no safer than smoking cigarettes, 13% believe vaping is less safe than smoking, 20% believe vaping is safer than smoking, 17% are unsure which is safer.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
“Best practice measures embedded in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have effectively reduced active smoking and prevented involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke in many countries,” says Dr Freddie Bray, Head of the Section of Cancer Surveillance at IARC. “However, given that the tobacco epidemic is at different stages in different regions and in men and women, the results highlight the need to continue to put in place targeted and effective tobacco control policies in every country of the world.”
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Nicotine addiction and gateways do not exist. Is the Food and Drug Administration exempt from providing proof of the decision to classify and change the definition of nicotine as a tobacco product? Aside from the government putting out fraudulent research, massive propaganda and the plain old “we aren’t listening” – or “we heard you and don’t care” stances, the deeming regulations of e-cigarettes rest, without being questioned, on the government’s word. Stern and believable soundbites like “we’ve looked at the data” and “redoubling efforts” (what the hell is that?) and “guided by evidence” with other fun catch phrases are tossed around profitably, like cigarette butts.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Tobacco stocks are rallying the most in a decade following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s announcement that it’s cracking down on e-cigarettes in an effort to combat youth vaping. Altria Group and British American Tobacco gained the most intraday since 2008, rising as much as 7.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively. Philip Morris rose the most in more than three years. The agency has asked that the five top-selling national e-cigarette brands submit plans on how they will address youth access and use of their products.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
The University of Newcastle (UON) Australia has announced that it is reversing its whole-campus ban on smoking and vaping. The decision has been made for pragmatic reasons and has caused staunch anti-vape campaigner Simon Chapman to do cartwheels in logic. The University writes: “UON is dedicated to providing a safe and healthy environment for staff, students and visitors to our campuses. We are proud to support a smoke-free experience.”
- Details
- Category: September 2018
No flavor ban in Oakley. While I never allow myself to call anything a “win” since most wins are always of a temporary nature anyway, I think we can safely say that a flavor ban will not be part of the consideration in Oakley. An hour ago we (Chuck Allen and Stefan Didak) along with two other valued NBS allies, engaged the city council in a work session on flavored tobacco and restrictions. At the end of that common sense prevailed with three of the council members agreeing that age restrictions need to be enforced, banning the sale of legal products to adults is silly, and that people need to parent their kids and that is not a job for the government.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
There have been some outstanding developments in the US in the past 2 days concerning e-cigarettes and flavors. The FDA has declared an epidemic of e-cigarette use by adolescents. Therefore, the FDA Commissioner announced that it requires “dramatic action to try to curtail this”. What they are looking for right now is to “remove the characterizing flavors from e-cigarette products”. According to information from the Chicago Tribune, the FDA has unpublished data showing a 75% increase in e-cigarette use among high school kids compared to 2017.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Tobacco smoking rates present a challenge for Europe as rates for the adult population are the highest of the six WHO regions though the figures varied between countries and age groups. WHO estimates (based on data from 45 coun-tries) show the age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco smoking among people aged 15 years and above was 29% in 2013. The prevalence of tobacco smoking in 2013 among males (38.5%) was higher than that for females (20.7%). The highest and lowest national rates for smoking any tobacco product were 59.8% and 18.6% among males and 39.7% and 0.4% among females (see Fig. 2.3). These esti-mates are the highest of the six Regions of WHO.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
The number of vapers in Great Britain has topped three million for the first time - four times the number in 2012, according to a survey by Action on Smoking and Health. Most use e-cigarettes because they have quit smoking and 40% are smokers who are trying to give up. The estimations are based on a survey of 12,000 British adults. But a "worrying" belief that vaping is as bad as smoking still exists, a King's College London analysis found.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
(..) article, in which the authors showed that e-cigarette aerosol emissions increase platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR) expression and, consequently, Streptococcus pneumoniae adhesion to human airway epithelial cells. These findings led authors to conclude that e-cigarette use has the potential to increase susceptibility to pneumococcal infection.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Tobacco stocks surged Wednesday on news the Food and Drug Administration could ban all e-cigarette flavors, and bring forward product application deadlines set to bankrupt most of the industry. Following months of intense but mostly anecdotal reports of vaping sweeping high schools, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has given America's top five e-cigarette manufacturers 60 days to come up with plans to tackle the alleged scourge of teen vaping. If these plans prove unsatisfactory, the FDA could remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the market and bring forward the deadline for costly product applications currently set for 2022.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
Heated tobacco products (also called ‘heat-not-burn’ products) heat tobacco at temperatures below that of combustion, causing nicotine and other compounds to aerosolise. One such product, IQOS from Philip Morris International, is being marketed internationally with claims of harm reduction. We sought to determine whether exposure to IQOS aerosol impairs arterial flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a measure of vascular endothelial function that is impaired by tobacco smoke.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
The Tamil Nadu government has passed an order banning the sale of e-cigarettes (electronic nicotine delivery system or ENDS) with immediate effect. The health and family welfare department passed a government order (GO), dated September 3, banning e-cigarettes with immediate effect. The government has banned manufacture, sale, distribution, trade, trade, marketing, import and possession of the electronic nicotine delivery systems.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
The Northern Territory is seeking feedback on a Bill to regulate vaping like smoking. If passed, this Bill will deny smokers access to far safer products and will lead to more smoking-related disease and death. The Economic Policy Scrutiny Committee is calling for submissions to its inquiry into the Tobacco Control Legislation Amendment Bill 2018. The fundamental flaw of the proposed Bill is that it defines nicotine-containing vaporisers as tobacco products. However, vaporisers do not contain tobacco, there is no combustion or smoke and they carry only a small fraction of the risk of tobacco products.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
According to Bloomberg, Juul has “worked to remove more than 16,000 listings from online marketplaces since January.” As Vice News noted earlier this year, foreign manufacturers often make cloned versions of popular vaping products that are designed to be indistinguishable from the real thing. Counterfeit products are hardly new, but fake vapes are particularly eyebrow-raising because cheap batteries can explode, e-liquids sold alongside them could be loaded with toxic chemicals, and the devices could improperly heat up, releasing harmful substances instead of vapor. And, as Juul was quick to point out, buying a clone on eBay means age verification of buyers likely never happens (not that it’s hard for teens to get their hands on a real one).
- Details
- Category: September 2018
JAC Vapour is one of the only independent companies outside of China to design and create mainstream vaping devices for people who want to give up smoking. The SPS Smoke Free Prisons initiative goes live at the end of November and the company has been working closely with the SPS and its smoke free team to design products that meet the specific requirements of prisoners and the service. As a result of the collaboration they have created a device called the Wee VIM, which was based on one of their newest e-cigarette designs, the VIM.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
So today FDA Commissioner Gottlieb is pumping cigarette company stock prices by threatening to ban flavors in vapor products (or something — not entirely clear), unless the manufacturers magically get teenagers to switch back to smoking instead (or something — not entirely clear). I wanted to address one aspect of this rhetorical game that does not get talked about enough. I doubt there is any serious observer of this space who does not get this, but much of what is said seems to overlook it rather than drilling down to it as it should.
- Details
- Category: September 2018
The anti-tobacco Truth Initiative tweeted that the smoking rate among young adults (18-24 year old) in the U.S. is “just 10.4%,” based on the 2017 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) (here). Among the 5% who are former smokers in this age group, over half were current vapers or had tried vaping products. Even more impressive, 7 out of 10 current smokers were either current vapers or had tried e-cigarettes, meaning they could eventually make the switch to smoke-free. Advocates of greater tobacco control make a specious boast when they celebrate lower smoking rates while ignoring the positive impact of vaping.