Read articles from United States of America

March 31, 2023 by truthinitiative.org

Since the 1920’s, the tobacco industry has used women’s suffrage and equality movements to market cigarettes to women. Today, as the industry shifts its focus to e-cigarettes, tobacco companies are using similar tactics to market these products to women, with themes of independence, glamour, fun, and health-consciousness.

The tobacco industry began marketing cigarettes to women in the 1920s, according to a Surgeon General report on women and smoking. Cigarette companies first began targeting women in advertising with messaging that aimed to establish a connection between smoking and slimness, with harmful slogans such as “reach for a lucky instead of a sweet.” [...]

March 31, 2023 by news-medical.net

In the present longitudinal study, researchers investigated whether adolescent individuals who had used electronic cigarettes at study initiation, compared to adolescents who had not used electronic cigarettes, had greater chances of continuing smoking after two years of initiating the habit.

The study comprised young individuals between 12 and 17 years, participating in the third, fourth, and fifth waves of the national-level population assessment of tobacco and health (PATH) trial. The third study wave was between October 2015 and October 2016, and the fourth was between December 2016 and January 2018. The fifth wave was between December 2018 and November 2019.

March 28, 2023 by nationalreview.com

The FDA’s crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes and vapes likely flouts administrative law, a panel of Fifth Circuit judges ruled Thursday.

In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration deemed e-cigarettes to be “tobacco” products, thus giving itself sweeping legal authority to regulate. Since then, it has set up roadblock after roadblock for companies attempting to get vaping products approved and especially those that are not tobacco-flavored, reflecting the agency’s concern that these products will end up in the hands of teenagers. [...]

March 27, 2023 by nytimes.com

Since last August, America has been experiencing a severe shortage of Adderall and related stimulant medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. While the origin of the shortfall is contested, some blame rigid manufacturing quotas imposed by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which the agency hasn’t lifted despite increased diagnoses, insisting that the manufacturers have not used all of their existing allowances. The D.E.A. also has yet to provide a clear explanation of the shortage or to take emergency actions to help alleviate it.

March 21, 2023 by reason.com

In 2019, The Journal of the American Heart Association published a study suggesting that nicotine vaping doubles the risk of a heart attack. The authors claimed e-cigarette use is "independently" associated with a heightened risk of myocardial infarction, which is "similar" to the risk among cigarette smokers.

Three years later, the World Journal of Oncology published a study that claimed vapers face about the same cancer risk as smokers. The authors said "prospective studies should be planned to mitigate the risk."

March 17, 2023 by filtermag.org

Massachusetts is experiencing the aftershocks of menthol prohibition. In 2020, the Bay State became the first in the country to enact a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco and vaping products. As such, it’s a real-life case study of the potential impacts of a proposed federal menthols ban. And while research on smoking rates currently raises as many questions as answers, the escalation of nicotine law enforcement is beyond dispute.

March 09, 2023 by journalnow.com

The top-selling Vuse electronic cigarette of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. continues to widen its market-share gap with Juul in both monthly and yearly comparisons, according to the latest Nielsen convenience store report. Vuse’s market share rose from 41.5% in the previous report to 42.7%, compared with Juul declining from 26.4% to 25.6%.

Over the past 12 months, Vuse’s market share was 36.6%, compared with 29.5% for Juul.

In recent months, the shadow of a potential banning of Juul Labs Inc.’s e-cigarettes from U.S. retail shelves, as well as a potential Juul Labs Inc. federal bankruptcy filing, has accelerated the market-share gains of Vuse.

March 09, 2023 by cnn.com

The US Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it is proposing new requirements for tobacco companies that would help prevent contamination of their products and set some standards for the way they make and package products so regulators and consumers will know precisely what is in them.

The proposed rules would apply to all FDA-regulated bulk and finished tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes.

March 02, 2023 by reason.org

A new research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine concludes that the menthol cigarette ban in Massachusetts led to a net increase in smoking among black adults. Amid the Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to ban menthol cigarettes in the United States, the new analysis by Samuel Asare, principal scientist in tobacco control research at the American Cancer Society, et al. suggests that prohibiting menthols, the cigarettes preferred by black smokers, might be counterproductive to stated public health goals and calls for better health equity.

March 02, 2023 by tobaccoreporter.com

Back in 2009, when planning its 10-year public health objectives, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) set an ambitious goal for reducing youth smoking. At the time, said government data, one in five teens (19.5 percent) had lit up in the past month. The Healthy People 2020 target was 16 percent.

These targets aren’t meant to be slam-dunks. In 2020, a third of the 985 trackable Healthy People objectives were met; the rest improved some, stayed the same or got worse. So what happened with high school smoking?