Read articles from United States of America

November 11, 2022 by theguardian.com

The modern sweet shop has long removed from its window the screw-top glass jars full of gobstoppers and lemon sherbets that used to tempt kids to spend their pocket money on the way home from school. Instead, there is an array of slim boxes in a rainbow of bright colours. “Banana ice”, “pink lemonade”, “blueberry sour raspberry”, “cotton candy ice”, they are labelled.

The jewelled boxes contain Elf bars: disposable e-cigarettes. The rules say they are for adults only. Under-18s are not allowed to buy them, even if they wander in to look at the confectionery that is also for sale in some of these shops. [...]

November 11, 2022 by filtermag.org

Idon’t think I’d ever heard of the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), conducted annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But in 2018 it crashed into my life, as someone who had finally been able to quit smoking after 10 years, through the use of nicotine vapes.

That was the year that Scott Gottlieb, then commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), responded to the NYTS data by announcing that youth vaping was an “epidemic.” This pronouncement threw vaping into the headlines, making it Public Enemy Number One as panic over youth use exploded. A rash of restrictions and bans have followed.

November 09, 2022 by medscape.com

November 08, 2022 by statnews.com

Californians have an opportunity on Tuesday to protect the health of their children by voting yes on Proposition 31, which would be a vote to prohibit the sale of nearly all flavored tobacco products in the state. It’s a much-needed move, and one that every state in the nation should be taking.

Flavored e-cigarettes have addicted a new generation of Americans to nicotine. In the past decade, the use of flavored e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) by youth and young adults, as well as by others who did not previously use tobacco products, has grown substantially, hitting a peak among high schoolers in 2019. [...]

November 07, 2022 by nytimes.com

For decades, public health advocates chipped away at the influence of Big Tobacco with measures aimed at discouraging cigarette use. But the bitter legal and political battles were just a prelude to the unfolding climactic clash that could determine the fate of smoking and whether these companies adapt or falter.

U.S. health officials have launched the most aggressive attack by far on cigarettes: Twin government proposals would ban menthol-flavored cigarettes and would limit nicotine levels to make traditional smoking less addictive. At the same time, the government is slowly embracing vaping as an alternative by authorizing the sale of some e-cigarettes, [...]

November 04, 2022 by clivebates.com

This is my response to the operational review of the performance of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products by the Reagan-Udall foundation. The heart of the problem is the lack of a coherent regulatory strategy, grounded in real-world understanding

November 04, 2022 by filtermag.org

On November 8, California residents will vote on a ballot measure to prohibit the sale of flavored nicotine products.

A “yes” vote for Proposition 31 would ban almost all flavored nicotine products—both vapes and cigarettes, including menthol—with the exception of hookah, loose leaf tobacco (for pipes) and premium cigars. Lawmakers in California already technically passed the ban in 2020, but legal challenges brought it to a two-year halt—and are now leaving it up to voters to decide.

November 03, 2022 by acsh.org

For many years, the science communication landscape looked something like this: reputable universities and public health institutions did sound research and educated consumers about the risks they faced; devious activist groups fabricated health scares that gullible and dishonest reporters uncritically amplified; ACSH and other science-minded organizations refuted the nonsense emanating from the headlines.

Things are different today. Often times its reputable healthcare providers and other trusted institutions that mislead consumers. There is no better example than this recent piece published by the Cleveland Clinic: How Vaping or Smoking Impacts Your Physical Activity:

November 02, 2022 by youtube.com

Regulators and government have created a “chaotic hot mess” in the U.S., says Clive Bates, tobacco control policy expert and former Director of Action on Smoking and Health (UK), in today’s episode of RegWatch. Hear Bates break down the 2022 NYTS youth vaping stats, his call for the CDC to stop its dishonest spin of youth vaping data, and his assessment of the FDA’s failed “authorization regime.”

October 31, 2022 by heart.org

Adults who regularly used electronic nicotine delivery devices, or e-cigarettes, displayed worrisome changes in heart and blood vessel function and performed significantly worse on exercise stress testing than people who did not use any nicotine products, according to two separate analyses of preliminary research to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2022. [...] Researchers from the Cardiac and LUng E-cig Smoking (CLUES) Study will present two abstracts that compared outcomes among people who vaped, those who smoked traditional, combustible cigarettes and people who reported not using any nicotine products.