Read articles from North America

November 02, 2023 by yaledailynews.com

Seven states have banned flavored e-cigarettes. A recent Yale-led study found that these policies push smokers toward traditional cigarettes, a more lethal habit. In a study published on Tuesday, Oct. 31, [...] researchers from Yale, the University of Missouri and Georgetown University analyzed retail sales from 2018 to 2023 and found that restricting flavored e-cigarettes increased conventional cigarette sales. As research has shown that traditional cigarettes are more dangerous than electronic cigarettes, current regulations against flavored electronic cigarettes may pose a public health threat, according to the new study. [...]

November 02, 2023 by regulatorwatch.com

According to a growing body of research on the impact of flavour bans, sales of combustible cigarettes are likely to grow while safer nicotine vaping products crater. Most alarmingly, where sales of flavoured nicotine products are restricted, teens tend to turn to smoking—destroying the very reason for implementing flavour bans in the first place. Joining today to discuss Canada’s flavour ban fever is Dr. Michael Pesko, the J. Rhoads Foster Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri.

October 31, 2023 by filtermag.org

Last year, California voters passed Proposition 31—banning the retail sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products, including menthol. Overnight, one-third of the Golden State’s nicotine consumers were left with a stark choice: quitting their preferred products or seeking them through the illicit market. New data suggest it’s pretty clear which way they went. And it should make sobering reading for the Food and Drug Administration, which presses on with its plan for a national menthol cigarettes ban while refusing to authorize any menthol (or flavored) vaping products.

October 26, 2023 by salon.com

Recently, Biden administration officials shared a status update on the president’s Cancer Moonshot, one of the most ambitious domestic health policy initiatives in recent memory, inspired by the tragic death of President Joe Biden’s son, Beau, from brain cancer at the age of 46. One of the key objectives of the Biden Cancer Moonshot – a whole-of-government approach to cut U.S. cancer rates in half by 2050 – is to “prevent more cancers before they start,” including by “reducing tobacco use.” Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death overall in the U.S. and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is responsible for 90% of all lung cancer deaths – about 114,000 deaths annually. 

October 25, 2023 by nih.gov

Youth use of electronic cigarettes ("e-cigarettes") is an ongoing concern. Vaping is usually assumed to be of nicotine, but survey responses may also include vaping of non-nicotine substances (particularly cannabis), which can impose different risks. The current study quantifies the proportions of nicotine-specific and cannabis-specific vaping among adolescents.

October 24, 2023 by filtermag.org

Outcry over youth vaping continues to drive headlines and policies around the world, fueled in part by parents who have formed prominent anti-vaping groups—like Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes (PAVe) from New York City, and Mothers Against Vaping in India. Tobacco harm reductionists lament how this youth-vaping narrative erases the needs of adults who switch from cigarettes to vapes. And while vaping is not entirely risk-free, some dispute the contention that youth vaping causes net harms at a population level. But parents who portray their children as under threat have always been powerful advocates.

October 24, 2023 by journalnow.com

The market-share lead of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse electronic cigarette was essentially unchanged in the latest Nielsen convenience store report. The latest analysis covers the four-week period ending Oct. 7. Vuse’s market share rose from 41.7% to 41.8%, compared with No. 2 Juul dropping from 24.7% to 24.4%. As recently as May 2019, Juul held a 74.6% U.S. e-cig market share. That’s when a series of regulatory actions led to product-reduction concessions by Juul Labs Inc.

October 23, 2023 by sentinelcolorado.com

With the growing popularity of disposable e-cigarettes, communities across the U.S. are confronting a new vaping problem: how to safely get rid of millions of small, battery-powered devices that are considered hazardous waste. For years, the debate surrounding vaping largely centered on its risks for high school and middle school students enticed by flavors like gummy bear, lemonade and watermelon. But the recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. The devices, which contain nicotine, lithium and other metals, cannot be reused or recycled. Under federal environmental law, they also aren’t supposed to go in the trash.

October 19, 2023 by radio-canada.ca

Officials elsewhere want to create the first 'smoke-free generation' As some countries move toward banning the next generation from smoking, experts here say Canada should weigh whether a similar ban could work to stop youth from picking up the habit. [...] Experts who study teen smoking and vaping habits say although these smoking bans don't necessarily target vaping, a public discussion about a generational smoking ban and what that could look like in Canada is warranted. There are lots of contextual factors that come to play that we really need to consider when we are thinking about implementing something like this in Canada, said Laura Struik, [...]

October 18, 2023 by news-medical.net

In a recent study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, researchers from Pennsylvania investigated the role of indicators of mental health conditions in the relationship between the use of social media and e-cigarette use among the youth. They found that the symptoms of anxiety and depression mediate the association between the use of social media and e-cigarettes among the youth.