Read articles from United States of America

March 23, 2021 by eurekalert.org

A University of California, Riverside, study analyzing fourth-generation electronic cigarette, or EC, pod atomizer design features has found the pod atomizers are similar to those of previous generations and contain elements that may adversely affect health and accumulate in the environment. [...]"The more these devices aesthetically evolve, the more the atomizer components and elemental composition stay the same," said Esther Omaiye, [...] "While major components [...] have been preserved across generations, we see newer components in fourth-generation pod products such as connector pins, connector-wire joints, ceramic wicks and chambers that house these wicks."

March 19, 2021 by vapingpost.com

The tobacco giant is concerned over the FDA’s nicotine messaging and what they view as misconceptions about the substance.
Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group asked the Food and Drug Administration [...] to clarify the agency’s position on nicotine.

CSP Daily News reports that Altria wants the Center for Tobacco Products to “correct the deeply entrenched public misperceptions regarding the health risks of nicotine.” “Left unaddressed, these widespread nicotine misperceptions could discourage adult smokers from switching to non-combustible tobacco products that may present lower health risk as compared to combustible cigarettes,” Magness said in a letter.

March 17, 2021 by ctpost.com

Gov. Ned Lamont, along with the support of many in the Legislature, wants to legalize adult-use marijuana and sports wagering, in his words, “rather than surrender the market to other states or the black market.” But various flavored tobacco ban proposals making their way through the Legislature would send menthol cigarettes, mint smokeless and vape into those same black markets. What gives? Wherever one stands on marijuana and sports wagering, his points are valid. Legalization would bring both out of the shadows of illegal markets to allow for regulation, enforcement and taxation. [...]

March 17, 2021 by nejm.org

Previous increases in the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) by youth were driven by multiple factors, including advertising, the use of appealing flavors, and the introduction of new devices with prefilled pods or cartridges and high nicotine levels, such as Juul. According to data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), 19.6% of high school students (3.02 million) and 4.7% of middle school students (550,000) reported current (within the preceding 30 days) e-cigarette use in 2020 — 1.8 million fewer than in 2019. [...]

March 15, 2021 by governing.com

States struggling under the weight of the public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic have a simple, bipartisan option: raising tobacco taxes. Substantial increases in taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes, have the benefit of improving public health across populations, increasing revenues for community programs and lowering future health-care costs for governments and businesses.

March 15, 2021 by prnewswire.co.uk

Every year, eight million people die from tobacco use, with 1.2 million of these deaths being a result of the inhalation of second-hand smoke, says the World Health Organization (WH0). Thus, the dangers of conventional cigarettes for those who smoke them and even for those who do not are to be a key factor behind the increase in the global e-cigarette market size from $15.7 billion in 2019 to $39.0 billion by 2030, at a 9.2% CAGR during 2020–2030.

March 12, 2021 by safetyandhealthmagazine.com

Washington — About two-thirds of employees say they’ve observed co-workers vaping, while a nearly equal amount believe the secondhand vapors from e-cigarettes and other vaping devices are at least moderately harmful to their own health, according to the results of a recent survey.

Researchers [...] surveyed more than 1,600 full-time employees from organizations with at least 150 workers. They found that 62% of the respondents have seen co-workers vaping on the job, and nearly 58% said their co-workers vape while conducting business or in other people’s workspaces. About 63% are bothered by workplace vaping.

March 12, 2021 by filtermag.org

In September 2019, when cases of “EVALI” lung injuries peaked in the United States and news outlets began aggressively covering the subject, Rhode Island Representative Julie Casimiro did what many politicians had done: She called for the prohibition of flavored vaping products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not yet determined, as they belatedly did later that fall, that the mysterious lung illnesses were coming from vitamin E acetate found in tainted illicit THC cartridges. [...]

March 11, 2021 by westword.com

I’ve been smoking since the age of fourteen. Just writing that sentence is not easy, given the shame it brings in regard to reflecting on all of the money, health, years and respect I believe I have lost due to my addiction.

I believe that young people are the most vulnerable when it comes to the ongoing targeting of tobacco and vaping industries. If I knew then about the true cost of being a smoker or vaper, I never would have started. [...]

March 11, 2021 by nationalreview.com

Amid the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, one industry has actually thrived: the cigarette business. Some people are smoking to relieve the emotional and economic stress of lockdowns. But many others returned to smoking when the lower-risk options they relied on, such as nicotine vapor products, became too expensive or hard to find when compared with the combustible tobacco available at every gas station and corner store. Now, Congress wants to eliminate the ability for adults to receive e-cigarettes by mail, a measure that will reduce access to these life-saving options even after the lockdowns end.