Read articles from United States of America

November 06, 2023 by nytimes.com

Alexa Addison remembers what vapes looked like when she was in high school. The dominant e-cigarette was Juul, a slim, black rectangle with sharp corners that resembled a flash drive. By the time Ms. Addison, 19, started college at the University of North Carolina Wilmington last year, the vape du jour had shifted. She saw many of her classmates brandishing Elf Bars, brightly colored e-cigarettes that looked like ombré AirPods cases, with gently sloped chimneys for inhalation.

November 03, 2023 by reuters.com

E-cigarette use among U.S. high school students dropped significantly this year to 10% from 14%, according to a government survey on Thursday, even as the potentially addictive nicotine devices remained the most used tobacco product among teens and children. The 2023 school-based survey, conducted between March and June, was the first clear sign of a drop in the use of vapes and other e-cigarettes by students, typically aged 14-18 years old, since the COVID-19 pandemic when year-over-year comparisons were difficult.

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. [...]

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 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.