HEADS UP - NEWS - UPDATES! (When we know, you'll know!)

[kristin]

Nothing to see here. Just ACR & ASCO parroting typical, baseless, anti-THR squawking. Increased nicotine vaping is a major concern, a ridiculous claim that up to 42% of vapers never used tobacco, call to immediately ban all flavors...yada, yada, yada. ‍

ACR and ASCO Amend E-cigarette Policy

The following is a summary of "Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: An Updated Policy Statement from the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology" published in the November 2022 issue of Clinical Cancer by Herbst et al. American Association for...

www.physiciansweekly.com

 

[kristin]

The FDA "CTP has failed its mission at every juncture. Sometimes the center’s failures were caused by incompetence, and sometimes the regulators acted because of outside influence, but mostly the CTP’s actions have been deliberate..."

Report: FDA Tobacco Center Has No Strategy, No Plan, No Goals

An FDA-commissioned report says the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products has no strategic plan and is not an effective product regulator.

vaping360.com

 

[kristin]

Erika Sward, the assistant vice president of national advocacy for the American Lung Association, told CNN that "it is not FDA's responsibility or obligation under the Tobacco Control Act to promote harm reduction."

Per the Tobacco Act:
"effective oversight of the tobacco industry's efforts to develop, introduce and promote LESS HARMFUL tobacco products"

"It's essential that the [FDA] review products sold or distributed for use to REDUCE RISKS OR EXPOSURES associated with tobacco products"

"agency with the scientific expertise to identify harmful substances....design standards to limit exposure...evaluate scientific claims about the safety of products"

"it's MANDATE to promote health and the risk of harm"

FDA's tobacco program must be proactive, not reactive, independent panel says after extensive review | CNN

An independent panel of experts says its review of the US Food and Drug Administration's tobacco program found numerous wide-ranging problems that hinder its ability to regulate the industry and reduce tobacco-related disease and death.

www.cnn.com

 

[kristin]

Newly published research by @sammsaffod at MSU shows policies designed to reduce youth vaping--that prioritize reducing nicotine use over reducing smoking--may actually be "pushing teens back to significantly more harmful traditional tobacco cigarettes."

Sam Safford Research | Department of Sociology | Michigan State University

sociology.msu.edu

 

[kristin]

Put simply, what this Cornell study found is--due to rampant misinformation and wishy-washy statements from public health and CDC about the health benefits of switching from smoking to e-cigarettes--the public believes vaping is as risky as smoking.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335522003679

 

[kristin]

Although up to 50% of US adults make an attempt to quit smoking in any given year, success rates are low, with only 7.5% managing to succeed.

The American Lung Association’s advice?

Don't switch to a safer alternative like vaping or snus.

Just quit.

When trying to give up tobacco, expert says ‘Quit, don’t switch’ - WTOP News

The American Lung Association’s Tobacco-Free ’23 campaign aims to help people quit in order to save between $2,230 and $4,360 annually.

wtop.com

 

[kristin]

"Disagreements about research findings ought to be dispassionate and evidence based. But in tobacco harm reduction, debates about “the science” are often mere veneers over deeper disputes." ~ Dr. Cheryl K. Olson

Science-based Regulation? - Tobacco Reporter

Politics and data in tobacco harm reduction

tobaccoreporter.com

 

[kristin]

Major U.S. research funders are aiming for a “world free of tobacco use,” which also means free of nicotine use. Tobacco regulatory science funded by regulators will be inclined to find justifications for regulation and intervention, not liberalization.

Bad Science - Tobacco Reporter

What is bad science, and why is there so much of it?

tobaccoreporter.com

 

[kristin]

HEADS UP MAINE: FLAVOR BAN!

State Senator Jill Duson has filed a bill seeking to ban the sale of flavored tobacco/vapor products statewide. The State Legislature has already begun its session, but the bill has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Maine Legislator Introduces Bill to Ban Flavored Tobacco Sales Statewide

Maine has had four cities ban the sale of flavored tobacco products this year; the state could enact its own ban in 2023.

halfwheel.com

 

[kristin]

UPDATE: OHIO PREEMPTION BILL

Gov. DeWine has until next week to decide whether to veto HB 513, the preemption bill that would prevent cities from adopting tobacco laws stricter than the state’s. CASAA director Jim McDonald reporting for Vaping360.

Ohio Governor Still Hasn't Acted on Preemption Bill

The Ohio State Legislature has passed a bill that would prevent cities from adopting vaping and tobacco laws stricter than the state’s.

vaping360.com

 

[kristin]

The New York State Department of Health is urging all New Yorkers who use electronic cigarette (e-cigarettes) and other vapor devices to make a New Year’s resolution to quit using these “highly addictive and dangerous products,” while 1.7 million adults in NY still smoke cigarettes and would benefit greatly from switching to much lower risk vaping.

DOH message to vapers and e-cig users: Resolve to quit in the new year

The New York State Department of Health is urging all New Yorkers who use electronic cigarette (e-cigarettes) and other vapor devices to make a New Year’s resol

13wham.com

 

[kristin]

"Instead of addressing the core concern of youth e-cigarette use, this proposed rule only stands to pull the rug out from under more than 30 million adults, forcing them to essentially quit smoking cold turkey or — much like during Prohibition — get their fix through illicit markets."

Biden’s expected nicotine rule brings failed 1920s Prohibition to 2023

When it comes to public health, we should follow the facts and science, as opposed to political posturing. If history has taught us anything, it’s that prohibition is rarely the answer when address…

thehill.com

 

[kristin]

After vetoing a bill that would have prevented municipalities from passing tobacco/nicotine laws stricter than state law, Gov. DeWine suggests lawmakers pursue a statewide ban on flavored tobacco (but the real target is usually low risk vapor products.)

Gov. Mike DeWine vetoes flavored tobacco ban bill, signals support for statewide ban

Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill that would've blocked cities from banning the sale of menthol cigarettes and vapes flavored like candy.

www.dispatch.com

 

[kristin]

Unscientific and senseless moral panic over vaping has victimized yet another child. “Subjecting a teenage girl to a strip search over an object which posed no threat of violence to students or staff was unreasonable and in violation of her civil rights.”

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article270849487.html

 

[kristin]

Retracted study "features enough inconsistencies, writing errors, non sequiturs, and failures of reasoning to make you wonder whether peer reviewers and editors actually read it, let alone carefully evaluated its strengths and weaknesses." ~Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine

A Medical Journal Retracts a 2022 Study That Linked Vaping to Cancer

The World Journal of Oncology recently retracted a February 2022 article claiming that nicotine vapers face about the same cancer risk as cigarette smokers.

reason.com

 

[kristin]

HEADS UP INDIANA
A bill introduced by state Rep. Carolyn Jackson seeks to deprive adults over 21 of the flavored vapor products that help them keep from smoking and which could potentially help the 19.4% of adults in the state who still smoke to quit.

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1133/

 

[kristin]

HEADS UP: NEW YORK!
Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that she wants to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products. Flavored vapor products are already banned in NY, so this would further reduce adult access to far less harmful smoking alternatives.

NY State of the State 2023: Hochul eyes cigarette tax hike

Gov. Kathy Hochul is targeting tobacco in her State of the State agenda this year.

auburnpub.com

 

[kristin]

California lawmakers had an opportunity to encourage tobacco companies to transition to selling low risk nicotine products like vapor products, snus and nicotine pouches. Instead, they passed a law that encouraged this:

"Camel and Newport items are billed as newly “fresh” or “crisp” non-menthol versions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/health/cigarettes-flavor-ban-california.html

 

[kristin]

Wisconsin cigarette sales have dropped 54% since 2001 and sales outlets report that adults are choosing far less harmful alternatives to smoking–such as vapes and nicotine pouches–but PHMDC's Morgan Finke falsely claims those could be "even more detrimental to health" because of the nicotine levels and "nicotine in any capacity is proven to damage the adolescent brain."

Cigarette sales in Wis. plummet but alternative smoking methods compensate

Store Manager of Capitol Petroleum, LLC. Zachary Zimdars says the decreased interest in cigarettes won’t impact his sales.

www.nbc15.com

 

[kristin]

"Instead of trying to invent new terms to distance themselves from tobacco companies,” CASAA president Jones told Filter Magazine, the creators of the video "should focus on learning the language that exists from people who use the products."

Johns Hopkins Call for Nicotine "Common Language" Falls Flat

The video makes some bizarre objections to terms that do “the tobacco industry’s dirty work" while omitting numerous important points.

filtermag.org