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First Major Action of Foundation for a " Smoke-Free World " Shows that It is Largely a Scam
I have already written about why Irefused to participate in the activities of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which I believe is essentially a front-group created by Philip Morris International (PMI) primarily to promote its business interests. I explained that if PMI were serious about creating a smoke-free world, it would stop aggressively marketing its deadly products throughout the world and stop opposing public health policies to reduce tobacco use.The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World recently released acall for research proposals for preliminary projects that entail research to help the Foundation obtain the ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - December 6, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Tobacco Control Researcher Calls for Boycott of Journal, Apparently Because the Editor Supports E-Cigarettes for Harm Reduction
In acomment posted on Dr. Stan Glantz ' sblog yesterday, Dr. Thomas Eissenberg--a researcher studying electronic cigarettes at Virginia Commonwealth University--called for a boycott of the journalAddiction because of his claim that the editor of the journal exhibited bias in fast-tracking an article that reported low levels of aldehydes in e-cigarette aerosol.Specifically, Dr. Eissenberg called for researchers to boycott the journal by not submitting articles to it and not reviewing for it " until it has published the means by which it will manage the apparent conflicts of conscience among its editorial staff... " . Presum...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 27, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

NIAAA Promotes Alcohol Industry Public Relations Program; Violates Ethical Standards by Appearing in Anheuser-Busch Promotional Video
In what I believe is a clear ethics code violation, senior employees of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have appeared in an Anheuser-Busch InBev promotional video that is designed primarily to serve the company ' s public relations interests.The video was brought to light in anarticle by Miriam Shuchman atWired which was published last Thursday.In thevideo, Anheuser-Busch InBev boasts to the public about its " Smart Drinking Goals " program, which is purportedly designed to reduce " hazardous " drinking. Several Anheuser-Busch executives-- including its CEO, Chief " Health " Officer, and Chie...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - October 30, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

My Response to an Invitation to Consult for the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World
Below is my response to an invitation to consult for the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, funded by Philip Morris International:Unfortunately, I will not be able to consult or play any advisory role on this project. Since Philip Morris International (PMI) continues to aggressively market cigarettes internationally and to aggressively fight public health efforts to reduce tobacco use, this is just not a project that I can participate in as a public health practitioner. PMI cannot be sincere in its intention to establish a smoke-free world when it continues to aggressively lobby against public health efforts to reduce toba...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - October 6, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Center for Tobacco Products is Lying to the Public About Youth Tobacco Use
This month, the FDA ' s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) updated achart purporting to show trends in youth tobacco use over the past 5 years.Here are the facts (i.e., the " true " facts) displayed in the chart:1. Youth cigarette use (among high school students) dropped by a huge amount from 2011 to 2016.2. Cigar use dropped substantially from 2011 to 2016.3. Pipe use dropped substantially from 2011 to 2016.4. Smokeless tobacco use dropped slightly from 2011 to 2016.5. Hookah use was essentially the same in 2011 and 2016.Given those facts, here is the key question:What happened to overall use of tobacco among high school s...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 31, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

My Testimony for Electronic Cigarette Hearing in Windham, New Hampshire
Attorney Fred Kelly Grant conducted a very niceinterview with me regarding electronic cigarettes which will be submitted as testimony for an e-cigarette informational hearing in Windham, New Hampshire. Fred did a great job of asking questions that covered the gamut of important scientific and regulatory issues, so I hope this will be a good resource to provide a solid background on this issue. (Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary)
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 18, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

American Heart Association Still Clings to Alternative Facts: Claims that Smoking is No Safer than Vaping
Scientists like myself are often frustrated by " denialists " who refuse to acknowledge global warming, disseminate false information about adverse effects of vaccines, or - historically - failed to acknowledge the severe health effects of cigarette smoking. But I never expected this denialism to be coming from within my own movement in public health.Today, it appears that the American Heart Association is still taking a public denialist stance with regards to the health benefits of quitting smoking by switching to vaping. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaping is much safer than smoking and that quitting smo...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 15, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

It's Official: Anti-Tobacco Groups Willing to Throw Away the Lives of Smokers to Promote Radical Ideology
For months, I have been arguing that the major anti-tobacco groups in the United States have been waging a war against electronic cigarettes that is motivated not by a pure concern for the public ' s health, but by an ideological opposition to the idea that anyone could get pleasure from nicotine in whatever form -- even if they are improving their health and saving their life.Today, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) made it official.In aletter to the editor published in theWashington Post, the American Thoracic Society confirmed what I have been suggesting for months.The vice chair of the American Thoracic Society ’s ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 10, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

New Study Provides Strong Empirical Support for New FDA Approach to Tobacco Product Regulation
This study should put to rest any doubt within the tobacco control movement about whether vaping greatly reduces health risk compared to smoking. Numerous anti-tobacco groups and health departments have repeatedly asserted that vaping is no less hazardous than smoking, but this claim is false, and the present study adds significantly to the already substantial evidence that vaping is orders of magnitude safer than smoking. The anti-tobacco groups and health agencies that have made such statements should immediately correct them and issue retractions to alert the public to these important findings.These results add strong e...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 5, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

New FDA Commissioner Saves the Day: Embraces Harm Reduction Strategy for Tobacco Control
On Friday, the new FDA Commissioner - Dr. Scott Gottlieb - saved the day for the public ' s health by officially embracing aharm reduction approach to tobacco control. Commissioner Gottlieb announced a new approach to the regulation of tobacco products that, unlike the FDA ' s previous strategy, acknowledges the vastly different risks of tobacco cigarettes compared to electronic cigarettes and proposes to regulate each product in alignment with its risk level.Previously, the FDA had simply lumped e-cigarettes into the exact same category as tobacco cigarettes and in fact, regulated e-cigarettes much more stringently. The F...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 31, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

IN MY VIEW: American Lung Association Guilty of Public Health Malpractice
Yesterday, researchers from the University of California, San Diego published a landmarkpaper in theBMJ (British Medical Journal) which reported that for the first time in 15 years, the smoking cessation rate among adults in the U.S. has increased. The researchers tie this unprecedented increase in the smoking cessation rate to the availability of electronic cigarettes. The paper reports that the advent of electronic cigarettes was associated with a significant increase in the population smoking cessation rate. It also finds that smokers who use e-cigarettes are more likely to quit smoking than those who do not.Combined wi...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 27, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Yet Another Group of Anti-Tobacco Researchers Encourage Lying to Kids About Relative Health Effects of Vaping and Smoking
It seems that honesty has disappeared as a core principle in tobacco control. Today, I report that yet another group of tobacco control researchers is bemoaning the fact that many youth understand the relative health effects of vaping and smoking and is encouraging lying to kids instead.In apaper published inTobacco Prevention and Cessation, investigators from the University of Louisville examined YouTube videos promoting electronic cigarettes. They found that one of the major selling points for vaping in these videos was the claim that using e-cigarettes is safer than smoking and switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 25, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

IN MY VIEW: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is Deliberately Lying to the Public
In a press release issued yesterday lamenting the passage by the House Appropriations Committee of a bill that grandfathers in existing e-cigarettes from the pre-market approval requirements of FDA vaping product regulations, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids claimed that the bill strips the FDA of authority to review the public health impact of e-cigarettes.Specifically, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids stated that the bill:" would “grandfather” e-cigarettes and cigars already on the market and exempt them from FDA review of their public health impact, including whether they appeal to kids. " The Rest of the S...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 13, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

IN MY VIEW: Position of Australian Medical Association (and Many U.S. Health Groups) on Vaping is Just Plain Evil
In a submission to the Australian government, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) argues that there is no evidence that e-cigarettes can help smokers quit, that e-cigarettes are harmful to health because they simply substitute one addiction for another, and that physicians must fight to prevent vaping from becoming an acceptable alternative to smoking.According to anarticle published by theAustralian Journal of Pharmacy: " Commenting on its submission to an inquiry into the devices, the AMA says it believes that there is currently no compelling evidence that e-cigarettes are successful in helping people to stop smokin...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 11, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

NIAAA Prostitutes Its Scientific Integrity and Helps Alcohol Industry Promote Drinking
This study could completely backfire on the alcoholic beverage industry, and they’re going to have to live with it,” Dr. Koob said. “The money from the Foundation for the N.I.H. has no strings attached. Whoever donates to that fund has no leverage whatsoever — no contribution to the study, no input to the study, no say whatsoever.” "What a bunch of crap!The money hashuge strings attached: namely, the money is to be used for a trialto examine the potential benefits of drinking! In other words, the alcohol industry doesn ' t need any further leverage because they have already won. They have succeeded in gettin...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - July 6, 2017 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs