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American Lung Association Tells Public that Smoking May Be No More Hazardous than Vaping
Despite the abundance of scientific evidence, including clinical studies, which demonstrate that vaping is much safer than smoking, the American Lung Association - as recently as last week - told the public that smoking may be no more hazardous than vaping.AUPIarticle quoted the American Lung Association ' s senior scientific advisor as stating: " We have no idea what the long-term effects are because they [e-cigarettes] haven ' t been around long enough, but there ' s no reason to consider e-cigarettes safe. Whether they ' re going to cause less disease than tobacco cigarettes, we ' ll eventually get that answer but it ' ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 26, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

FDA Violated Ethics Rules to Censor Dissenting Opinions about Its E-Cigarette Regulations
According to a shockingexposé in the October 16th issue ofScientific American written by Charles Seife, the FDA censored dissenting opinions about its e-cigarette regulations by prohibiting journalists covering the release of these regulations from speaking with anyone who might oppose them.The FDA ' s e-cigarette regulations were initially released on April 24, 2014. On April 23, the FDA ' s Center for Tobacco Products held a press briefing for a select group of reporters to provide information so that they could publish news stories about the regulations at the expiration of the embargo, which was set for April 24th. It...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 23, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Helena Miracle? Not So Much; New Study Casts Doubt on Conclusions of Anti-Smoking Groups
For many years, anti-smoking groups have been claiming that smoking bans result in an immediate and dramatic decline in hospitalizations for heart attacks. This claim is based on studies like that conducted inHelena, in which the authors concluded that there was a 40% reduction in heart attack admissions within 6-18 months after a bar and restaurant smoking ban was implemented.When these studies were first published, I warned anti-smoking groups not to use these conclusions to promote smoking bans because I believed that the conclusions were not adequately supported by the data. In particular, I criticized these studies an...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 21, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

FDA-Induced Crumbling of E-Cigarette Market Begins: NJOY Files for Bankruptcy
It didn ' t take long after the FDA enacted its deeming regulations for the first of many e-cigarette companies to lose their ability to stay in the market. Just one and a half months after the FDA ' s deeming regulations went into effect, NJOY - one of the largest independent e-cigarette manufacturers in the U.S. - hasfiled for bankruptcy.While a major reason for NJOY ' s inability to stay afloat was the failure of its King cig-a-like product, the company also cites the "substantial expenses of preparing for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deeming regulations. "As I have argued for some time, the capital costs invo...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 20, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Deciding Vote in FDA Advisory Committee Recommendation to Remove Black Box Warning for Chantix is Cast by Pharmaceutical Company President; FDA Review Process is Badly Tainted
Last Wednesday, a pair of FDA advisory committees - meeting jointly -voted 10-9 to recommend that the FDA remove the black box warning for Chantix (varenicline). Currently, the black box warns about the potential for severe psychiatric side effects of Chantix, including depression and suicidal ideation. The recommendation is not binding, and the FDA is free to follow or ignore the advisory panel ' s vote.According to anarticle atMedPage Today: " a few of those who voted to remove the warning said the study supplied the evidence needed to make them comfortable using Varenicline to address a major public health problem. ' Th...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 19, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Pfizer Study of Psychiatric Risks of Chantix Marred by Financial Conflicts of Interest and Under-Reporting of Adverse Events
According to abriefing document for today ' s joint meeting of the FDA ' s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee to discuss the black box warning for Chantix (varenicline), Pfizer ' s study of the potential serious psychiatric side effects of Chantix, which reported no significant increased risk of adverse events, was marred by financial conflicts of interests of many of the study investigators and by under-reporting of adverse events, including potential episodes of suicidal ideation and depression that could have been drug-related.According to the document, in...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 14, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Unlike Samsung Galaxy, FDA Regulations Don't Allow E-Cigarette Companies to Fix their Exploding Batteries
Last week, Samsung temporarily took its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone off the market while it works to solve the problem ofexploding batteries, which occurred while the devices were charging. A Samsung investigation found that the problem was a battery cell made by one of its two battery suppliers. The problem stemmed from a defect in the manufacturing process, which is now being corrected.At the same time, a number of e-cigarette companies have noted a similar problem with batteries in their devices, possibly related to a similar manufacturing defect. However, in contrast to Samsung, these companies are actuallynot allowed to ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 13, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Anti-Vaping Researcher Gives Negligent Advice to the Public
An anti-vaping researcher, citing findings solely from anin-vitro cell culture study without clear clinical significance, has claimed that vaping can cause fatal respiratory infections. Based on his extrapolation from anin-vitro study to human disease, this researcher has advised all vapers to be vaccinated for serious bacterial lung infections. However, at the same time, he failed to advisesmokers to be vaccinated against these same serious infections.According to anarticle in theTimes of London, a professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London " has found that the chemica...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 12, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Conde Nast Promotes Cancer Research ... and Cancer: A Guest Commentary and Open Letter by Alan Blum, MD
"Glamour. This is one of the many publications whose chief function is to publish ads for cosmetics, clothes, and other items for young women.  The tobacco industry, having almost reached the saturation point of male smoking, is out to get a majority of women.Glamourhired Dr. Henry C. Link to write an article (Jan ' 46) saying that smoking cigarets is one of the most important of all bad habits. "--George Seldes,In Fact, July 28, 1947Nearly 70 years later,Glamouris still ignoring the dangers of smoking and running cigarette ads.  And nowGlamour is published by Conde Nast, which also publishes influential magazine...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 9, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

More Shoddy Research on E-Cigarettes by Big Pharma-Funded Scientists
This study confirms previous findings from observational studies regarding the negative association between e-cigarette use and smoking cessation, but in a large cohort of smokers enrolled in an evidence-based treatment program. The implications of these findings are that concurrent use of e-cigarettes during a quit attempt utilizing cost-free evidence-based treatment (nicotine replacement therapy plus behavioural counselling) does not confer any added benefit and may hamper successful quitting. "The Rest of the StoryThe major flaw in this study is that it is very likely that the smokers...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 8, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

New Study Refutes E-Cigarette Gateway Hypothesis
This study should help ease the concerns of those worried about e-cigarettes addicting youth nonsmokers and leading them along a gateway which ends with life-long smoking addiction. Only a very small percentage of nonsmokers were found to be vaping regularly, with only 0.7% vaping at a level that could potentially represent addiction. These findings provide no support for the theory that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking. Combined with the fact that youth smoking has dramatically fallen during a period when e-cigarette use among youth is skyrocketing, these findings refute the gateway hypothesis and show that the claim...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - September 6, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Hypocrisy Alert: Nevada Health Official Blasts Vaping Industry for Spreading Misinformation, Then Claims Vaping is Known to Cause Cancer
In anarticle published Sunday in theLas Vegas Sun, a health official blasted the e-cigarette companies for spreading misinformation. She is quoted as saying:" We are dealing with a (vapor industry) marketing machine that spits out misinformation. "In the article, that same health official is quoted as stating:" At the end of the day, what comes off an electronic cigarette is an aerosol that we know causes cancer. "Previously, the same health officialtold the public that we don ' t know whether e-cigarette aerosol contains fewer chemicals and carcinogens than tobacco smoke (even though tobacco smoke contains more than 10,00...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 30, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Results of New Study Refute E-Cigarette Gateway Hypothesis as Well as Claim that Youth Vaping is Re-Normalizing Smoking
The results of a newstudy published late last week in the journalTobacco Control strongly refute the hypothesis that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking and that vaping is re-normalizing smoking among youth.(See: Miech R, Patrick ME, O ' Malley PM, Johnston LD. What are kids vaping? Results of a national survey of US adolescents.Tob Control. Published online ahead of print on August 25, 2016. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053014.)The study reports results from the 2015Monitoring the Future survey, as study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth in grades 8, 10, and 12. The sample size was approximately 15...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 29, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

New Study Shows Dramatic Reduction in Toxicant and Carcinogen Levels in Smokers Who Switch to E-Cigarettes
This study suggests that smokers who completely switch to e-cigarettes and stop smoking tobacco cigarettes may significantly reduce their exposure to many cancer-causing chemicals. "Most importantly:" The decline in toxicant levels was similar to the decline seen among tobacco users who quit smoking. "The paper explains that:" the observed decline in various urine toxicant biomarker levels in our study was similar to decline among smokers who have quit smoking completely and did not substitute with any other product. This observation suggests that e-cigarettes are not a significant source of exposure to those toxicants. "T...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 25, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Anti-Tobacco Researcher: Cardiovascular Effects of E-Cigarettes are Nearly as Big as Smoking
Dr. Stan Glantz has posted acommentary on his blog in which he asserts that the results of apaper published earlier this summer in theJournal of the American College of Cardiology demonstrate that " the [cardiovascular] effects of e-cigarette use are nearly as big as smoking. "Dr. Glantz nicely summarizes the major study results: " One of the many ways that smoking damages the cardiovascular system is by stiffening major blood vessels. How stiff the aorta (the big vessel leading directly out of the heart) is can be measured by how fast the pressure wave moves down the aorta, the pulse wave moving faster when the aorta is s...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - August 24, 2016 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs