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Case of Popcorn Lung in Canada Due to E-Cigarettes? Not so Fast
It is being widely reported in the media that there was recently a case of " popcorn lung " in Canada that was due to the use of e-cigarettes. These reports are exaggerated and inaccurate representations of a medical journalarticle published in theCanadian Medical Association Journal.The article reports the case of a 17-year-old patient who presented with severe respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. A chest CT scan revealed a " bud-in-tree " pattern which is consistent with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Because the study authors had heard that some e-liquids contain a flavoring called diacetyl, which has li...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 22, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

House Lawmakers Decide Not to Tackle Respiratory Disease Outbreak: They Decide to Let More Kids Get Sick in Order to Protect a $2.5 Billion Illegal Industry
With more than 2,000 cases of severe respiratory failure--mostly among youth and young adults--and 42 deaths resulting from vaping-associated respiratory illness, one might expect that the House Energy and Commerce Committee would have donesomething to help curtail this outbreak when it voted yesterday on legislation to address the youth vaping crisis.While this week ' s newspaper headlines provided some information about the Committee ' s actions on the proposed youth vaping legislation--for example, that the bill, which bans e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco, passed by a 28-24 vote--those headlines only tell part of...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 22, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Massachusetts State Senate Votes to Ban Almost All E-Cigarettes, But to Leave the Real Deadly Ones on the Shelves
In a move that defies public health logic, the Massachusetts Senate today voted for a bill that would ban the sale of virtually all e-cigarettes, but would allow non-mentholated real cigarette brands to remain on the shelves of all stores, including convenience stores and gas stations where youth have easy access to these products.There is simply no public health justification for taking e-cigarettes off the market but allowing youth to continue to have unfettered access to real tobacco products. The average annual death toll of these products is starkly different:Flavored e-cigarettes: 0Real cigarettes: 480,000Given the m...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 21, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Massachusetts Senate Uses a Big Tobacco Tactic: Votes Not to Allocate Master Settlement Agreement Money to Smoking Prevention and Cessation; In that Light, the Flavor Ban is Disingenuous
Anyone who thought the Massachusetts state Senate ' s probable passage of a bill tonight that will ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and menthol tobacco cigarettes is motivated by a pure desire to protect kids and reduce tobacco-related diseases is mistaken. The supporters of this legislation showed their true colors tonight by rejecting an amendment that would have required that the state allocate a mere 10% of the money it receives from the Master Settlement Agreement to smoking prevention and cessation programs.It was quite a sight to witness. Senator after senator got up and spoke about how terrible smoking is and ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 21, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

American Medical Association Calls for Removal of the Main Competitors to Cigarettes from the Market
In aresolution that is the most dangerous health-related policy proposal from a medical or health organization that I have seen in my career, the American Medical Association (AMA) today called for the complete removal from the market of the #1 competitor to Big Tobacco profits. The resolution also calls for hundreds of thousands of ex-smokers to return to smoking and for the removal from the market of a critical off-ramp that has helped 2.5 million American smokers to quit for good. In addition, the resolution calls for the creation of a dangerous new black market for e-cigarettes and e-liquids.If this sounds crazy, let m...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 20, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

American Heart Association Urges Parents to Lie to Their Kids About E-Cigarettes and Not to Answer their Questions
It has been well established that using e-cigarettes is far safer than smoking. Clinical studies show that smokers who switch to e-cigarettes experience immediate and dramatic improvement in both their lung function and in their cardiovascular function. They also experience a dramatic reduction in levels of chemical toxins. Any parent who suggests to their kids that e-cigarettes are as dangerous as real cigarettes is lying.However, this fact has not stopped the American Heart Association from urging parents to hide from their kids this important factual information. The American Heart Association actuallyrecommends that if...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 16, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

While American Heart Association Claims E-Cigarettes are as Harmful as Smoking, a Clinical Trial Shows Immediate Cardiovascular Improvement After Smokers Switched to E-Cigarettes
Last week, the American Heart Association issued apress release whose headline read:" E-cigarettes take serious toll on heart health, not safer than traditional cigarettes. "But while the American Heart Association was busy disseminating this message throughout the world, the results of anactual clinical trial of this very research question demonstrated the almost immediate improvement in cardiovascular health that occurs when smokers switch to e-cigarettes.The study compared smokers who switched to e-cigarettes to those who continued to smoke. Endothelial function (a measure of damage to the lining of arteries) and blood ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 16, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Bill Passed by Massachusetts House Would Allow Police to Seize Cars from Vapers who Possess DIY or Black Market E-Liquids
But You Can Drive With Marijuana or Cartons of Marlboros in Your Car To Your Heart ' s ContentJacob Sullum, a senior editor atReason, has revealed a striking set of provisions in thebill (H4183) passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday. These provisions would allow the police to seize your vehicle if you possess any DIY or black market e-liquids in your car.The relevant provision in the bill reads as follows:" When the commissioner or a police officer discovers an untaxed electronic nicotine delivery system in the possession of a person who is not a licensed or commissioner-authorized electronic ni...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 15, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Massachusetts House Passes Bill that Promotes Marlboro Cigarettes; Why are They Doing This Huge Favor for Philip Morris?
Yesterday was a dream come true at the Massachusetts State House for Philip Morris USA - the nation ' s largest domestic cigarette manufacturer. The Housevoted to approve a bill that bans the sale of all e-cigarettes except those with tobacco flavoring, bans the sale of menthol cigarettes, and imposes a 75% excise tax on all e-cigarettes. According to an article in theBoston Globe, the aim of the legislation is " to protect young people from the harmful effects of tobacco. "The Rest of the StoryIf the purpose of this legislation is to protect young people from the harmful effects of tobacco, then it is an utter failure. It...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 14, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

The Bias Against E-Cigarettes in Medical Research: An Example from the American Heart Association Annual Meeting
This study found a cross-sectional association between e-cigarette use and riskier lipoprotein (cholesterol) profiles. Based on that cross-sectional correlation, the investigators conclude that e-cigarette use leads to higher " bad " cholesterol levels and therefore, switching from smoking to vaping does not improve cardiovascular health.But let ' s examine this more closely.In a cross-sectional study, you have to be very careful in extrapolating from correlation to causation because this type of study design is very susceptible to confounding -- that is, a third variable that is associated with both smoking/vaping status ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 12, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

CDC and Anti-E-Cigarette Researcher Still Clinging to Faint Hope that Traditional E-Cigarettes are Causing Outbreak
It is now apparent that, as many of us figured out months ago, the use of vitamin E acetate oil as a thickening agent in THC vaping cartridges and perhaps other counterfeit or adulterated black market vaping products is causing the vaping-associated respiratory illness outbreak. Nevertheless, the CDC and at least one prominent anti-e-cigarette researcher have not yet given up in their attempt to pin the outbreak on traditional e-cigarettes which they apparently despise.The CDC continues to term this outbreak " E-cigarette, or vaping, product use associated lung injury. " This is an extremely odd name, especially because of...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 11, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

CDC Announces " Major Breakthrough " that I Recognized and Reported Two Months Ago; Outbreak is Almost Certainly Not Associated with Legal Nicotine Vapes
Minutes ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced what they called a "major breakthrough" in its investigation of the vaping-associated respiratory illness outbreak. They tested lung tissue samples from 29 case patients and all 29 (100%) were found to contain vitamin E acetate oil.This finding does represent a major breakthrough for four reasons:1. The vitamin E acetate oil was detected in the actual lung tissue of the case patients.2. The vitamin E acetate oil was detected in every single one of the lung tissue samples from these 29 case patients.3.  The samples came from 10 different states...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 8, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Wisconsin Physician Warns Public That A Single Puff from a Nicotine Vape Could Kill You
There is an inordinate amount of unjustified hysteria about the dangers of electronic cigarettes. And it continues to drive me crazy to read article after article which talks about how a 17-year-old youth almost died and had to be put on a ventilator for several days and then immediately transitions to a discussion of the health dangers of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, which dominates the remainder of the article. If you ' re lucky, there is at most one sentence which parenthetically notes that the youth was vaping THC.It is also tremendously frustrating to read statement after statement from the CDC in which it notes ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 8, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Policy Makers are Deceiving Themselves if They Believe Banning Flavored E-Cigarettes is Going to End Youth Vaping of Flavored Products
Major Exemption in Proposed Flavor Ban Leaves Most Kid-Friendly Flavors on the MarketThe most basic premise of the proposal to ban flavored e-cigarettes is that it will protect youth by preventing them from vaping flavored e-liquids. The flavors are the problem, so if we ban the flavors, we ' ll take care of the problem.Or so the thinking goes.The Rest of the StoryThe problem is that politicians are deceiving themselves if they think that a ban on flavored e-cigarettes is going to prevent youth from accessing flavored e-liquids. The truth is that all of the following flavors are exempt from the ban and will remain on the m...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

CDC and State Health Departments are Wrong to Inform the Public that Some Case Patients Used Only Nicotine E-Liquids
Because the CDC and state health departments have deliberately been conflating the respiratory disease outbreak with the general problem of youth vaping, they have not been clear in communicating the scientific evidence regarding the type of products that are most likely causing the outbreak. Because of the confusion they have created, a large number of state officials, health practitioners, and media outlets have been incorrectly reporting that a substantial proportion of the outbreak case patients used only nicotine-containing e-cigarettes.For example, in itslegal brief opposing a temporary restraining order against its ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 3, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs