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Purported Links Between Vaping and Heart Attacks are Based on Crappy Science
This study, being presented tomorrow (Monday) morning at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, reports that " adults who report puffing e-cigarettes, or vaping, are significantly more likely to have a heart attack, coronary artery disease and depression compared with those who don ’t use them or any tobacco products. "These conclusions were based on a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2014, 2016, and 2017 National Health Interview Surveys. Respondents were asked to report whether they had ever been diagnosed with having had a heart attack, coronary artery disease, or depression....
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - March 18, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

11 Million Lies: The Tobacco Control Movement is Committing Public Health Malpractice by Misrepresenting the Health Effects of Vaping
My colleagues and I in the tobacco control movement have based our entire careers on the principle that it is wrong to lie to the public. The bulk of our campaign against Big Tobacco was based on the contention that the cigarette companies lied to the public about the health risks of smoking. Numerous lawsuits were filed against Big Tobacco, seeking damages based on the claim that the companies are responsible because they misrepresented the health effects of their products, thus preventing smokers from making an informed choice. The name of the major youth anti-tobacco campaign is called " Truth. " Clearly, honesty is the...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - March 17, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Switching from Smoking to Juul Reduces Toxic Chemical Biomarkers to the Same Degree as Quitting Cold Turkey
This study adds to the already overwhelming evidence that vaping is much safer than smoking. And it further emphasizes the degree to which the Pennsylvania Department of Health is lying about the relative health effects of smoking vs. vaping. As I reported last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health informs the public on itsweb site that: " E-cigarettes, also known as e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, vapes or ENDS,are not safer than other tobacco products for youth. "This study is significant because it didnot show that toxic chemical biomarker reduction with the Juul was at some level between continuing to smoke a...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 27, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Pennsylvania Department of Health Urges Parents to Lie to their Kids About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes
A basic principle of public health ethics is that we don ' t lie to people. Telling the truth is a critical component of the public health code of ethics. It is important not only because it is unethical to lie, but also because we greatly risk losing credibility and the public ' s trust if we are found to be lying. And once that public trust is lost, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to gain back.Therefore, it pains me today to have to report that the Pennsylvania Department of Health is urging parents to lie to their kids about e-cigarettes in order to dissuade them from vaping. In addition, the Pennsylvania ...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 24, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

SRNT Under Fire for Accepting Sponsorship Money from E-Cigarette Company for Annual Meeting
Controversy is brewing in San Francisco this week as it was revealed that the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) accepted money from an e-cigarette company to sponsor its annual meeting which is being held this week.It was reported this morning that SRNT accepted funding from GreenSmokeKloud, an e-liquid distributor whose products are competing with nicotine replacement therapy and Chantix for a share of the smoking cessation market.Critics pointed out that sponsorship of the conference by GreenSmokeKloud presents a severe conflict of interest because its products are being used for smoking cessation and t...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 21, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Landmark Study Fails to Find Any Evidence that Vaping is a Gateway to Smoking among Youth
A landmarkstudy, published on January 25 in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute, found no evidence that vaping is a gateway to smoking among youth. The data come from the largest, longitudinal study of youth smoking initiation -- the PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study -- and include two waves of observations on nearly 12,000 U.S. youth.The surveys asked numerous questions about both vaping and smoking behavior, including the frequency of these behaviors. It also assessed numerous risk factors for smoking that can be controlled for in multivariate analyses of smoking initiation rate differences...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 18, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Researchers Tell Public that Vaping Causes COPD as Scientific Rigor in Tobacco Control Drops to an All-Time Low
Based on the results of a cross-sectionalstudy showing an association between using e-cigarettes and reporting that one has ever been told they have COPD (chronic obstructive lung disease), a number of researchers have essentially concluded that vaping causes COPD, and one researcher is telling the public that use of e-cigarettes increases one ' s risk of COPDjust like cigarettes.The paper, published inDrug and Alcohol Dependence, reports the results of a cross-sectional study based on the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey in Hawaii. The outcome variable was reporting ever having been told that...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 9, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Having Health Insurance Increases Your Risk of a Heart Attack, and Other Cross-Sectional Study Foibles
Later this week, a research study will be presented at the International Stroke Conference in Hawaii that purports to show that vaping increases the risk of heart attacks. In a recentpost, I showed that this research is fatally flawed because it violates the basic principle in epidemiology that correlation does not equal causation. The study found a correlation between using e-cigarettes and ever having had a heart attack. The authors conclude that vaping must therefore increase heart attack risk. However, the more likely explanation is the opposite: smokers who experience a heart attack are more likely to try to quit smok...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 3, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Junk Science Exposed: New Study Purports to Show that E-Cigarettes Increase Heart Attack Risk
According to the headline of aUPInews story from last week, vaping has been linked to an increased risk of having a heart attack. This research finding was reported worldwide, including a scary headline in London ' sSunday Express reading: " New research claimsvaping raises risk of deadly heart attacks and strokes. "This finding is profoundly important because if e-cigarette use does indeed increase heart attack risk, then the role of vaping in harm reduction comes into serious question.The news headline stems from a paper that is being presented this week at the American Stroke Association ’sInternational Stroke Confere...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 3, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Does the American Lung Association Really Hate Smokers So Much that They Discourage Quit Attempts Using E-Cigarettes Despite New Clinical Trial Evidence of their Superiority to NRT?
On Wednesday, theNew England Journal of Medicine published a newstudy that reported the results of a one-year randomized, clinical trial in which e-cigarettes were compared to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to aid smoking cessation. The study was conducted in the UK, and both treatments were accompanied by behavioral counseling. The result: " The 1-year abstinence rate was 18.0% in the e-cigarette group, as compared with 9.9% in the nicotine-replacement group (relative risk, 1.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30 to 2.58). "This is the most definitive study yet on the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes for smokin...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - February 2, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

" Truth " Campaign to Kids: Better to Smoke 19 Cigarettes than to Vape One Juul Pod
And this " Truth " Campaign " Fact " Isn ' t Even TrueOne of the oft-repeated " facts " being disseminated by the " truth " campaign is thatone Juul pod is equal to 20 cigarettes worth of nicotine.More specifically, the " truth " campaign claims, as its#1 most important fact about Juul that: " The amount of nicotine in one JUUL cartridge is roughly equal to the amount of nicotine in a pack of cigarettes. "Joining the " truth " campaign in spreading this factual information is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whoseweb site currently states that: " a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - December 27, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Will Marijuana Become the Next Juul?
Yesterday, the first recreational marijuana facility opened in Massachusetts. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out its menu of offerings. Although I thought that this ballot initiative was all about allowing adults to use marijuana for recreational purposes, I was surprised to find a menu that is certain to appeal to youth.The Rest of the StoryHere are somemenu items - tell me that they are not going to be appealing to teenagers:Strawberry-flavored chewy bitesLarge, citrus gummy bearsDelectable Belgian dark chocolate barsAssorted fruit-flavored chewsAssorted fruit-flavored cubesRaspberry flavored confectionRaspberry fl...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 20, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

FDA to Announce Ban on Sale of Most Cigarettes in Convenience Stores Due to Addiction of Hundreds of Thousands of Youth to Cigarettes
Tomorrow, the FDA is expected to announce the strictest regulation of cigarettes sales in decades. Spurred by the data showing that nearly 8% of high school students are current cigarette smokers, the FDA will announce that from now on, with just a few exceptions, cigarettes may not be sold in any convenience store or gas station. Online sales of cigarettes will still be allowed, but it will be subject to advanced age verification procedures. The only stores that will be allowed to sell cigarettes without restriction will be those which are only open to adults (or which establish an area that is only open to adults).The FD...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - November 13, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

USC Ended Partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev in April; Ohio State and San Diego State Should Follow Suit
I have been informed by the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work that the School and its research team that had been involved in the Smart Drinking Goals project terminated its involvement with the project in April 2018 and that they are no longer associated in any way with the project.The USC team had prepared toolkits summarizing the best current scientific thinking regarding environmental strategies for alcohol prevention. Although the team ' s involvement was apparently slated to last at least through 2018, they terminated their involvement in April and have completely disassociated themselves from the Smart D...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - June 18, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Anheuser-Busch InBev Proves that Its Smart Drinking Goals Program is a Complete Hoax: Ohio State and USC Have Fallen Prey
Two years ago, Iexplained why I think Anheuser-Busch InBev ' s Smart Drinking Goals program is a complete farce. Last year, Icriticized the NIAAA for endorsing the alcohol industry ' s Smart Drinking Goals program. Today, I will show how Anheuser-Busch itself has proven that its Smart Drinking Goals program is a huge hoax, designed solely as a public relations ploy and devoid of any sincere intent to reduce alcohol consumption.For brief background, senior employees of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) appeared in an Anheuser-Busch InBev promotional video that was designed primarily to serve the...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - June 18, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs