March 6th, 2015
From: NewsWorks.org
By Taunya English
At a meeting of tobacco researchers this week in Philadelphia, this question was posed over and over: Can electronic cigarettes help tobacco smokers quit?
“FDA can’t make regulatory policy on the basis of anecdotal evidence, but we’re maintaining an open mind, and we hope the public will have an open mind too,” was the answer from Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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February 25th, 2015
From: CSPnet.com Convenience Store and Fuel News
Vaping advocates predict regulations will only increase illicit trade
Published in CSP Daily News
By Melissa Vonder Haar, Tobacco Editor
LONDON — As the popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) has risen, so has a much darker problem: black market and counterfeit products. Liberty Flights founder Matthew Moden told The Wall Street Journal that black market versions of his company’s vapor products have popped up in markets across the globe.
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These black market products are usually made with cheaper materials, such as dead batteries or e-liquids with dangerously high levels of nicotine, and sell for well-below market rates.
February 19th, 2015
From: Heartland.org
Dr. Brad Rodu
As a pathologist working at two large medical centers, I have studied the effects of smoking on health for over 20 years. I’ve published scores of papers on the impressive benefits of switching from cigarettes to safer, non-combustible forms of tobacco (such as Swedish snus). This strategy – called tobacco harm reduction – has vast potential for improving public health.
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Individuals at the University of California San Francisco have engaged in an aggressive campaign against e-cigarettes (examples hereand here). Table 2 shows that they were awarded $12.5 million in 2014, with over half going to PI Stanton Glantz.
February 12th, 2015
From: Heartland
Dr. Brad Rodu
The contrast between the spin put on youth e-cigarette use data last Fall and the story told by the actual data, released last month, is startling but not surprising, given the U.S. government’s over-zealous tobacco prohibition posture.
Last November, the Centers for Disease Control released selective information from the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey. A resulting New York Times headline was typical: “E-Cigarettes Gain Among High School Students” (here).
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February 5th, 2015
From: FDA | FDA Voice
By: Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D.
A new year offers both an opportunity to look forward and an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the previous year. And, in 2014, FDA’s accomplishments were substantial, touching on many of the agency’s broad responsibilities to protect and promote the public health.
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Tobacco Control: There are few areas that have as profound an impact on public health as tobacco products, which is why, five years ago, Congress gave FDA the responsibility to oversee the manufacture, marketing, distribution, and sale of tobacco products.
