Wednesdays News from the Web

Attitudes toward E-Cigarettes, reasons for initiating E-Cigarette use and Changes in smoking behavior – Anti-Vaping Researchers Called Out for Misleading Cancer Exaggerations by New York Times Columnist – Telling our Story to the Pharmacists – Vaping Advocate of the Year Award 2015 – Big Tobacco’s Little Helpers – Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest

Attitudes toward E-Cigarettes, reasons for initiating E-Cigarette use and Changes in smoking behavior

Excellent Study Outcome-

We conducted a pilot longitudinal study with assessments of the aforementioned factors and salivary cotinine at weeks 0, 4, and 8. Eligibility criteria included being ≥18 years old, smoking ≥25 of the last 30 days, smoking ≥5 cigarettes per day (cpd), smoking regularly ≥1 year, and not having started using e-cigarettes. Of 72 individuals screened, 40 consented, 36 completed the baseline survey, and 83.3% and 72.2% were retained at weeks 4 and 8, respectively…..

Anti-Vaping Researchers Called Out for Misleading Cancer Exaggerations by New York Times Columnist

Reason gets stuck into ‘Formaldehyde #2’ authors-

When I spoke to David Peyton, one of the study’s authors, he insisted that the study had been mischaracterized. All it was meant to do, he said, was compare the levels of formaldehyde in e-cigarettes versus cigarettes. “It is exceedingly frustrating to me that we are being associated with saying that e-cigarettes are more dangerous than cigarettes,” he added. “That is a fact not in evidence.” Well, maybe…..

Telling our Story to the Pharmacists

NNA Associate and Leicestershire Stop Smoking Services manager Louise Ross was asked to address pharmacists at the conference on Saturday on the subject of e-cigarettes. Louise was joined on the platform by vapers, who were able to share their personal experiences with delegates. Read on for Louise’s account of the event, and for some wonderful news about the first quarter success rate of her ecig friendly service….

Vaping Advocate of the Year Award 2015

This is a unique opportunity to give recognition to some of the people who work tirelessly, most often without reward, to further the cause of vaping, in the face of what we know to be fierce opposition. There are two categories:

• a consumer advocate with no prior background of advocacy or experience in the field of public health.
• an advocate for e-cigarettes who may or may not be a vaper, but who has promoted the cause of vaping as a tobacco harm reduction strategy using their background in science, health, advocacy or academia.

We have assembled an international panel of leading vaping advocates to determine the winner in each category…..

Big Tobacco’s Little Helpers

This is a guest post by David Sweanor, Adjunct Professor of Law at University of Ottawa and lifelong public health campaigner,  Starts here…

There has been a concerted effort by opponents of vaping to denigrate these products – see endless stories on formaldehyde, ultrafine particles, poisoning, third hand nicotine exposure, gateway effect, renormalisationand the multiple violations of fact and presentation by WHO and its ill-judged supporters.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, these efforts at misinformation appear to be convincing many people that vaping is not a good alternative to smoking lethal cigarettes. Surveys of beliefs about relative risk show that fewer smokers now see vaping as less hazardous than smoking, let alone understand that the risk differential is enormous….

Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Wed, 28 January 2015

The city of Montreal has banned its employees from puffing on e-cigarettes inside city-owned buildings and vehicles….

Public health officials are “in desperate need of clarity” on electronic cigarettes to help guide policies, the nation’s newly appointed surgeon general said Tuesday….

Yesterday a California legislator introduced a bill that would add electronic cigarettes to that state’s Smoke-Free Workplace Law,..