In the News 7th September

Mondays News at a glance:

Attacking ecigs to encourage continued smoking – Views of experienced electronic cigarette users – Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care)(Scotland) Bill – ASH Scotland Weekly Bulletin – The real challenge is to make e-cigarettes accessible for poor smokers – Public Health England’s evidence based confusion? – Public Health England, and common sense – An interview with Christopher Snowdon – California: attack an association of manufacturers of e-cigarettes – Nicotine absorption from electronic cigarette use – How ‘Big Pharma’ bamboozled Brussels – Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest 

Attacking ecigs to encourage continued smoking:

Predatory lawsuit and goofy California law edition – Carl V. Phillips

I have finally realized that there is an answer to “what benefit results from FDA jurisdiction over tobacco products?” FDA regulation (and I use that term very loosely) has harmed consumers and commerce by gumming up free markets, damaged public health by interfering with THR, and threatens to do far more of each in the future, all for no apparent benefit. When asked to explain what they have accomplished, even FDA CTP or their umbrella agencies have no answer….

Views of experienced electronic cigarette users

Taylor Francis Online

Awareness and use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) has increased significantly in the past five years, but little is known about the experiences, satisfaction, opinions and preferences of e-cigs users. Method: 1177 participants completed an online survey about their electronic cigarette preferences, of which 200 were randomly selected for analysis. The data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods….

Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care)(Scotland) Bill

The Scottish Parliament

Nicotine Vapour Products and smoking in hospital grounds – The Bill will introduce restrictions on the sale of nicotine vapour products (NVPs) such as e-cigarettes and shisha pipes. These restrictions will include; a minimum purchase age of 18, prohibiting the sale of NVPs via vending machines, requiring NVP retailers to register on the tobacco retailer register, prohibit ‘proxy-purchasing’ for under 18s, restrict domestic advertising and promotions, implement an age verification policy for the sale of NVPs and ban staff under the age of 18 from selling tobacco and NVPs. The Bill would also make it an offence to smoke in parts of hospital grounds…

ASH Scotland Weekly Bulletin

The bulletin collates daily news stories relevant to tobacco control in Scotland – these should not be taken as necessarily representative of ASH Scotland views. Each Friday the bulletin also lists new research on tobacco control (added to PubMed in the previous week) and an ASH Scotland update….

The real challenge is to make e-cigarettes accessible for poor smokers

Clive Bates – The Lancet

Based on her Comment on e-cigarettes, it is hard to avoid the impression that Lucie Kalousova would be happier if there was more smoking-related disease, providing it was more evenly distributed. That poorer groups face barriers to realising the benefits of substituting cigarettes for e-cigarettes is indisputable, but that is a reason to address those barriers, not to argue that e-cigarettes are of no value to poor smokers….

E-cigarettes: Public Health England’s evidence based confusion?

Riccardo Polosa – The Lancet

Although there are better ways to provide relative risks estimates in nicotine containing products (NCPs), the perfect data required to compare their relative harms are simply not available. Consequently, we turned to multicriteria decision analysis to produce a meaningful estimate of the relative harms of NCPs. Nonetheless, equating harm with toxicity is an oversimplification….

E-cigarettes, Public Health England, and common sense

John Britton – The Lancet

In response to your recent Editorial, it is obvious, from the assessment of the content of electronic cigarette vapour described by Ann McNeill and Peter Hajek in their report for Public Health England2 that electronic cigarettes are substantially less hazardous than tobacco cigarettes. Whether 95% as estimated by David Nutt and colleagues,3 or slightly less or more than that figure, does not matter: the obvious conclusion is that they are substantially less hazardous….

 An interview with Christopher Snowdon

Ben Kelly – Conservatives for Liberty

The attack on free speech and the attack on lifestyle freedoms are connected insofar as they are both products of a puritanical outlook. The mindset is that nobody should hear impure views or consume impure products – a clean mind and a clean body. This is creepy, to say the least….

California: attack an association of manufacturers of e-cigarettes

Ma-cigarette.fr – Google Translate is your friend here!

A California organization “Center for Environmental Health” (CEH) threat of electronic cigarette manufacturers to attack them in court. They would have breached their duty to inform consumers about the presence of carcinogenic substances as required under the law of Consumer Protection of the State….

Nicotine absorption from electronic cigarette use

Comparison between experienced consumers (vapers) and naïve users (smokers)

Nicotine delivery from ECs is potentially important in their efficacy as smoking substitutes. Herein, nicotine delivery from using a new-generation EC device (variable-wattage, set at 9 W) was evaluated, comparing experienced (vapers) with naïve users (smokers).

How ‘Big Pharma’ bamboozled Brussels

Paul Gallagher – IOL Mobile

Pharmaceutical companies spend tens of millions of euros on lobbyists every year to ensure “privileged access” to decision-makers in Brussels, according to a major new report that lifts the lid on their influence on EU drugs and health-care policy. The industry now spends at least 40 million euros annually – 15 times more than NGOs and consumer groups, according to estimates – as representatives from “big pharma” enjoy a “staggering” number of meetings with European Commission departments and officials…

A misguided FDA crusade

From Brussels to Chicago to the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration in White Oak, Md., public health officials, antismoking crusaders and mayors are waging a battle against flavorings for both tobacco cigarettes and newer e-cigarettes…

Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest