Category: News This Week

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is releasing its first anti-vaping television ads Monday targeting teens as part of its “The Real Cost” youth e-cigarette prevention campaign. A statement said ads will run on ESPN, TeenNick, CW and MTV, along with music sites and social media.

The ads, titled “Magic,” feature street magician Julius Dein turning teens’ vapes into cigarettes.

“Did you know that if you vape, you are more likely to start smoking cigarettes?” Dein asks a group of young people after the e-cigarette in one teen’s hand disappears and is replaced by a cigarette. “It’s not magic, It’s statistics.”

The FDA will also distribute posters for high school bathrooms in the upcoming school year with anti-vaping messages.

“You might as well flush your lungs while you’re at it,” one poster reads. “Vaping can deliver toxic metal particles like nickel, lead and chromium directly into your lungs.”

Juul Labs has hired Mark Rubinstein, a prominent University of California researcher known for his work on the risks nicotine poses for the adolescent brain, as its medical director, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Juul Labs said the hiring will support its efforts to stem a teen vaping craze that the FDA has labeled an epidemic.

In a statement, Juul Labs said Rubinstein would oversee research on underage use of vapor products, guide the company’s youth prevention programs and policy positions and help form links with the public health community.

There is a battle brewing between two leading tobacco harm-reduction researchers over a study that links vaping to an increased chance of heart disease. The argument has muddied the science behind vaping and confused consumers.

According to a story in USA Today, Brad Rodu, a University of Louisville professor, asked the Journal of the American Heart Association to retract a study out last month by University of California, San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz (pictured).

The study, co-authored by Dharma Bhatta, claimed adult vaping was “associated with” a doubled risk of heart attack, but Glantz went farther in a blog post, saying the study represented “more evidence that e-cigs cause heart attacks,” the story states.

However, when Rodu obtained the federal data, he found the majority of the 38 patients in the study who had heart attacks had them before they started vaping — by an average of 10 years earlier. In his letter to the editors, Rodu called Glantz’s findings “false and invalid,” according to the story.

“Their analysis was an indefensible breach of any reasonable standard for research on association or causation,” wrote Rodu and Nantaporn Plurphanswat, a research economist at University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center. “We urge you to take appropriate action on this article, including retraction.”

Glantz says Rodu has a history of “slicing and dicing” his and others’ research “to make the effects go away,” the story states.

Stanton Glantz is a professor of medicine at University of California, San Francisco and the Truth Initiative Distinguished Professor of Tobacco Control.

Glantz insists vaping leads to heart attacks even if he first called his secondary analysis that included the timing of heart attacks “not statistically significant.” He now says it is simply “underpowered” due to the small number of cases. It was his second study in 10 months to focus on heart attacks and vaping, using battery-powered devices to heat liquid-based nicotine into inhalable vapor, according to the story.

The District Court of Maryland on July 12 issued an order that will set the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP) Premarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) deadline for vapor products to May 12, 2020—10 months from now.

The new deadline is more than two years ahead of the current August 8, 2022 PTMA deadline that was reset in 2017 when former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took over his position.

As part of the order Judge Grimm noted that products can remain on the market for a year while the FDA-CTP reviews their applications and that the CTP has the ability to exempt new products from filing on a case-by-case basis.

The FDA last month proposed the shorter timeline after the court ruled in a lawsuit filed by anti-tobacco groups that the agency had exceeded its authority in allowing e-cigarettes to remain on the market until 2022 before companies applied for regulatory approval.

Morgan Stanley tobacco analyst Pamela Kaufman does not expect the CTP to contest the judge’s decision.

A new study from Duke Health, to be published in Substance Use & Misuse, found that efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and some cities to limit the availability and appeal of e-cigarettes to young users could drive some existing users to smoke more tobacco cigarettes to get their fix.

The online survey asked participants aged 18 to 29 to predict their use of two products—e-cigarettes and traditional tobacco cigarettes, which they already used—in response to hypothetical regulations to limit e-cigarette flavors, limit the customization of e-cigarettes or eliminate the nicotine in e-cigarettes.

Of the respondents, 47 percent said if regulations eliminated the nicotine in e-cigarettes, they wouldn’t use e-cigarettes as much and would increase their use of traditional cigarettes.

If regulations limited the customization of devices, such as features allowing users to adjust nicotine dose or vapor temperature, 22 percent said they would use e-cigarettes less frequently and smoke more tobacco cigarettes.

If e-cigarettes were to be limited to tobacco and menthol flavors, 17 percent said they wouldn’t use e-cigarettes as much and would smoke more tobacco cigarettes.

“It’s likely some potential new regulations on e-cigarettes will result in a net good for the whole population, such as limiting flavors that might entice young users, improving safety standards or mandating that liquids come in childproof containers,” said Lauren Pacek, the study’s lead author.

“However, our findings suggest that there should also be thoughtful consideration to potential unintended consequences that could affect other subsets of users of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.”

The vapor brand Vype has launched the latest evolution in its range of vaping products, the Vype ePod. Owned by British American Tobacco (BAT), Vype’s ePod follows the brand’s innovative ePen 3 device.  

The Vype ePod delivers an estimated 275 puffs per cartridge and offers a powerful all-day battery. Vype ePod cartridges come in five nicotine salt vPro flavors made in the UK with premium ingredients. “The Vype ePod vPro flavor range provides consumers with a bold vaping experience, redefining the intensity of their vape,” according to a press release.

The Vype ePod is a compact-sized vape that is stylish and easy-to-use, according to the release. “Its cartridges are magnetic, meaning that swapping flavors has never been simpler. Coupled with the quiet puff-activated easy-to-use technology, the Vype ePod is perfect for on-the-go vaping,” the release states.

Ceramic heating technology, twinned with a powerful all-day battery and a magnetic connector for a convenient USB port charging, make the Vype ePod the perfect vape for use whenever and wherever, the release states. 

“We’re really excited about the launch of the ePod, which represents further innovation for Vype as a brand. In contrast to our previous device – the ePen 3 – which is activated by a button, this device is puff-activated and provides a quiet vaping experience,” said Gemma Webb, general manager at British American Tobacco UK. “Furthermore, the new magnetic pod replacement mechanism also allows consumers to achieve maximum pleasure and satisfaction with minimum hassle. With its progressive features and design, we expect the new ePod to make a difference in the UK vaping market.”

The ePod will be launched during the British Grand Prix weekend in Silverstone, where British American Tobacco (BAT) will be present as part of its global partnership with McLaren Formula One team.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said Tuesday that it is “fully unacceptable” for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to suggest it may take up to five years to issue rules on the lawful marketing of hemp-derived CBD in the food supply, reports The Boston Globe.

In a letter to the heads of the FDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the senator discussed the “significant economic gains” that hemp producers stand to make since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The senator said that the FDA should issue “enforcement discretion guidance” by Aug. 1 and follow up on that by issuing an interim final rule as soon as possible while the agency develops permanent final regulations for CBD. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that it hoped to issue its own regulations on hemp production in August.

Meanwhile, the CBD market is growing rapidly, drug stores are allowing the sale of CBD and Facebook has just announced it is relaxing it’s ban on CBD advertising.

Advertisers are now allowed to run ads for topical hemp across Facebook. Advertisers can run ads that direct to landing pages that feature ingestible hemp and topical CBD, but the ads cannot specifically feature those products.

Additionally, teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is expanding its CBD business with Green Growth Brands. The retailer plans to sell the cannabis company’s CDB-infused body care products, including lip balms and sugar scrubs, in more than 160 of its 250-plus stores.

Shenzhen has banned the use of e-cigarettes in nonsmoking places, reports China News Service.

Lawmakers in the southeastern Chinese city decided to expand the definition of “smoking” to include the use e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn products.

The new rule increases the types of non-smoking sites from seven to nine, including areas within five meters of the entrance to public transportation stations as well as outdoor waiting areas for public transport vehicles. It’s now also forbidden to smoke near the entrance to schools, parks, hospitals and scenic spots.

To further protect minors, “tobacco” products cannot be sold within 50 meters of the gates to middle and elementary schools or activity centers.

Shenzhen is the world’s leading manufacturer of the vapor hardware.

On the heels of San Francisco passing a ban on the sale of Juul products and e-cigarettes, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced her intent to look into a similar ban for Seattle, according to a story on mynorthwest.com.

“Bold move by San Francisco. It’s time to have this discussion in Seattle,” she Tweeted out Wednesday.

San Francisco passed the measure as a means to combat an increase in teen smoking. Recent data claims that while the overall teen smoking rate is at an all-time low, 20 percent of high school students and 5 percent of middle schoolers use e-cigarettes. Overall, that marks a 78 percent increase year-over-year, according to the story.

UCSF doctor and leading expert on nicotine Neal Benowitz labeled a blanket ban on e-cigarettes “terrible,” calling that data deceptive.

“It’s well-intentioned, but the people who voted on it really didn’t hear the full story,” Benowitz told The New York Times, pointing out that a large portion of young people use e-cigarettes less than 10 days a month, according to the story.

Meanwhile in Washington, the state recently raised the age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes to 21.

“(Washington) led the way battling Big Tobacco & cutting smoking. We cannot afford to go backwards,” said Mayor Durkan.

It’s unclear what exact steps Durkan or Seattle City Council will take from here, but the measure will likely stir up debate as it continues to be discussed, according to the story.

A public health expert has called San Francisco’s plan to ban e-cigarettes but not tobacco products “ludicrous,” according to an NBC News report.

“We’re taking the risk of addiction among kids,” said Kenneth Warner, a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, “and comparing that with the immediate danger of smoking-related illness and death in smokers who have not been able to quit otherwise and who might be able to quit with vaping.”

Warner cited a New England Journal of Medicine study from January 2019 that found among smokers in a smoking cessation clinic trying to quit traditional cigarettes, nearly double the number of people—18 percent versus 9.9 percent—who used vaping over nicotine-replacement products such as gum or patches were able to quit.

“If the board of supervisors were interested in public health, they would prohibit the sale of cigarettes in San Francisco,” said Warner. “That’s a far higher priority than banning vaping from a public health point of view. There really is an irony that now you can buy your marijuana and your cigarettes, but you won’t be able to get vaping products, which are certainly far less dangerous than cigarette smoking. It’s ludicrous.”