Category: Science

Study Claims Many Unknown Chemicals In E-Cigarettes

Photo: pavelkant
E-cigarettes and other vapor products contain thousands of unknown chemicals and substances not disclosed by manufacturers, according to a study published on Oct. 6 by Chemical Research in Toxicology.
The authors noted that the aerosols produced by vapor products contain more than 2,000 chemicals, the vast majority of which are unidentified. The researchers, who are from Johns Hopkins University, reported that the findings suggest people who vape are using a product whose risks have yet to be fully determined and could be exposing themselves to chemicals with adverse health effects.
The researchers used a chemical fingerprinting technique based on liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry, which can identify organic compounds in wastewater, food and blood. The team evaluated four popular products: Mi-Salt, Vuse, Juul and Blu, testing only tobacco-flavored products.
The examined e-liquids contained hydrocarbon-like compounds, typically associated with combustion, which manufacturers claim are not produced during vaping. “More and more young people are using these e-cigarettes, and they need to know what they’re being exposed to,” study co-author Carsten Prasse was quoted as saying by Johns Hopkins Magazine. “E-cigarette aerosols contain other completely uncharacterized chemicals that might have health risks that we don’t yet know about. People just need to know that they’re inhaling a very complex mixture of chemicals when they vape. And for a lot of these compounds, we have no idea what they actually are.”
October 8, 2021
FDA Seeks Nominations for Scientific Advisory Committee

Photo: Bill Gallery
The Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is requesting nominations for individuals to serve as members on the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC). Nominees may be self-nominated or nominated by an organization.
Nominations received on or before Nov. 8, 2021, will be given first consideration. Nominations received after Nov. 8, 2021, will be considered as later vacancies occur.
TPSAC advises CTP in its responsibilities related to the regulation of tobacco products. The committee reviews and evaluates safety, dependence, and health issues relating to tobacco products and provides appropriate advice, information, and recommendations to the FDA commissioner.
The committee shall consist of 12 members including the chair. Members and the chair are selected by the commissioner or designee from among individuals knowledgeable in the fields of medicine, medical ethics, science, or technology involving the manufacture, evaluation, or use of tobacco products.
Members will be invited to serve for overlapping terms of up to four years.
More information on the nomination process TPSAC members is available at the Federal Register notice
September 16, 2021
Poda Begins Clinical Trials on Heated Tobacco Product

Photo: Poda Lifestyle and Wellness
Poda Lifestyle and Wellness has started setting up the first clinical trials for its smoking cessation products.
“I have already initiated the process of setting up the first clinical trials related to the efficacy of Poda’s products as smoking cessation tools,” said Poda Chief Medical Officer Jagdeep Gupta, who joined the company in July, in a statement. “I am currently in the process of setting up a pilot study, which will give us a solid platform for developing strong and effective clinical trials.
“These clinical trials will be designed to result in the publication of level 1 evidence in respected medical journals globally if the data provides evidence. The pilot studies will also be designed to establish a scientific basis for the efficacy of Poda’s products as smoking cessation tools and additionally may provide Poda with access to research grants and other funds that can be used for additional studies, clinical trials and validation research.”
The company has also entered into an agreement with Command Marketing predominantly to develop Poda’s e-commerce platform and brand identity. As part of this branding campaign, Command Marketing will also provide investor relations services.
August 10, 2021
Many Doctors Confused About Nicotine Causing Cancer

Photo: agongallud
More than 75 percent of U.S. physicians believe that nicotine directly contributes to cancer and cardiovascular disease, reports Filter, citing to a recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
The study assesses the impact of wording on perceptions of nicotine use. Two versions of a questionnaire were given to 926 physicians, asking about the “extent to which they agree or disagree that ‘nicotine’ [version one] or ‘nicotine, on its own,’ [version two] directly contributes to birth defects, CVD, cancer, depression and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).”
For version one of the questionnaire, 85 percent and 85.2 percent of physicians “strongly agreed” that nicotine directly contributed to cancer and COPD, respectively. For version two, 69.6 percent and 67.3 percent “strongly agreed” with those statements.
The study showed a difference in perceptions between medical specializations as well—pulmonologists were the least likely to hold misperceptions about nicotine, and family medicine physicians were the most likely to hold misperceptions about nicotine.
“Even after accounting for question version, the proportion of surveyed physicians who believe that nicotine directly contributes to these health outcomes is alarmingly high,” the study authors wrote. “It is possible that participants are conflating the addictive effect of nicotine with the comparatively more harmful effects of tobacco use.”
“It is very important for physicians to understand the relative harm between nicotine and the other 7,000 toxins in tobacco smoke,” said Michelle Bover Manderski, lead researcher. “This is especially important as physicians play a key role in recommending and prescribing FDA-approved nicotine-replacement medications.”
August 4, 2021
BAT Study Confirms Harm Reduction Potential of HTPs
Photo: BAT
New research published today in Internal and Emergency Medicine, provides the first real-world evidence that people switching from cigarettes to exclusive use of glo, BAT’s flagship tobacco heating product (THP), can significantly reduce their exposure to certain toxicants and indicators of potential harm related to several smoking-related diseases compared with continuing to smoke.
The results, recorded at six months of a 12-month study, showed that switching completely to glo resulted in statistically significant changes across a range of “biomarkers of exposure” (BoE), and indicators of potential harm, known as “biomarkers of potential harm” (BoPH), compared with continuing to smoke.
For most biomarkers measured, the reductions seen in people using glo were similar to those in participants who stopped smoking completely.
Based on the toxicants measured, glo users showed a:
Significant reduction in a biomarker for lung cancer risk
Significant reduction in white blood cell count, an inflammatory marker indicative of cardiovascular disease risk (CVD) and other smoking-related diseases
Improvement in HDL cholesterol associated with reduced risk of CVD
Improvements in two key indicators of lung health
Improvement in a key indicator of oxidative stress, a process implicated in several smoking-related diseases, such as CVD and hypertension
“These are exciting results as they allow us to understand the potential for reduction of risk that switching completely to glo can deliver,” said David O’Reilly, director of scientific research at BAT, in a statement. “The study shows that smokers switching to glo can reduce their exposure to certain toxicants, which reduces their risk of developing certain smoking related diseases.
“To have shown a significant reduction in measures of BOPH, some comparable to quitting completely, is very encouraging and provides further scientific substantiation of the harm reduction potential of glo and how it supports our ambition to build A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health impact of our business.”
July 1, 2021
Study: Vaping More Effective Than NRT for Cessation

Photo: bedya
A new study by Queen Mary University of London, published in Addiction, shows that e-cigarettes are more effective in achieving long-term smoking reduction and cessation than nicotine-replacement therapies (NRT).
The study randomized 135 smokers who had been unable to stop smoking with conventional treatments into two groups—one received an eight-week supply of their choice of NRT and the other received an e-cigarette starter pack with instructions to purchase further e-liquids of their choice of strength and flavor. Products were accompanied by minimal behavioral support.
After six months, 27 percent of those in the e-cigarette group had reduced smoking by at least half compared to 6 percent in the NRT group. Of the participants in the e-cigarette group, 19 percent had stopped smoking altogether versus 3 percent in the NRT group.
“These results have important clinical implications for smokers who have previously been unable to stop smoking using conventional treatments,” said Katie Myers Smith, lead researcher and health psychologist, in Eurasia Review. “E-cigarettes should be recommended to smokers who have previously struggled to quit using other methods, particularly when there is limited behavioral support available.”
“This study shows e-cigarettes can be a very effective tool for people who want to stop smoking, including those who’ve tried to quit before,” said Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research U.K., which funded the study. “And research so far shows that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. But e-cigarettes aren’t risk free, and we don’t yet know their long-term effects, so people who have never smoked shouldn’t use them.”
July 1, 2021
NICE Guidance States E-Cigarettes as Effective as NRTs
New draft guidance from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that healthcare professionals can recommend e-cigarettes, or vaping devices, as a means to help patients stop smoking. The guidance states that evidence suggests that e-cigarettes have a similar effectiveness to short- and long-acting nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) in helping people to stop smoking.
Credit: Balint Radu
E-cigarettes or vaping devices are not licensed as medicines, but they are regulated by the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations. Unlike NRT they are not available on prescription, however NICE said that people should be able to use them to help stop smoking if they wanted to do so, according to gponline. It added that combining behavioral support with either NRT or e-cigarettes was more likely to help people successfully stop smoking than vaping or NRT alone.
Patients who do choose to use e-cigarettes to help them quit should be warned that the long-term health impacts of their use is still unknown, NICE said. Patients should also be told where to find advice on how to use them and told to stop smoking completely if they decide to use e-cigarettes.
NICE recommended that further research should be undertaken in this area, including on whether vaping devices could be used in pregnancy.
However, the guidance highlighted that the MHRA was monitoring possible short- and long-term harms of e-cigarette use and, as at March 2020, ‘no major concerns had been identified’. It recommended that healthcare professionals providing stop smoking advice should report any adverse events as a result of e-cigarette use.
The guidance also makes a series of new recommendations to identify and support pregnant women who smoke, including that all pregnant women have routine carbon monoxide testing at antenatal appointments to assess their exposure to tobacco smoke.
June 28, 2021
Review of 10 Years of Vaping Science Published by BAT
A comprehensive review of the scientific evidence for vaping products, their potential health effects and their role in tobacco harm reduction by BAT as World Vape Day sets to be celebrated on May 30.
Credit: Coloures Pic
This review shows that, over the past decade, the number of people who incorrectly believe vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes has risen in the UK, Europe, and the U.S., according to a press note. This is despite several scientific reviews published in the same period showing that vaping products manufactured in accordance with quality standards present less risk to health than combustible cigarettes.
According to population modelling studies cited in the review, a significant reduction in premature deaths could be achieved if current smokers switched exclusively to vaping rather than continuing to smoke. These modelling studies use population data and simulations to project the health-related outcomes associated with the long-term risks of smoking versus vapour use over time.
David O’Reilly, Director of Scientific Research at BAT, said the paper is a comprehensive summary of more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers and other evidence published by an estimated 50 institutions over the past decade.
“The scientific evidence is clear – but consumer misperceptions remain. In England and the United States, only one in three adults is aware that there is scientific evidence available, including from leading public health authorities, that supports the conclusion that vaping is less harmful than smoking,” O’Reilly said. “The reality is that many leading public health authorities have reported that vaping is less harmful than smoking, and that this harm reduction potential can be maximized if those smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke switch exclusively to using vapor products.”
The review highlights that vaping products can effectively compete with combustible cigarettes by providing nicotine and the sensorial enjoyment sought by smokers, according to the press note.
May 28, 2021
Bates: Complaints About ‘Special Juul Issue’ Absurd

Clive Bates
Recent complaints about The American Journal of Health Behavior “Special Issue on Juul” are absurd, anti-scientific and somewhat disturbing, according to Clive Bates, director of The Counterfactual.
In a letter to the editor, Bates said the Juul Labs monograph provides highly salient information on changes in smoking status, drivers of transition, population health impact and retailer behaviors. “The summary for the introduction to the series should be enough to whet the appetite of the genuinely curious and scientifically engaged,” he wrote.
According to Bates, the fact that research is done by company in the nicotine-delivery business does not invalidate the findings. In his view, Juul’s scientists have done excellent work that stands on its merits and has now been published after thorough peer review in a reputable journal with transparent disclosure of its provenance.
“The real question here is why these tobacco control activists show so little curiosity about the changes that are reshaping the U.S. tobacco and nicotine market,” he wrote. “As Juul rose in popularity, we saw unusually rapid declines in cigarette sales and smoking prevalence in both adults and adolescents.
“The right response to that is to want to know more. The wrong response is to try to suppress or discredit informative data and analysis just because it tells a story that is at variance with a narrative about the evils of both e-cigarettes and the companies that make them.”
May 20, 2021
Vape Alliance: EU Scientific Committee Ignores Science
Photo: pavel_shishkin
The European Commission has missed an opportunity to bolster its Beating Cancer Plan and recognize the importance of vaping in reducing smoking-related diseases among Europeans, according to the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA).
A recent report from the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) fails to compare the risks of electronic cigarette use with the risks of smoking, the IEVA noted in statement. “Such an omission renders the report of little use to policy makers,” it wrote. “An assessment of the impact e-cigarettes have had on European public health must be informed by this evidence.”
Independent and publicly funded scientific research has shown that e-cigarette use is far less harmful than smoking, according to the IEVA.
“The SCHEER committee has failed to present scientific data on vaping in a comprehensive and balanced manner,” said Dustin Dahlmann, President of IEVA. “The result is a report that is little more than a series of baseless predetermined assertions. Another opportunity to educate smokers willing to switch to less harmful alternatives has been wasted, and this alone has serious public health implications. We urge decision makers in Brussels to integrate harm reduction in their overall strategy.”

Another opportunity to educate smokers willing to switch to less harmful alternatives has been wasted.
Dustin Dahlmann, President, IEVA
An earlier draft of this report was put to public consultation in September 2020 and was widely criticized. Yet the final report reiterates the core findings of the initial draft.
A comprehensive critique of this draft was published in the peer-reviewed Harm Reduction Journal. The authors assert that “the Opinion’s conclusions are not adequately backed up by scientific evidence and did not discuss the potential health benefits of using alternative combustion-free nicotine-containing products as substitute for tobacco cigarettes”.
The Harm Reduction Journal report recommends seven crucial areas that the Committee should have considered to address this significant deficit, but SCHEER has decided not to do so. These were:
the potential health benefits of ENDS substitution for cigarette smoking
alternative hypotheses and contradictory studies on the gateway effect
its assessment of cardiovascular risk,
the measurements of frequency of use
non-nicotine use
the role of flavors
a fulsome discussion of cessation
Earlier this week, the World Vaper Alliance expressed similar concerns about the SHEER report.
May 3, 2021