Tag: CDC

  • U.S. CDC Makes Confusing Statements in Latest Report

    U.S. CDC Makes Confusing Statements in Latest Report

    Credit: JHVE Photo

    Monthly e-cigarette sales skyrocketed during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “In the United States, the prevalence of e-cigarette use is markedly higher among youths and young adults than it is among adults overall. In 2021, 4.5% of all adults aged ≥18 years (an estimated 11.1 million) and 11.0% of young adults aged 18–24 years (an estimated 3.1 million) currently (≥1 day during the previous 30 days) used e-cigarettes; during 2022, 14.1% of high school students (an estimated 2.14 million) currently used e-cigarettes,” the CDC’s weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

    However, in 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 331.4 million people living in the United States; more than three-quarters (77.9 percent) or 258.3 million were adults aged 18 years or older and 30 million (of the 258.3 million) were aged 18-24. The Annie E. Casey Foundation confirms the CDC data. In 2019, 15.3 million students enrolled in high school (9th to 12th grade). Many U.S. high school students turn 18 before graduating high school, as well.

    Major media outlets such as ABC News are now reporting that “the CDC noted in its report that e-cigarette use is more common among young people than adults overall” even though the statement is misleading at best.

    The agency also states that e-cigarette sales boomed in 2020. Between January 2020 and December 2022, monthly unit sales increased by 46.6 percent, from 15.5 million units to 22.7 million units, the study found. Studies have also shown that combustible cigarette sales plummeted during the same time period.

    Researchers found the surge in vape sales was mostly driven by disposable e-cigarettes in flavors, including fruit and candy, which are popular among youth and young adult users, and several studies have found they are also preferred by adults who have quit combustible cigarettes..

    Additionally, while the share of pre-filled e-cigarette cartridges decreased from 75.2 percent to 48 percent of total sales, the share of disposable e-cigarette units increased from 24.7 percent to 51.8 percent of total sales.

    The study found this may be due to an announcement the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made in January 2020 that prioritized enforcement against prefilled cartridges in flavors other than tobacco and menthol.

    Disposable vaping products were the first e-cigarettes to be distributed broadly across the U.S. After winning a landmark lawsuit against the FDA in 2010, the Njoy King became the bestselling e-cigarette on the market after just a few years.

    By 2017, pod systems became more popular as battery technology improved. It was easy to switch between flavors, and the rechargeable battery lowered the cost of products for consumers compared to disposable devices.

    Open systems were popular too, but pods were easier and cleaner without the chance of spilling e-liquid everywhere. The versatility of pod systems helped vaping become more mainstream.

    Then in January of 2020, the FDA created an unnecessary problem. The regulatory agency stepped in under the guise of a youth vaping “epidemic” and banned the sale of all flavored (except tobacco and menthol) pod-style vaping products.

    Today, disposable vapes are the best-selling e-cigarettes, and millions are disposed of improperly every year, according to industry data.

  • As Smoking Declines, More Adults Switching to Less-Risky Vaping Products

    As Smoking Declines, More Adults Switching to Less-Risky Vaping Products

    U.S. cigarette smoking dropped to another all-time low last year, with 1 in 9 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released Thursday. Meanwhile, electronic cigarette use rose, to about 1 in 17 adults.

    The preliminary findings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are based on survey responses from more than 27,000 adults.

    Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and it’s long been considered the leading cause of preventable death.

    Last year, the percentage of adult smokers dropped to about 11 percent, down from about 12.5 percent in 2020 and 2021. The survey findings sometimes are revised after further analysis, and CDC is expected to release final 2021 data soon.

    E-cigarette use rose to nearly 6 percent last year, from about 4.5 percent the year before, according to survey data.

  • CDC: Teen Tobacco use Down Over 50% From 2019

    CDC: Teen Tobacco use Down Over 50% From 2019

    Credit: Naypong Studio

    The numbers are in and teen tobacco use is dropping. According to government data released last week, an estimated 3.08 million U.S. middle and high school students reported using a tobacco product in the last 30 days in 2022. That figure is down from 4.47 million in 2020 and 6.20 million in 2019.

    E-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among teens for the ninth consecutive year, according to the study published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

    The survey found cigars to be second most popular with 500,000 reporting use, followed by 440,000 cigarette smokers.

    Nearly 31 percent of the students surveyed reported using multiple products, which the CDC called “particularly concerning” as that has been linked to nicotine dependence and sustained use in adulthood, according to Reuters.

    Cigarette smoking among U.S. youths has been steadily declining in the last two decades, although the CDC cautioned against comparing the results to previous years due to a change in the method of data collection related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The study was based on an annual national survey that took place from January to May this year, which showed that nearly 11.3 percent of all students had used a tobacco product in the last 30 days.

  • Study Claims Vape has Higher Health Costs Than Smokes

    Study Claims Vape has Higher Health Costs Than Smokes

    Credit: Michael Vi

    This use of electronic cigarettes costs the United States $15 billion annually in health care expenditures — more than $2,000 per person a year — according to a study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing.

    The study, published on May 23 in Tobacco Control, is the first to look at the health care costs of e-cigarette use among adults 18 and older, according to the release.

    “Our finding indicates that health care expenditures for a person who uses e-cigarettes are $2,024 more per year than for a person who doesn’t use any tobacco products,” said lead author Yingning Wang, PhD, of the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging.

    According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, combustible cigarette smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion each year, including more than $225 billion for direct medical care for adults.

    The researchers based their estimates of health care costs and utilization on data from the 2015-2018 National Health Interview Survey. Health care utilization included nights in the hospital, emergency room visits, doctor visits and home visits.

    “Health care costs attributable to e-cigarette use are already greater than our estimates of health care costs attributable to cigar and smokeless tobacco use,” said Wang. “This is a concerning finding, given that e-cigarettes are a relatively new product whose impact is likely to increase over time.”

  • Doctor Says EVALI is Often Used in Wrong Context

    Doctor Says EVALI is Often Used in Wrong Context

    E-cigarette and vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a term that is coming up more often in countries like Malaysia that are just beginning the journey towards regulating next-generation tobacco products.

    Dr. Kumar Subaramaniam, based in Malaysia, says he finds the increased usage of the term EVALI worrisome, as it is often discussed in the wrong context, according to the New Strait Times. Kumar said that the issue lies with certain parties, who bring up EVALI at the mention of vaping, while repeating and spreading mistruths about vaping.

    Credit: Fotolia Premium

    When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified the real culprit behind the EVALI outbreak, the presence of vitamin E acetate that was added into illegal tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products, Kumar said the CDC’s slow reaction to announcing the cause caused the mishap that left a bad reputation on vaping, which was touted to give many smokers a chance to quit smoking tobacco products for good.

    “So, it was not vaping that was the problem, rather the misuse and abuse of the products. But the damage has been done and the half-baked truths surrounding EVALI live on to this day,” he says. “The EVALI saga should not be used as a ‘boogeyman’ to dissuade us from seeking to regulate vaping and adopt a ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude. In fact, the EVALI saga in the U.S. shows above all the importance of regulations.”

    Kumar believes that Malaysia needs to regulate vaping for the safety of its users. Regulations will allow the authorities and consumers themselves to be sure that the e-liquids in the market meet regulatory standards.

    Perhaps regulations will pave the way for a greater understanding of how vaping, which is scientifically proven to be a less harmful alternative to smoking, can help the estimated five million smokers in the country kick the habit, he says. “If we are to move forward in this country and put an end to the menace that is smoking, we need to arm ourselves with good science, facts and data,” said Kumar. “

  • U.S. Army Article Wrongly Places EVALI Cause on E-Cigs

    U.S. Army Article Wrongly Places EVALI Cause on E-Cigs

    Credit: Media VN

    It doesn’t stop. Since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Food and Drug Administration wrongly blamed nicotine vaping products as the cause of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI) numerous news outlets continue to spread the misinformation.

    The official website for the U.S. Army yesterday published an article wrongly blaming EVALI on nicotine vaping products. The article states that “vaping has been commercially available since the early 2000s, and there have been hundreds of reports” of EVALI since then. “Public Health officials advise against the use of e-cigarettes, but highly recommend purchase from known vendors, if consuming … Washington says an estimated 200,000–300,000 active duty service members are diagnosed with acute respiratory issues annually.”

    After the CDC announced that vitamin E acetate in black market marijuana vaping products was the cause EVALI more than two years ago, many media outlets continue to falsely blame nicotine vaping products for the lung illness that was first identified in 2019.

    Credit: Master1305

    A study published in January 2020 in the journal Toxics provided important insight into the lung intoxication epidemic. The study presented, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of products used by EVALI patients. Vitamin E acetate was the main finding in cannabinoid liquids. No compound that could be linked to EVALI was found in the two nicotine products tested.

    Some tobacco control experts said the CDC created panic with its refusal to directly blame the actual causes of EVALI, vitamin E acetate in illegal THC vapes. Following CDC’s lead, state health departments spread the word that using an e-cigarette to quit smoking could be life-threatening — so much so that seven states issued emergency bans on the sale of most or all electronic cigarettes.

    “Throughout its investigation of the first outbreak, CDC created public hysteria over the dangers of electronic cigarettes by attributing the outbreak to all vaping products, whether they contained nicotine or THC and whether they were purchased at a highly regulated vape shop or from a drug dealer on the street,” wrote Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, where he has conducted research on tobacco for 25 years, at the time. “The very name that CDC attached to the outbreak directly implicated electronic cigarettes, which are nicotine-delivery devices that are effective in helping adult smokers to quit smoking. Following CDC’s lead, state health departments spread the word that using an e-cigarette to quit smoking could be life-threatening — so much so that seven states issued emergency bans on the sale of most or all electronic cigarettes.”

  • Tobacco Bill Would Tax Vapor Same as Combustibles

    Tobacco Bill Would Tax Vapor Same as Combustibles

    The proposed U.S. Tobacco Tax Equity (TTE) Act would tax vaping products the same as combustible cigarettes. According to research from the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy nonprofit, the proposal would double the rates on combustible cigarettes and increase the rates on all other tobacco and nicotine products – including electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) – to achieve parity with the traditional tobacco tax rate.

    Credit: TS Donahue

    The proposed rule aims for the tax per 1,000 cigarettes to be increased to $100.66. Vaping products would be taxed at this same rate, with 1,000 cigarettes being equal to 1,810 milligrams of nicotine.

    “In addition to the one-time increase, the rates would be indexed to inflation, which means they would automatically increase every year,” the report states. “According to Tax Foundation estimates, the tax increases would raise $112 billion over 10 years. The bulk of the revenue, $74.8 billion, is from the doubling of cigarette taxes. The tax on vapor products would raise roughly $15 billion over 10 years.”

    According to Alex Norcia of Filter, the proposal would benefit large corporations and traditional tobacco products, while unfairly hurting people in lower socioeconomic classes as most smokers do not typically belong to the upper classes. Current cigarette smoking in the United States “is higher among people with low annual household income than those with higher annual household incomes,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “This means that a 30-milliliter bottle of e-liquid containing 3 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter would be subject a tax rate of $5 for the bottle. A 120-milliliter bottle of e-liquid that contains 6 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter would attract a tax rate of $40 for the bottle,” writes Norcia. “In comparison, critics and tax reformists have estimated that a four-pack of Juul pods would be taxed around $9—giving a clear advantage to a giant over the smaller player. More alarmingly, a pack of cigarettes would only be taxed around $2, creating an incentive for nicotine users to pick cigarettes over less-risky vapor products.”

    Credit: Tax Foundation

    The TTE Act as part a massive $3.5 trillion spending bill appear to be heading for a collision with President Joe Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on America’s middle class. In an interview with C-Span on Sept. 15, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the White House believes that the proposed bill on taxing tobacco/vaping products would violate Biden’s promise to not raise taxes on those making under $400,000 per year. She replied, “No, we don’t,” adding that it was “just one of the ideas out there.”

    Vape Shop owners are saying that the proposed tax increase would “completely destroy” their businesses, saying it would be even worse than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s failure to approve any ENDS products by the Sept. 9 deadline and the issuing of nearly 200 marketing denial orders (MDOs).

    “This is going to more than double, and in some cases triple or quadruple, the price of liquids that I sell,” says Keith Gossett, the owner of Bucky’s Vape Shop in Columbus, Georgia, told Reason. “I’m going to sit there and try to tell a man with a $6 pack of cigarettes that my [$75] product is better. This tax will close my shop.”

    The last time the federal excise tax on tobacco was increased was in 2009. While the federal tax has not changed for 12 years, the average tax paid by consumers has increased drastically. Including the last federal increase, the average combined state and federal excise tax rate on tobacco products has jumped more than 80 percent (the average state excise tax rate increased 65 percent between 2009 and 2021), according to Tax Foundation.

  • Michigan to Formally Ban EVALI-Linked Additive

    Michigan to Formally Ban EVALI-Linked Additive

    The additive that has been found as the source of THC vaping-related lung injuries and death would be formally banned in Michigan under legislation passed in the Michigan House this week. House lawmakers on Thursday approved a package of bills aimed at prohibiting the sale of tobacco and marijuana vaping products containing vitamin E acetate or other additives not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    Credit: Spirit of America

     

    The Centers for Disease Control has “strongly linked” THC products containing vitamin E acetate to 68 deaths — including three in Michigan — and more than 2,800 hospitalizations nationwide from a disease the CDC has called e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury (EVALI), even though e-cigarettes had nothing to do with the diseases causes.

    A processor or provisioning center found in violation of the ban would face a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, according to M Live.

    House Bills 4249 and 4250 passed the chamber with wide bipartisan support. The package now heads to the Senate for further review. The legislation is similar to bills introduced last session that also passed the House, but were never taken up for a vote in the Senate.

    During a March 16 Regulatory Reform Committee hearing, one lawmaker said the harmful effects of vitamin E acetate were discovered in 2019 amid an “emergency when young people were dying after vaping.”

    “This chemical is actually inserted in the vaping process and the manufacturing process, and there it was discovered that it was extremely dangerous to be inhaled,” they said at the time

    The Marijuana Regulatory Agency in November 2019 created testing requirements banning the presence of vitamin E acetate in all marijuana vaping products and halted marijuana vaping sales until they could be tested for the presence of vitamin E acetate. In December 2019, the state recalled thousands of marijuana vaping products that tested positive for the additive.

    Vitamin E acetate is safely consumed in food and applied to the skin in cosmetic products. When it comes to vaping, Vitamin E acetate can be used as a filler added to THC vaping cartridges – it’s a cheaper substance that dilutes potency.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pointed to vitamin E acetate as a factor in many of the vaping-related deaths around the country, noting it “may interfere with normal lung functioning” when inhaled through a vaping product.

  • Dr. Phil Spreads False Info, Blames Nicotine for EVALI

    Dr. Phil Spreads False Info, Blames Nicotine for EVALI

    Misinformation continues to be a challenge for the vaping industry. After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that vitamin E acetate in black market marijuana vaping products was the cause e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) more than a year ago, many media outlets continue to falsely blame nicotine vaping products for the lung illness that was first identified in 2019.

    Credit: drphil.com

    On his Friday episode of the show Dr. Phil, American TV personality Phillip Calvin McGraw, also known as Dr. Phil, wrongly blamed the EVALI lung illness outbreak on vaping nicotine products. Speaking to a guest who stated she only used nicotine vaping products, McGraw said he “was puzzled” by the guest’s understanding that vaping, while not entirely safe, is safer than smoking combustible cigarettes.

    “Ventilators, hospitals, deaths … there is lots of news out there on this,” McGraw said. “This isn’t a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of science.” The host then went on to use several news reports wrongly blaming nicotine for EVALI to support his statements. According to Nielsen data, the average daily audience of the Dr. Phil Show is 2.9 million viewers.

    Reports of serious illnesses and deaths related to vaping began mounting in summer 2019. By mid-February 2020, the CDC reported more than 2,800 cases of lung injuries requiring hospitalization across all 50 states, and 68 deaths. After nearly six months of falsely claiming nicotine vaping products were the cause of the outbreak, the CDC finally admitted that the cause was illicit THC vaping products and not nicotine vaping products.

    By July of 2020, the CDC said that states no longer needed to track lung-related injuries caused by marijuana-based vapor products, partly because cases have dropped. The CDC said it stopped requiring states to report the numbers in February of 2020 after it pinpointed vitamin E acetate as the culprit in THC vaping products that were making people sick, but didn’t make the public announcement until nearly five months later.

    McGraw holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased renewing his license to practice psychology in 2006, according to Wikipedia. The CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now strongly recommend that people avoid use of “e-cigarettes or vaping products containing THC, especially from the illicit market.”

    The UK and EU have a different view on e-cigarettes and whether or not combustible tobacco smokers should make the switch. More and more smokers began transitioning over to vapor products after the Public Health England stated that vaping is 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes. Experts have pointed out that EVALI cases are almost exclusive to the United States and haven’t made a blip on the radar globally. In the UK, there are approx. 3.6 million e-cigarette users with virtually no EVALI cases reported during the media coverage period in 2019 and early 2020.

    There were also little to no cases of EVALI in Canada and Mexico, the closest foreign neighbors to the US. “EVALI was largely the result of an unregulated illicit THC vape market in the United States which didn’t follow safe production standards” says Allan Rewak, executive director of Canada-based Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) in Nov. of 2020. “Canada’s nicotine vape market was on the final path toward federal regulation at the time, which prevented EVALI from occurring in any significant way north of the border.”

    The use of EVALI to spread fear on nicotine vaping in Mexico and in Latin America was particularly crude, dishonest and more intense than in other places, according to Roberto Sussman, senior researcher and lecturer at the National University of Mexico and founder and director of Pro-Vapeo. .

    “Up to this day, all officials of the health ministry in Mexico are still blam[ing] nicotine vaping,” says Sussman. “And when you try to engage them, they say, ‘No, no, no. That’s it. Full stop. End of discussion.’ That’s it.” Since EVALI has now been found to be caused by illegal THC vape pens, not nicotine-based e-cigarettes, Sussman says “no one has told Latin America.”

    In late 2020, Mexico’s president signed legislation prohibiting the importation, manufacture and distribution of all noncombustible products tobacco (vaping) products, including heat-not-burn products. “Their justification was that we need to protect Mexican youth from EVALI. Given the proximity of the U.S., this epidemic can come to Mexico any time,” says Sussman. “Pure fear-mongering and they’ve refused all debate.”

    Brad Jemmett, a former long-time smoker and now general manager for SnowPlus – an innovation based vape company – suggests that the core of what drove the negative media was a localized, US issue. 

    “Globally, we don’t really see EVALI cases like there were in the US, because EVALI was linked to illicit marijuana vapes, and most specifically the addition of Vitamin E acetate as a thickening agent. Our products on the other hand, are developed and tested to the highest degree, and designed specifically for adult smokers looking to transition out of smoking,” he said. “At SnowPlus, we never have and never will use Vitamin E acetate in any of our products. Through innovation, we’ve aimed to simulate the smoking ritual with vape technology, to provide a less harmful alternative compared to smoking cigarettes.”

  • Connecticut Could Ban Flavored Vapes by October

    Connecticut Could Ban Flavored Vapes by October

    A bill winding its way through the Connecticut General Assembly would ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco products in the state. Lawmakers who sponsored the bill say the bill is needed to reduce nicotine addiction, which disproportionately affects young adults and people of color.

    Credit: Ethan Parsa

    The ban would target vape products with fruit and dessert flavors, while allowing for tobacco flavored vapes. The bill would also prevent the sale of all menthol flavored products. “For many years I have watched my community suffer from the long-standing results of having this habit of smoking that they can’t seem to break; and we watch them suffer and lose their lives,” NAACP Bridgeport Chapter President Rev. D. Stanley Lord said during a press conference, as reported by wshu.com. “Families lose loved one’s because they have targeted the Black and Brown community.”

    Critics say that the ban would drive former smokers back to combustible cigarettes. Traditional tobacco use is a major contributor to heart disease, cancer and strokes, which are the three leading causes of death among African Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    The bill advanced from the state’s public health committee to the full Legislature on March 5. Senate Committee Chair Mary Daugherty Abrams said during the press conference that she thinks that there is a “strong” chance that the bill passes through the legislature. If the bill is enacted, the ban would go into effect in October.

    “I don’t think we here at the state of Connecticut can wait indefinitely for the federal government to take action,” Steinberg said. “So we’re following through, on what we promised we would do, which would be to end flavors which we view as an unfortunate temptation into the world of addiction.”