Media claims vaping causes ‘vape face.’ More evidence vaping is helping drive smoking decline. PMTA report may mean bad news for small companies. Will SCOTUS protect people or profits? ALA’s non sequitur on menthol and more!
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MEDIA MISINFORMATION
Media Claims Vaping Causes ‘Vape Face’
Millions of adults who say they’ve quit smoking and have experienced remarkable health improvements are dismissed as “anecdotes,” yet when a few people say they think vaping caused them to have something now dubbed “vape face,” it’s breathlessly reported as a “side effect.” ♂️
Of course, no anti-vaping article would be complete without the standard misleading information such as “we don’t have the long term effects,” false claims such as vaping leads youth “to start smoking regular cigarettes,” and the baseless claims of health effects of vaping such as “Popcorn Lung” and lipoid pneumonia. ♂️
No studies quoted, no links, quotes refer to effects on *smokers*, where causation of derm damage is documented. Just more clickbait attacking the way MOST smokers are having success quitting. Panic attack.
— neutrinomoon (@neutrinomoon) June 3, 2024
READ MORE: ‘Vape Face’: A side effect making its way into the spotlight
RESEARCH
More Evidence Vaping Is Helping Drive Smoking Declines
This analysis found that “population-level data continue to suggest that smoking prevalence has declined at an accelerated rate in the last decade in ways correlated with increased uptake of e-cigarette use.”
Put simply – the data continues to support the theory that vaping is helping to decrease smoking.
READ MORE: Increased e-cigarette use prevalence is associated with decreased smoking prevalence among US adults
FDA
Will SCOTUS Protect People or Profits?
“Continuing to push for regulation, such as flavor bans and extensive approvals, allows large producers to secure profits without innovating. Innovation is a strength of the independent producers, as they are more in touch with vapers. Frequently, they are individuals looking to quit smoking or vape themselves, allowing them to foresee the needs of the consumer by being able to empathize with them….”
~ Peter Clark for American Institute for Economic Research
READ MORE: Will SCOTUS Break Big Tobacco’s Grip on Nicotine?
FDA Appropriations Bills Demand Harsh Vape Enforcement
“Both bills would protect the legacy tobacco industry, although no member from either committee would probably admit it. Both bills would make it harder for people who currently smoke to find attractive and effective nicotine alternatives. Neither bill would stop youth vaping.”
CASAA director Jim McDonald (@whycherrywhy) reporting for Vaping360.
“FDA Appropriations Bills Demand Harsh Vape Enforcement”
“If the FDA doesn’t meet the demands laid out in the bill, the agency would be denied about $25 million in funding budgeted for salaries and expenses.”https://t.co/6KPUv0Tw2e— Lance Churchill (@LanceChurchill) July 17, 2024
READ MORE: FDA Appropriations Bills Demand Harsh Vape Enforcement
PMTA Report May Mean Bad News for Small Companies
In its new progress report to the court, the agency brags that it has issued “over 18 million refuse-to-accept decisions, over 67,000 refuse-to-file decisions, and approximately 46,000 marketing denial orders.” Most of those 46,000 MDOs were for bottled e-liquid made by small- to medium-sized manufacturers—including many tiny businesses with no retail footprint outside their own cities.
CASAA director Jim McDonald (@whycherrywhy) reporting for Vaping360.
What an absolute disgrace. Meanwhile, thousands of combustible tobacco products sailed through this sham process, on their way to killing hundreds of thousands a year.
— VaporHawk (@VaporHawk1) July 26, 2024
READ MORE: FDA’s PMTA Progress Report May Mean Bad News for Small Vape Companies
TOBACCO CONTROL
Nicotine ‘Chicken or the Egg”
The persistent claim that “nicotine harms the adolescent brain” is based on studies that “indicate that smoking during adolescence increases the risk of developing psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment in later life. In addition, adolescents who smoke suffer from attention deficits.” Much of this claim is also based on studies of rats, not humans.
However, it’s important to note that the studies were of adolescent and adult cigarette smoking, which obviously exposes a person to many chemicals that are far more problematic than nicotine. For example, smoke-free nicotine products don’t expose users to carbon monoxide (created by combustion,) which can deprive cells and tissues — including the brain — of oxygen.
Any shelter that cares about the unhoused MUST allow them to smoke or vape at minimum outside the building. Nicotine is helpful to the brain and a lot of people’s mental health is so fragile that it depends on it for stability. In our experience nearly all unhoused adults smoke. https://t.co/FLGQZdqopD
— Lifeline Aid Group | lifelineaidgroup.bsky.social (@LifelineAidGrp) July 25, 2024
That said, there’s no evidence demonstrating that there was a higher number of adults with psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment as a result of the past smoking rates that were nearly quadruple what they are today. That older adults who smoke were diagnosed later in life with these conditions could just as well be because they finally got the help they needed after years of coping by self-medication.
Tobacco Control is keen on giving the public the impression that nicotine use causes mental health issues, when it’s really an “association.” There’s a “chicken or the egg” problem of not knowing which came first — the mental health issue or the nicotine use.
Additionally, it’s long been established that people with mental health issues are also much more likely to use other substances to “self-medicate,” so it’s disingenuous of Tobacco Control to attempt to paint nicotine use as somehow different than other substance use — that for nicotine alone it’s a cause rather than a symptom of mental health challenges.
Imagine blaming aspirin for causing headaches because so many people with headaches use aspirin.
READ MORE: Nicotine Addiction and Mental Health: Breaking the Cycle
A ‘Non Sequitur’ Indeed
While the American Lung Association is not wrong about the urgent need to “improve access to quit smoking resources and ensure that quit smoking resources are culturally appropriate” (Black Americans who smoke are more likely to smoke menthol, and are less likely to vape or receive adequate healthcare, including smoking cessation assistance,) there’s no evidence that banning things lead to people quitting those things. Indeed, bans on drugs haven’t led to less drug use and instead have led to far more deadly products (such as fentanyl) appearing on the illicit market. So there’s really no reason to believe a ban on menthol would lead to less smoking and a safer public.
Non sequitur of the day, from @LungAssociation: pic.twitter.com/yRoDD2PK2Q
— Jeff Stier (@JeffaStier) July 26, 2024
Furthermore, having “an interest” in quitting doesn’t translate to actual quit attempts nor does it increase the success rate of quit attempts. Tobacco Control has long been saying “nearly 70% of people who smoke want to quit” and in 2022, 67.7% did still say they wanted to quit (down from an estimated 70% in 2000,) but only 53.3% made at least one quit attempt in the past year (down from 56% in 2020,) and only 8.8% of adults who smoked had successfully quit smoking for more than 6 months in the past year. However, there’s no way to know how many started smoking again after participating in the NHI survey. Some studies have shown that about 65% to 75% would relapse within a year.
Studies of menthol bans in other countries found that “while 50% of menthol smokers switched to smoking non-menthol cigarettes, almost a quarter (24%) of menthol cigarette smokers quit smoking altogether,” and “around 12% switched to other flavored tobacco products, and 24% continued smoking menthols.”
Tobacco Control likes to focus on the 24% who quit smoking altogether and pretty much ignores how around 75% either switched to non-menthol cigarettes or somehow just kept smoking menthol cigarettes (either buying on the illicit market or adding menthol to regular cigarettes.)
It should be noted that the follow-up for those who said they quit altogether after a ban is pretty dismal, with most surveys not extending beyond 6 months post-ban. In some cases, researchers even excluded from the analysis an undisclosed number of people who they followed up with who “refused” to answer or answered “don’t know,” which could skew the percentage of people who kept smoking or relapsed. As previously mentioned, it’s not uncommon for people to quit smoking for months or years and later relapse, so a 6 month follow-up is insufficient to determine the efficacy of menthol bans.
The studies also frequently use Canadian data after that country banned menthol, but 2 significant limitations to using that comparison are that 1) the black population of Canada is about 1/3 the size of the US population and 2) there was a relatively small market for menthol cigarettes prior to bans in Canada.
There is a lack of data on how many people in Canada switched to vaping, snus or nicotine pouches when they quit smoking. Canada was initially open to tobacco harm reduction, but the tide turned against these products shortly after the so-called “youth vaping epidemic,” leading to the belief by many people who smoke that vaping wasn’t any safer than smoking and that “vaping isn’t quitting” (which could affect their answers on surveys as to whether they’d actually “quit.”)
It should also be noted that after the FDA recently authorized a few menthol-flavored vapor products, the ALA released a statement that it “condemns” the authorization as “highly questionable and deeply troubling.” The ALA also significantly downplays the far lower risks of using products such as snus and nicotine pouches, while pushing people to keep trying (and failing with) nicotine gum, patches, inhalers, nasal spray and lozenges.
According to the CDC, “smoking rates have been declining for Black Americans, from 19.4% in 2011 to 14.4% in 2020” without having a menthol ban and about 81% of black Americans who smoke use menthol cigarettes. With the availability of smoke-free menthol products, such as vapes, snus and nicotine pouches, the smoking decline in that population could go even faster.
If the menthol ban has the same “success” as seen in Canada, around 75% of people who smoke menthol in the U.S. would continue to smoke and, if the ALA had its way, they wouldn’t have the option to switch to far lower risk menthol products.
If the ALA truly wanted to “improve access to quit smoking resources,” it wouldn’t be supporting banning smoke-free menthol products along with cigarettes and cigars.
READ FULL ALA STATEMENT: New CDC Study Shows More People Who Smoke Menthol Cigarettes Want to Quit, But Too Many Aren’t Getting Help
Real people. Real Stories.
“Anecdote” #13,544:
Without access to the vaping options that worked for her—such as pleasant flavors and non-nicotine liquids—Patricia would likely still be smoking today. Adults who smoke depend on these products. What happens if those products are then banned?
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On this week’s episode, join Alex and Logan as they discuss hot topics in Tobacco Harm Reduction, including the recent authorization of menthol vaping products, the Supreme Court Chevron decision and the anti-nicotine “end game.”
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