Answer Addiction

Tag: smoking

  • Capitalizing on Smoking Cessation Could Curb Coronavirus Deaths

    The data we have so far show that smokers are over-represented in COVID19 cases requiring ICU treatment and in fatalities from the disease. 

    Politicians have been hyper-focused on the drug hydroxychloroquine lately, hoping it will be a silver bullet for curbing deaths from coronavirus. Physicians, on the other hand, are less convinced it will be helpful. But we’ve already got a medical intervention that could dramatically alter the course of the pandemic: smoking cessation. Fighting the smoking pandemic could curb coronavirus deaths now and save lives in the years to come. 

    Many people smoke and vape to stay calm. So with rising rates of coronavirus anxiety, it’s no surprise that cigarette and vaping sales are booming. But emerging evidence shows smokers are at a higher risk of serious coronavirus infection. If there were ever a time to quit, it’s now. 

    The data we have so far show that smokers are over-represented in COVID19 cases requiring ICU treatment and in fatalities from the disease. One study from China estimated that smoking is associated with a 14-fold increased odds of COVID-19 infection progressing to serious illness. This might be because smoking increases the density of the lung’s ACE2 receptors, which the coronavirus exploits to infiltrate the body. On top of this, smoking weakens the immune system’s ability to fight the virus, as well as heart and lung tissue. All of this damage increases one’s risk of severe coronavirus infection and death. 

    While less is known about vaping’s relationship to coronavirus, research suggests that it impairs the ability of immune cells in the lung to fight off infection. This appears to be related to solvents used in vaping products and occurs independent of their nicotine content. Vaping also shares another risk factor for coronavirus with smoking—it involves putting something you touch with your hands into your mouth over and over. Unless you’re washing your hands and cleaning your vape religiously, you’re putting yourself at risk. On top of this, we know that many people—especially those who are younger—like to share their vapes, which really increases the chances of catching the virus. 

    Most smokers want to quit and find that their stress levels drop dramatically when they do. Many vapers want to stop too. Quitting alone can be nearly impossible though. Luckily, support is available. Primary care physicians are still working via telehealth, and they have a wide range of effective treatments for what doctors call “tobacco use disorder.” If you can’t reach your doctor, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has created a national hotline for support and free counselling: 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

    Psychotherapy is one approach to quitting. However, medications such as bupropion and varenicline are also effective and can be obtained with a phone call to your doctor. Nicotine replacement products like gum, lozenges, patches, and inhalers also greatly increase the odds of success and are available over the counter. Few people are aware that you can purchase these with your health savings and flexible spending accounts. 

    34 million people in the US smoke, and there have already been nearly 700,000 documented domestic cases of coronavirus. Given the number of deaths we could face from people smoking during this pandemic, lawmakers should be doing everything they can to make it easier for people to quit. When patients have better insurance coverage for smoking cessation treatments, they’re much more likely to use them and quit smoking. 

    Federal law requires insurers to cover cessation treatments, but they get around this by restricting access through the use of co-pays and limits on the amounts covered, while also forcing physicians to spend hours on the phone getting them to authorize coverage of medication. With people dying by the tens of thousands, Washington needs to close these loopholes now.

    Amid the widespread panic around coronavirus, it’s important that we stay clear-headed and not overlook easy fixes that could save lives. We know that smoking cessation interventions could prevent deaths, so let’s make sure we’re taking advantage of them.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Should I Stop Vaping?

    Should I Stop Vaping?

    Are the alarming headlines justified? And should the risks associated with vaping be a deterrent when the alternative is smoking cigarettes?

    Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a surge of headlines that say vaping may be more harmful than we might have initially thought. Seven deaths have been linked to the use of e-cigarettes. In response, some states have banned vaping products. However, naysayers — including experts — argue that a knee-jerk reaction by health agencies is premature, overlooks the harm reduction that vaping achieves, and could cause a potential public health disaster. 

    If smoking is the de facto predecessor of vaping, then e-cigarettes should be examined within the context of nicotine delivery systems as a whole. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Should the risk associated with vaping be a deterrent when the alternative is smoking cigarettes?

    Some in the recovery community say that it shouldn’t. Many former cigarette smokers have replaced their “analog” smokes with e-cigarettes, using vaping as a means of harm reduction that swaps out cancer-causing tobacco with a safer means of nicotine delivery. Recovery purists and some clinicians, however, argue that smokers are trading one addiction for another and express concerns that, lower risk or not, most vapers are still ingesting large amounts of highly addictive nicotine. They also point to this recent rash of deaths as evidence against vaping.

    Before we address the question of harm reduction, though, do the alarming headlines have any merit in science? And given that e-cigarettes have been around for 15 years, why are we only seeing deaths now?

    Recent Media Coverage of Vaping

    The American Medical Association (AMA) recently labeled vaping “an urgent public health epidemic,” and physicians have urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to act. The AMA claims that research has shown that the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products is unsafe and causes addiction, however the statement does not provide the supporting research. The AMA also says they “applaud steps to remove flavored e-cigarette products from the market.”

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement that together with the FDA, local health departments, and other clinical and public health partners, they are investigating a multi-state outbreak of lung disease associated with e-cigarette products. The FDA echoed the CDC’s concern, calling the outbreak “a frightening public health phenomenon.”

    Dr. Dana Meaney-Delman, who is leading the CDC’s investigation, said in a statement, “The recent rise of acute lung illnesses linked to vaping has deepened concerns about the safety of the devices.” 

    But why now? People have been vaping for over a decade. The CDC’s Meaney-Delman says, “We’re all wondering if this is new or just newly recognized.”

    The Facts About E-Cigarettes

    Here’s what we know: As of this writing (9/21/19), the CDC states that 530 cases of lung illness have been reported from 38 states, and seven deaths have been attributed to vaping. Most affected patients also reported a history of using vaping products that contain THC. 

    The CDC does not yet know the specific causes of these illnesses: “The investigation has not identified any specific e-cigarette or vaping products (devices, liquids, refill pods, and/or cartridges) or substance that is linked to all cases.” Regardless, for those who are concerned with these issues, the CDC recommends refraining from using all vaping or e-cigarette products until they know more.

    Elsewhere on the website, the CDC still states that e-cigarettes have the potential to benefit adult smokers as a substitute for regular cigarettes.

    Because of the media coverage and caution by public health agencies, we are seeing increasing action across the US: New York’s former mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has committed $160 million to ban flavored e-cigarettes, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order to ban the sale of flavored vaping products in Michigan, San Francisco has banned the sale of e-cigarettes, and President Donald Trump says the FDA will ban flavored e-cigarettes. 

    For Adolescents, Nicotine (in Any Form) May Harm the Brain

    Is this a knee-jerk reaction? It seems that some of the pressure is a result of parents and politicians who are concerned that flavored vaping products are responsible for the surge in teen use. That’s understandable, given the potential for nicotine to harm the developing brain. According to the CDC, one in five high schoolers and one in 20 middle schoolers vape.

    For adults, however, there appears to be conflicting statements by researchers, doctors, and health officials. 

    In a September 2019 article, Dr. Robert Shmerling at Harvard echoed the CDC’s bottom line: Experts are unsure if vaping is causing these lung problems, and lung disease has not been linked to a specific brand or flavor of e-cigarette. A more likely culprit, they claim, is a chemical contaminant within the inhaled vapors that is causing an allergic reaction or immune system response. 

    This belief is supported by a study that came out last year linking the chemical flavors within e-cigarettes to an adverse effect. Dr. Sven-Eric Jordt, PhD, one of the authors of the study, recently told The Guardian that “the liquids vaporised by e-cigarettes are chemically unstable and form new chemicals that irritate the airways and may have other toxic effects.” These new chemicals are not disclosed by the manufacturers to users. 

    Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at Boston University, claims that health officials and physicians are not telling the full story: In every case in which a specific e-liquid has been identified, that e-liquid has been found to contain THC — a fact corroborated by the CDC. He states that the e-liquids in some of these cases were oil-based and typically purchased off the street; therefore, their ingredients are not strictly regulated. It is these oil-based THC liquids that are known to cause acute respiratory illness. 

    Similarly, the Washington Post reported that the FDA investigation found the same vitamin E-derived oil in cannabis products that were used by those found to be suffering vaping-related illnesses throughout the country. 

    CDC’s Guidelines: Unnecessarily Broad

    While Siegel acknowledges we aren’t in a position to draw conclusions about THC oils or to say that street products are definitely to blame, he believes the CDC’s recommendations are unnecessarily broad and consequently harmful, since people who vape may think it’s safer to go back to smoking cigarettes. 

    “I cannot overemphasize how insane this policy is,” he says. “From a public health perspective, it makes absolutely no sense to ban these fake cigarettes but to allow the real ones to remain on the shelves.”

    Instead, Siegel suggests, the CDC could offer more specific and useful guidance to the public, specifically: Do not vape THC oils (including butane hash oil), do not use any oil-based vaping e-liquid product, and refrain from buying products off the street or using any e-liquid that doesn’t disclose its ingredients. To reduce risk, people should “stick to products being sold at retail stores, especially closed cartridges where there is no risk of contamination or the presence of unknown drugs.”

    Switching from smoking tobacco to e-cigarettes is a proven harm reduction strategy supported by health officials and used by individuals in recovery. 

    Lara Frazier, a person in long-term recovery, explained, “I am in abstinence-based recovery and quit smoking cigarettes over four years ago, thanks to e-cigarettes.” Regarding the recent deaths associated with vaping, she says: “There is mass hysteria about vaping, with people not being properly educated on what is actually occurring.”

    Frazier is concerned about the consequences of recent official warnings: “Nicotine addiction is like any addiction, and banning flavors will likely not result in less nicotine being smoked. This could cause more harm because the teenagers will have to find black-market cartridges, make their own juice, and/or switch to smoking cigarettes.”

    She continues, “I think it’s ridiculous that they are going to ban all flavored juices that aren’t tobacco-based on five (now seven) deaths and illness without properly looking at the data or researching the cause of the illness.”

    Vaping as Harm Reduction

    There is world-wide support and evidence for vaping as harm reduction. A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine found that vaping was nearly twice as effective as conventional nicotine replacement products for smoking cessation.

    In the UK, Public Health England also supports vaping as a harm reduction strategy. Even in light of the recent concerns, their position has stayed the same: “Our advice on e-cigarettes remains unchanged — vaping isn’t completely risk-free but is far less harmful than smoking tobacco. There is no situation where it would be better for your health to continue smoking rather than switching completely to vaping,” they said.

    Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center, urged President Trump to consider the facts before reacting hastily and pushing for a ban, arguing that vaping is a less harmful alternative for consuming nicotine. Ossowski cites a 2016 report by the UK’s Royal College of Physicians, which reviewed the science, public policy, regulation, and ethics surrounding vaping and concluded that e-cigarettes should be promoted widely as a substitute for smoking. The report also sought to clear up misinformation about vaping and long-term harm, stating that while there is a possibility of harm from e-cigarettes, it is unlikely to exceed five percent of that associated with tobacco products. 

    Smoking Cigarettes Is Still The Leading Cause of Preventable Death

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. We have abundant evidence that smoking leads to disease and disability, harming nearly every organ in the body. It causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It also increases the risk for tuberculosis, eye diseases, and autoimmune conditions. 

    Worldwide, the use of tobacco products is responsible for more than seven million deaths each year. In the U.S., 480,000 people die every year from smoking, and 41,000 people die as a result of secondhand smoke. Economically, smoking has a huge impact on the United States: it costs $170 billion a year in direct medical care, and $156 million in lost productivity. 

    Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death. 

    At this point, the evidence supports vaping as an effective means of harm reduction, thus outweighing the limited risks. Further, public health officials have yet to complete their investigations into these risks so they can conclusively identify the cause of the deaths attributed to vaping. It seems foolish to enforce blanket bans on e-cigarettes, as that may cause further harm by pushing people toward buying black-market vaping products or resuming smoking cigarettes.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Washington Raises Legal Smoking Age To 21

    Washington Raises Legal Smoking Age To 21

    Washington joins states such as California, Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts who have also increased the legal smoking age to 21.

    This week, Washington became the eighth state to change the legal age to purchase cigarettes to 21. 

    On Wednesday (March 27), the Washington Senate passed a bill that raised the minimum age for buying cigarettes, tobacco, and electronic smoking devices, including vapes, according to The Herald.

    “This bill is about saving lives,” said Democratic state Senator Patty Kuderer, who says that raising the smoking age not only prevents lifelong use, but will also save the state “millions of dollars in health care costs.”

    Republican state Senator Phil Fortunato said that the bill did not make sense if the legal age of adulthood is 18. “Either you are an adult and intelligent enough to make your own decisions at 18, or not,” he said. “This is a personal freedom issue.”

    People under 21 will still be able to purchase tobacco and electronic smoking devices on tribal lands in the state—something that many lawmakers, including Republican state Senator Doug Ericksen objected to.

    “Why create a two-tier system,” he said. “Let’s have one fair standard for all of Washington.”

    California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia all have a minimum age of 21 for purchasing tobacco and smoking products. Many cities have also adopted the measure, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, which advocates for increasing the smoking age. 

    “Nearly all smokers start as kids or young adults, and these age groups are heavily targeted by the tobacco industry,” the group writes. “Increasing the tobacco age to 21 will help to prevent young people from ever starting to smoke and to reduce the deaths, disease and health care costs caused by tobacco use.”

    In Hawaii, a lawmaker has presented an even more drastic proposal, trying to raise the minimum smoking age to 100 by 2034. 

    “In my view, you are taking people who are enslaved from a horrific addiction, and freeing people from horrific enslavement. We, as legislators, have a duty to do things to save people’s lives. If we don’t ban cigarettes, we are killing people,” Representative Richard Creagan told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

    Although rates of cigarette use are decreasing among teens, more young people are using electronic cigarettes, which pose health risks. The FDA is even considering a medication to help kids quit vaping.

    Matthew L. Myers, who is the president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told CNN, “The FDA has concluded that the level of addiction it is seeing among youthful e-cigarette users is so disturbing and so unprecedented that it needs to at least ask whether we need a solution that goes beyond what we ever did with cigarettes.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Smoking, Alcohol Use Linked To Different Brain Areas

    Smoking, Alcohol Use Linked To Different Brain Areas

    A new study suggests that individuals who smoke may do so in order to increase their brain connectivity with nicotine.

    Connectivity in certain areas of the brain may affect smokers’ and drinkers’ tendencies to continue the behavior, new research has found. 

    The study, done by researchers in the department of computer science at the University of Warwick, looked at the neural mechanisms connected to two types of substance use: drinking alcohol and smoking. 

    Researchers studied 2,000 study participants, according to Science Daily. In doing so, they discovered that those who smoked had low connectivity, particularly in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which is a brain region that is connected with impulsivity.

    This suggests, according to researchers, that individuals who smoke may do so in order to increase their brain connectivity with nicotine, which has a stimulating effect. It also suggests that being impulsive may play a role in beginning and continuing to smoke. 

    In drinkers, researchers noted that there was high overall connectivity in the brain, particularly in the brain region associated with reward, which is the medial orbitofrontal cortex. The stimulation in this reward center, according to researchers, may be what leads some individuals to drink. 

    “Importantly the extent of these functional connectivity changes in the brains of drinkers and smokers correlated with the amount of alcohol and nicotine being consumed,” Science Daily stated. “Critically they were even detectable in individuals smoking only a few cigarettes or drinking one unit of alcohol every day.”

    Researchers also noted that it may be possible to study an individual’s connectivity at age 14 to predict whether they would smoke or drink at age 19. 

    “These discoveries help to show that there are different neural bases of different types of addiction, and that the orbitofrontal cortex, a key brain region in emotion, is implicated in these two types of addiction,” said Professor Edmund Rolls from the University of Warwick. 

    According to Professor Jianfeng Feng, also from the University of Warwick, the findings of this study could be vital when it comes to public health implications. Feng cited a World Health Organization study which states there are 1.1 billion people in the world who smoke and 2.3 billion who drink. He also noted that more than 3 million people die annually due to alcohol use disorder.

    “These are key discoveries that advance our understanding of the neurological bases of smoking and drinking and also provide new evidence on the different neurological mechanisms that are related to these two types of human addictive behavior, smoking and drinking, and these advances have implications for prevention and treatment of these two substance use,” Feng noted. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • The Perilous Journey of a Tobacco Addict

    The Perilous Journey of a Tobacco Addict

    Smoking was like kicking myself down the stairs every day: There she goes again. You’re nothing. Remember that.

    I had no words to describe my obsession back then. I was 12 years old and I didn’t know what was happening. I would phone my friend across the street and abruptly ask her without apology, “how many did you get?” I wasn’t even that fond of her but her mother chain smoked cigarettes and didn’t keep track of them. That’s how we smoked.

    Often there were a couple burning in the ashtray at the same time. We got butts off the ground, but mostly we liked them fresh out of the pack. I felt so sick after we smoked. I would stagger across the street, dizzy, barely making my way to the couch and flopping in front of the TV until the nausea and spinning wore off. It was normal to feel awful. I felt like I had the flu every day.

    I’m not sure what came first, the tobacco or the addict; the addict or the tobacco. I was a preteen and tobacco had grabbed a hold of me and said “come on kid, you’re one of us now.” I couldn’t turn it around no matter how hard I tried. I wasted years and decades of my life doing the thing I hated the most in the world: smoking cigarettes.

    I viewed smoking as a sign of weakness which plummeted my self-esteem. I used weed and alcohol because I always felt so sick and kept thinking something else might perk me up. Turns out my mother was right about tobacco being a gateway drug, not that I ever listened to her. To top it off there was a lot of dysfunction going on in my family and no one seemed to notice the compromised state of my well-being and morbid self-loathing. Smoking was like kicking myself down the stairs every day: There she goes again. You’re nothing. Remember that.

    I wanted what I hated and hated what I wanted. I was down to 100 pounds and had to choke food down that I couldn’t taste. I could barely lift my head in the shower from all the poison and I was physically and mentally weak. I ruined my teenage years panicking and ruminating about how to get off them. Tobacco nearly destroyed my life.

    The moment of clarity came to me about five years ago when I stepped out onto the deck in the middle of winter at 3 a.m. in my husband’s robe and slippers. The barometer read -28 with a wind chill factor of -38. It would’ve been dangerous if I had slipped. This was my third night in a row: I needed a fix.

    How incredibly stupid it was for me to start smoking again after the 200th time quitting. I had quit once for nine years. We were opening our cottage after a long winter, taking the weekend off and hanging out by the campfire, raking and burning leaves. I felt good to be up there again and my husband and I were really enjoying our day. Then the trigger came out of nowhere and sat on my shoulder:

    “There you are. I’ve been waiting for you. It’s been a long time.”

    I agreed. It had been. I needed a bit of crazy. I’ll just have a few. I knew full well I was playing with fire yet in that moment, I forgot I was an addict. I said to myself what every addict says just before a relapse.

    “I got this.” 

    The next morning was the worst day of my life. Nine years down the drain. I’ll never forget that feeling of dread — I wanted to die and it scared me. It haunts me to this day; the nightmare of relapsing wasn’t a dream this time. I was paralyzed by defeat and self-loathing. 

    An hour later I was searching for keys and heading to the store. By the end of the weekend I had smoked two packs. 

    There I was on the deck in the middle of the night in my husband’s robe and slippers deeply inhaling the burning smoke into my lungs. As I stared down at the cigarette shivering between my gloved fingers, something hit me. What am I doing awake? I can’t even make it through the night. That need had never woken me up before. This insidious clutch was turning me into a robot and forcing me out of my warm bed. There was no rolling over and going back to sleep. I realized in that moment how much stronger and more potent they had become. 

    After I finished I would step back into the house, brush off all the snow and stagger to the fridge for a gulp of orange juice to equalize my body because the poison left me feeling like I was going to pass out. 

    I already felt like a cancer patient who was depleted and nauseated. Why did I go back? How am I going to get off them again? I would eventually drift off to sleep, not looking forward to ever waking up to face the failure in the mirror and the pair of hands around my neck saying “come with me.”

    I’m not a neuroscientist but I believe nicotine dependency changes the chemistry in your brain. I’m not surprised that there’s a link between early tobacco addiction and cocaine use. I see tobacco slaves under umbrellas; smokers out shivering alone in smoking areas; panicked travelers in airports trying to remain calm, looking for a miracle exit. I see the monkey on smokers’ backs as they come in with their forced smiles to purchase their fix. I see families choosing tobacco over bread and milk. I see grubby corner stores and brightly lit 24-hour gas stations selling tobacco, lottery and gum. I see desperate people wanting to quit and not being able to. I see discrimination and lack of understanding or commitment to do anything but collect the cash off the train that’s ruining people’s health. I see addiction and struggle and a system profiting from poisoning people to death. 

    There is absolutely no way I’m ever going to see the 12 smokers in my life quit. I will see chronic health issues, lung and breathing problems, heart problems and cancer. It’s already starting. Oh, the excuses. I can’t blame them, really. I was there. I lived it. 

    I remain vigilant because you never know when nicotine will show up in disguise, pretending to be your best friend again; how it will use any opportunity when you’re exposed and vulnerable to hijack your life again. The nicotine immediately grabs hold of me and forces me into submission. I ruined a $10,000 family vacation because I relapsed on tobacco. Tobacco addiction makes you weak and it depletes your energy. That was an expensive lesson. I can’t let that happen again. 

    If you lined up every smoker and said: “Here’s a pill. If you take this pill, you’ll never want another cigarette,” 99% of all smokers would take the pill. But there is never going to be a pill to cure tobacco addiction, because illness is more lucrative. 

    Instead, cigarettes will continue to be accessible 24-7 on every street corner for your convenient demise. The tobacco industry is powerful and the government protects them. It’s a legacy this generation shouldn’t be too proud of: “This product keeps killing people, but we’ll continue to make it anyway.”

    Smoking is hell. I was slowly poisoning myself to death and I couldn’t stop. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • E-Cig Maker Called Out For Putting Erectile Dysfunction Meds In Vape Juice

    E-Cig Maker Called Out For Putting Erectile Dysfunction Meds In Vape Juice

    The FDA issued a warning to one e-cig maker that reportedly violated the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

    The FDA is casting a closer eye on HelloCig Electronic Technology, an e-cigarette manufacturer, after FDA researchers discovered that not only were the fruit-flavored products found to impair lung function in trials on mice, but the liquids contained prescription erectile dysfunction drugs as well.

    While e-cigarettes, vapes, and their ilk have been touted as a healthier alternatives to smoking for years, the truth is that the products were simply too new to allow any deep understanding about the possible adverse risks they carry as well as what product regulations should be put in place to protect consumers.

    This lack of regulation may have contributed to HelloCig’s inclusion of tadafil and sildenafil, usually used as the active ingredient to treat erectile dysfunction, in their e-cigarette liquids.

    “There are no e-liquids that contain prescription drugs that have been proven safe or effective through this route of administration,” said Scott Gottleib, FDA Commissioner.

    The FDA also undertook a surprise inspection of popular San Francisco e-cig manufacturer Juul, snatching up their marketing documents to ensure the company is not marketing to minors. Juul has been a runaway success, seeing a massive increase in sales from 2.2 million devices in 2016 to 16.2 million devices in 2017.

    Considering that 2 million high schoolers reported using e-cigarettes in a National Youth Tobacco Survey study, a significant portion of these sales made their way to the hands of minors.

    That’s why last September, the FDA warned and fined any e-cig manufacturers found to have sold products to minors and gave them 60 days to prove they had mechanisms in place to prevent minors from purchasing their products.

    The fruity flavors that are most attractive to teens have been linked to impaired lung function in mice. While this does not necessarily mean that the same effects will be seen in humans, it’s an important first step to determining the risks the products present.

    “Our findings suggest that exposure to e-cig vapor can trigger inflammatory responses and adversely affect respiratory system mechanics,” wrote the study’s authors. “We conclude that both e-cig vaping and conventional cigarette smoking negatively impact lung biology.”

    Groups of mice were exposed to cigarette smoke as well as different formulations of e-cigarette vapor. After three days, all the mice were found to have problems with inflammation, mucous production, and lung function.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Juul Faces Criticism, Concerns Amid Rising Success

    Juul Faces Criticism, Concerns Amid Rising Success

    The company is accused of marketing its product to teens. 

    Arguably the most well-known e-cigarette on the market, Juul has seen skyrocketing sales in the past year, increasing 800%. But the success of the company isn’t without concern.

    According to CNBC, Juul founders James Monsees and Adam Bowen, both former smokers, initially started a company called Ploom, which later became known as Pax Labs. In 2015, they introduced Juul, a type of e-cigarette. Two years later, it broke off into its own company called Juul Labs.

    The team that initially created Juul was made up of about 20 people on a $2 million budget, CNBC states. Since then, the product has seen exponential growth. Today, the company is valued at $15 billion and makes up about 75% of the e-cigarette market.

    “What we realized is people don’t want a safer cigarette, they want to move past cigarettes,” Monsees told CNBC. “It’s hard to imagine an area that can be more powerful to public health in particular than to eliminate cigarettes from the face of the earth. It is one of the most successful consumer products of all time, if not the most successful, and yet it kills more than half of all people that use them long term. We always intended to build this company around the idea of making cigarettes obsolete. We knew Juul would be the way to do that.” 

    Juul contains about 40 milligrams of nicotine per cartridge. It works by vaporizing a liquid containing nicotine salts which is then inhaled by the user.

    “There’s a lot of misunderstanding about this category and about nicotine,” Bowen told CNBC. “Many people think that it’s deadly, a serious disease agent—when really alone, nicotine is quite benign. It’s a mild stimulant, and is habit-forming and can lead to dependence, and for that reason alone, no non-smoker should ever touch this product.”

    While Juul’s growth has been widely successful, it hasn’t been without obstacles. The company has faced various lawsuits, as well as new FDA regulations. 

    “If you’d have interviewed me two years ago, I’d have said they’re maybe 25% as dangerous as a cigarette,” Stanton Glantz, UCSF Center for Tobacco Control and Education Director, told CNBC. “Now, I think they’re somewhere between three-quarters as dangerous as a cigarette and as dangerous.” 

    A main criticism of the product is that it appeals to youth. One reason for this is that Juul comes in a variety of flavors. Additionally, it appears as compact as a flash drive, making it possible for kids to bring into schools without raising suspicions.

    “Kids who use them have more asthma, more days off school,” Glantz told CNBC. “There is evidence linking them with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other diseases. Addiction is not a phase, it’s not something kids grow out of.”

    Juul’s early marketing was also accused of being problematic due to making the product appealing to youth with its social media-based campaigns. Now, the company has shifted to marketing by using testimonials from adult users of the product.

    Both founders Monsees and Bowen say it’s important to focus on tobacco use prevention among youth, and have invested $30 million into that cause.

    Juul must submit its product to the FDA for review by August 2022.

    “We estimate we switched over a million smokers to Juul in just three years, but there are about 38 million left in the U.S. so there’s still a lot of room to grow,” Bowen told CNBC.

    Juul Labs released the following statement to The Fix: 

    JUUL Labs’ mission is to eliminate cigarette smoking by offering existing adult smokers with a better alternative to combustible cigarettes. JUUL is not intended for anyone else. We strongly condemn the use of our product by minors, and it is in fact illegal to sell our product to minors. No minor should be in possession of a JUUL product.

    Our goal is to further reduce the number of minors who possess or use tobacco products, including vapor products, and to find ways to keep young people from ever trying these products. We approach this with a combination of education, enforcement, technology and partnership with others who are focused on this issue, including lawmakers, educators and our business partners.

    Nicotine is addictive. An individual who has not previously used nicotine products should not start, particularly youth. Recent science raises serious concerns about the adverse effect of nicotine on adolescent neurodevelopment.

    We encourage parents to talk with their children about the dangers of nicotine. As a company we also continuously seek ways to contribute to this dialogue and knowledge base.

    View the original article at thefix.com