FDA’s tobacco regulation draft proposal weakened by the White House

Author: Toni Clarke and Sharon BegleySource: huffingtonpost.com  WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - White House changes to proposed rules for tobacco products significantly weakened language detailing health risks from cigars and deleted restrictions that might have prevented online sales of e-cigarettes, published documents show. The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which analyzes the potential economic consequences of proposed regulations, deleted language in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently proposed regulations describing how the rules would keep thousands of people from taking up cigar smoking and have enormous public health benefits. The OMB also weakened language detailing the FDA's concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes, according to documents published Tuesday in the Federal Register. Emily Cain, a spokeswoman for OMB, said that as with any rule, OMB's office of information and regulatory affairs conducted an interagency review process "to ensure that the regulations through which agencies implement policies are efficient, well-designed to achieve their objectives, and based upon the best available evidence." "It is routine for agencies to make changes to their draft rules during the course of OMB review," she added. "The goal is to maximize the effectiveness and benefit of the rules we complete." An FDA spokeswoman, Jennifer Haliski, said the FDA does not comment on changes to a proposal during the review process but said the period for the public to comment on the proposal is still open until Aug. 8. "All comments will be carefully considered as the final rule is being developed," she said in [...]

2014-06-25T12:26:37-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

University of Kentucky Cancer Center is Off Its Rocker: Testifies that Smoking is No More Harmful than Vaping

Source: tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.comDate: September 10, 2013   According to a press release issued Monday, the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center testified before the state legislature that smoking is no more harmful than vaping. Yes, you read that correctly. The University of Kentucky Cancer Center apparently testified that smoking - which kills 400,000 people each year in the U.S. - is no more hazardous than vaping, which involves no tobacco and no combustion and merely involves the vaporization of nicotine from a solution containing propylene glycol and glycerin. According to the press release, which appears to have been issued by Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Program, the University of Kentucky Cancer Center director - Dr. Mark Evers - told a state legislative panel that e-cigarettes may be "every bit as dangerous" as smoking tobacco. The Rest of the Story Let's be very straight about this: if the tobacco companies said exactly the same thing before the legislature, they would probably be facing criminal charges for perjury, as well as civil liability charges for fraud. For any tobacco company to defraud the American public by undermining the health consequences of smoking by stating that they are no more harmful than electronic cigarettes would be unheard of in 2013, and no tobacco company would ever do such a thing. They wouldn't be caught dead making such an outright lie. Apparently, this is not so for the University of Kentucky Cancer Center, which stepped into territory that used to be occupied by Big Tobacco, lying before [...]

2013-09-11T17:04:55-07:00September, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

E-Cigarettes Are in Vogue and at a Crossroads

By LIZ ALDERMANPublished: June 12, 2013Source: NY Times PARIS — On a recent day in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe, a line of 20 people spilled onto the sidewalk of a trendy new boutique, eager to get a taste of its latest gourmet offerings. Olivia Foiret, the manager of ClopiNette, demonstrates filling an e-cigarette for a client. A sign in the window promoted piña colada as the store’s flavor of the month. A woman wearing a Chanel jacket said she wanted to try peach. But this was no temple of gastronomy. It was one of scores of electronic cigarette shops that have been springing up by the week in Paris as well as in numerous cities across Europe and the United States. Inside the ClopiNette boutique, shoppers can choose from among more than 60 flavors of nicotine liquid — including Marlboro and Lucky Strike flavors — all in varying strengths and arranged in color-coded rows. (ClopiNette is a play on “clope,” French slang for a cigarette.) “It’s like visiting a Nespresso store,” said Anne Stephan, a lawyer specializing in health issues at a nearby law firm. What’s driving her into the store is a desire shared by many: they want to give up smoking tobacco but don’t want to kick the smoking habit. After smoking 20 cigarettes daily for 25 years and failing to quit, Ms. Stephan said she had cut down to one a day in the three months since she began puffing on a so-called e-cig. Using [...]

2013-06-13T12:19:06-07:00June, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Researchers Identify Chemical Linked to Oral Cancer Risk in Smokeless Tobacco

By Denise Mann WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Aug. 22, 2012 -- Dip, chew, snuff, and other types of smokeless tobacco are known to increase risk for oral cancer. Now new research in rats is zeroing in on exactly how this may occur. The findings were presented at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Philadelphia. The newly identified cancer-causing culprit in these products is (S)-NNN. It is part of a larger family of chemicals called nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are also found in such foods as beer and bacon. They form naturally in the stomach when people eat foods containing high levels of nitrite. Nitrosamine levels in smokeless tobacco are far higher than in food, according to a prepared statement. Researchers fed rats a low dose of two forms of chemicals found in smokeless tobacco for 17 months. The doses were about equivalent to a person who used half a tin of smokeless tobacco every day for 30 years. (S)-NNN seemed to cause large numbers of oral and esophageal tumors in the rats, the study shows. "There is a very specific oral carcinogen in smokeless tobacco and it is potent," says researcher Silvia Balbo, PhD. She is a cancer researcher at the Masonic Cancer Center of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. This compound is found in all smokeless tobacco products, including those that look like breath mints, strips, or candy, and “snus,” which are pouches filled with tobacco that are placed between the upper lip and gum. [...]

2012-08-23T09:19:37-07:00August, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

E-Cigarettes: the facts

Source: Ivanhoe.com   Right now, there are 1.2 billion smokers worldwide, and 5 million of them die each year. Some experts say that death rate could double by the year 2030. While 1 million smokers now hope E-cigarettes cure their addiction, one academic says the data doesn’t add-up. Hollywood got Freda Souligny smoking at just 13. "It was a killer,” Souligny told Ivanhoe. Now 81, she had a pack-a-day habit for 61 years. She stopped when emphysema led her to electric cigarettes two months ago. "I didn’t feel this horrible withdrawal,” Souligny said. Battery-operated, they deliver nicotine vapor through an adjustable cartridge and cost about 60 bucks to start. Souligny kicked her habit by slowly cutting the nicotine dose over several weeks. However, Professor Tom Eissenberg says E-cigs are misleading. “We wanted to know if they really delivered nicotine -- one of the things they’re supposed to do -- if they really produce some of the same effects as a tobacco cigarette,” Eissenberg, Ph.D., from Virginia Commonwealth University, told Ivanhoe.       A pair of studies found while real cigarettes deliver nicotine, E-cigs do not -- despite claiming to do so. “Neither of them delivered nicotine, which was surprising, because that is, in fact, exactly what they are supposed to do,” Eissenberg said. He says smoking an E-cig is just like puffing on an unlit cigarette. There's no nicotine, no tobacco … nothing. Souligny doesn’t agree. “Well, you have to tell me what changed my life,” Souligny said. “It [...]

Experts warn that new “smokeless” tobacco products are still dangerous

Source: FOX21News Author: Tracee Tolentino DULUTH - The tobacco industry is offering new products and finding new ways to attract and keep customers. However, health advocates say the new products are just as dangerous, and the customers are getting younger and younger. "Most 6-year-olds, if you queried them, they would know who Joe Camel is," said Michele Hughes of the Douglas County Health Department. Now, with the introduction of new smokeless tobacco alternatives, there are new ways that young adults can get hooked to nicotine. “They’re out there as the ‘good guy’ or look, these aren't quite as harmful, but indeed these are deadly products that lead to a lifetime of addiction and this is an industry that is out for our youth,” said Pat McKone of the American Lung Association of Minnesota. Many new tobacco products are more appealing to younger customers, with bright packaging, candy flavors and the illusion of a "safer" nicotine delivery source. McKone warns that these products are tricks. The alternative products include forms of snuff, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes or snus, which are spit-less tobacco pouches that users place under their upper lip. "These products are to enable people to keep using nicotine and nicotine delivery systems until they can get out to smoke," said McKone. The popularity of these products has increased as more states have adopted smoking bans for workplaces and businesses. Minnesota’s ban is already in place and in July, Wisconsin will follow suit. “80% of current adult smokers started between the [...]

2010-04-19T22:29:13-07:00March, 2010|Oral Cancer News|
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