vaping

Why Big Tobacco’s attempts to rehabilitate its image are so dangerous

Source: theconversation.com Author: staff In September, Imperial Tobacco Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco, was awarded the “Great Place to Work” certification, one of the leading authorities on workplace culture. Since then, Imperial Tobacco Canada representatives have met with graduate students across the country, including at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, York University’s Schulich School of Business and McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, urging students to “come join us as we build a better tomorrow.” As of May 2022, Imperial Tobacco Canada was listed as a Presidents’ Circle Member on the University of Toronto website, to acknowledge their “vital financial support at the leadership level.” Despite Big Tobacco’s efforts to renormalize itself, we should all be very wary of engaging with the self-described “Bold, Fast, Empowered” corporate culture. Suppressing incriminating evidence British American Tobacco and other big tobacco companies have known about the clear links between smoking and a host of diseases, including cancer, since at least the 1950s. Despite this, they did not disclose their internal damning evidence. Instead, they aggressively undermined mounting scientific evidence of the public health risks associated with their products through a sophisticated array of deceitful strategies and tactics. These included funding dubious research, relying on allies that did not disclose their links to the industry, along with other forms of aggressive lobbying and marketing. Fast forward 70 years, and tobacco remains the leading cause of cancer worldwide today. Epidemiologist Prabhat Jha estimates that one death results from each [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-12-05T08:30:51-07:00December, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Sorry, but vaping is wreaking havoc on your oral health

Source: www.bodyandsoul.com.au Author: Jaymie Hooper To mark the start of Dental Health Week, oral medicine specialist Dr Sue Ching Yeoh explains the hidden dangers of vaping – and why it's time to quit. No matter which way you slice it, vaping is just not very good for you. Not only has it been shown to cause an onset of seizures, it’s also been linked to numerous deaths, and vaping liquids containing nicotine are so troubling they were recently banned in Australia. The bad press doesn’t end there, either. While we usually associate tooth decay and gum disease with cigarettes, vaping can also take a significant toll on your oral health. According to Dr Sue Ching Yeoh, an oral medicine specialist and spokesperson for the Australian Dental Association, vaping also changes the composition and balance of your oral flora (bacteria and fungal organisms that live in your mouth), which leads to an increased risk of oral fungal infections. “The most common oral side effects from vaping include dry mouth, burning, irritation, bad taste, bad breath, pain, oral mucosal lesions (lesions that affect the soft lining of the mouth), black tongue and burns,” Dr Yeoh explains. These side effects are a result of the chemicals used in vaping liquids, which are usually created by heating glycerol, glycol and nicotine to extremely high temperatures under intense pressure. “This process produces extremely toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, which are known carcinogens," Dr Yeoh adds. “As the mouth is the first site in [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2022-08-01T11:19:33-07:00August, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Your Healthy Family: Vaping puts teens at higher risk of oral cancer

Author: Lisa Greenburg Source: www.fox4now.com Many people think vaping isn't as bad for you as smoking, but health experts say that's a myth. A dentist says vaping has the same oral effects as tobacco, and puts teens at high risk of oral cancer. A team of researchers from the University of California found teens who vape had five times the cancer-causing chemicals in their bodies than teens who did not, especially from the fruit-flavored vaping cartridges. Dr. Fred Guerra of Guerra Dental said vaping negatively impacts your mouth in the same ways as tobacco. "It can be precancerous. It can lead to gum disease. It gives people bad breath. It gives people dry mouth, and dry mouth increases cavities, so while people may think it's safer for the rest of the body, it's not necessarily," Dr. Guerra said. He said all dentists need to be on the front lines of oral cancer and talk to teens and young adults about the dangers of vaping. "Dentists are in such a unique position to counsel our patients on never starting. Or if they have, to do it in a manner that's not threatening and not demeaning. To try to show them that they have control over the effects of some of these devices, so that they can make a rational decision to say 'OK, I need to quit. How can I quit?” Dr. Guerra said. Even if the vaping products have no nicotine, Dr. Guerra said it's still bad for your mouth. [...]

OCF News Team - B2022-03-05T11:56:48-07:00March, 2022|Oral Cancer News|

Shades of Big Tobacco: How (and why) Juul bought an entire issue of a scientific journal

Source: Salon Date: July 20th, 2021 Author: Jon Skolnik Facing the imminent threat of corporate death, the embattled e-cigarette maker Juul is pulling out all the stops in its fight to convince the Food and Drug Administration that its vaping products are more beneficial than harmful. If that sounds like a stretch, it probably is. Last month, Juul settled a $40 million lawsuit that accused the company of luring in teens to use its flavored vape products, allowing Juul to avoid the potential PR nightmare of a widely covered jury trial. Juul has also spent tens of millions in federal lobbying efforts over the past several years, presumably in an effort to block comprehensive regulations on the sale of e-cigarettes. But the most bizarre Juul news came two weeks ago, when the New York Times reported that the company had funded an entire issue of a scientific journal, in which every article presented evidence that vaping is a beneficial harm-reduction practice that can wean smokers off tobacco cigarettes. Last month, the American Journal of Health and Behavior (AJHB), a 44-year-old academic journal that has published many nationally recognized scholars, released a special edition specifically devoted to the question of whether e-cigarettes are harmful or helpful. The 219-page issue is unusual not just by virtue of its niche subject matter — e-cigarettes are a relatively new phenomenon in the field of health behavior — but also because its publication was bankrolled entirely by one source: Juul Labs. This fraught episode comes at an exceptionally tumultuous time for the vape maker. In early 2019, Juul, a company founded just four [...]

Charlotte Parker2021-07-20T13:15:56-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Need another reason not to vape? Your oral health is at risk

Source: www.health24.com Author: Healthday staff The warnings about vaping – inhaling the vapour of electronic cigarettes – tend to focus on the potential dangers to the heart and lungs. But an increasing amount of research shows the chemicals in e-cigarettes start to inflict damage right where they enter the body: your mouth. Because e-cigarettes are a recent phenomenon, said Dr Crystal Stinson, assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Dentistry in Dallas, "Studies on their impact are really new. But now we have a solid amount of evidence that shows the link between e-cigarettes and poor oral health." Nicotine, whether smoked or vaped, restricts blood flow to the gums, which can contribute to periodontal disease. The fluid in e-cigarettes, which can include propylene glycol, benzene, formaldehyde and other chemicals, only increases the risks. Irreversible issues A study published earlier this year in the journal iScience showed that 43% of people using e-cigarettes had gum disease and oral infections. That figure was higher among smokers – 73% – but only 28% among people who neither smoked nor vaped. "The oral cavity is really resilient tissue that heals faster than other parts of the body," Stinson said. "But we also know that when you repeatedly traumatise it, that's when you end up having issues that are irreversible." Those issues, she added, range from inflammation and tooth cavities to loss of bone that anchors teeth to the jaw, called periodontitis, and oral cancer. Another study published in May in Science Advances concluded the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-09-08T06:09:52-07:00September, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Cases of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Surge, Health Officials Say

Source: New York Times Date: 09/06/19 Author: Matt Ritchel & Denise Grady Indiana announced a third death linked to the illness on Friday, and Minnesota a fourth. State and federal health officials are working urgently to understand the causes. Medical experts and federal health officials on Friday warned the public about the dangers of vaping and discouraged using the devices as the number of people with a severe lung illness linked to vaping has more than doubled to 450 possible cases in 33 states. The number of deaths linked to vaping rose to four from two on Friday. The Indiana Department of Health announced the third death, saying only that the victim was older than 18. Hours later, officials in Minnesota confirmed that a fourth person had died. The patient, who was 65, had a history of lung disease, but state officials said his acute lung injury was linked to “vaping illicit T.H.C. products.” The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health was investigating a possible fifth death, saying on Friday afternoon that the fatality was “associated with the use of e-cigarettes, also known as vaping.” “There is clearly an epidemic that begs for an urgent response,” Dr. David C. Christiani of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health wrote in an editorial published on Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine. The editorial called on doctors to discourage their patients from using e-cigarettes and for a broader effort to increase public awareness about “the harmful effects of [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-09-06T13:31:19-07:00September, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

E-cig users develop some of the same cancer-related molecular changes as cigarette smokers

Source: EurekAlert! Date: February 14, 2019 If you think vaping is benign, think again. A small USC study shows that e-cig users develop some of the same cancer-related molecular changes in oral tissue as cigarette smokers, adding to the growing concern that e-cigs aren't a harmless alternative to smoking. The research, published this week in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, comes amid a mushrooming e-cig market and mounting public health worries. On a positive note, recent research found vaping is almost twice as effective as other nicotine replacement therapies in helping smokers quit. But among adolescents, vaping now surpasses smoking, and there's evidence that e-cig use leads to nicotine addiction and future smoking in teens. "The existing data show that e-cig vapor is not merely 'water vapor' as some people believe," said Ahmad Besaratinia, an associate professor at Keck School of Medicine of USC and the study's senior author. "Although the concentrations of most carcinogenic compounds in e-cig products are much lower than those in cigarette smoke, there is no safe level of exposure to carcinogens." Besaratinia emphasized that the molecular changes seen in the study aren't cancer, or even pre-cancer, but rather an early warning of a process that could potentially lead to cancer if unchecked. The researchers looked at gene expression in oral cells collected from 42 e-cig users, 24 cigarette smokers and 27 people who didn't smoke or vape. Gene expression is the process by which instructions in our DNA are converted into a functional product, [...]

Charlotte Parker2019-02-18T10:40:06-07:00February, 2019|Oral Cancer News|

The US surgeon general just issued a rare advisory about e-cigs like the Juul — here’s why vaping is so dangerous

In a rare national advisory, the top US public health official warned Americans of the dangers of e-cigarettes like the Juul, a popular device that lets users inhale nicotine vapor without burning tobacco. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said in the advisory on Tuesday that e-cigs like the Juul are a particular danger to kids and teens and called for fresh measures to halt their rising popularity. "We need to protect our kids from all tobacco products, including all shapes and sizes of e-cigarettes," Adams said in a statement, adding, "We must take action now to protect the health of our nation's young people." The advisory singles out Juul multiple times, saying the sleek devices are popular among teens because they're easy to conceal and don't emit much odor. It tells parents, health professionals, and teachers to be on the lookout for all forms of nicotine-delivery devices, including e-cigs. Adams' announcement comes on the heels of warnings from several other federal agencies about a rise in e-cig use, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. In November, after new CDC data pointed to a 78% increase in e-cig use among high-school students, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottliebannounced moves to further restrict sales of e-cigarettes to prevent them from getting into the hands of young people. That included a crackdown on flavored offerings, which researchers say appeal strongly to young people. Several days before the FDA's announcement, Juul Labs, the Silicon Valley startup behind the most popular e-cig in the US, temporarily halted sales of [...]

Brian Hill2018-12-19T16:41:28-07:00December, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Youth vaping has soared in 2018, new data show

Source: www.wsj.com Authors: Betsy McKay and Jennifer Maloney Number of high schoolers who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days has risen some 75% in 2018 Teen use of e-cigarettes has soared this year, according to new research conducted in 2018 that suggest fast-changing youth habits will pose a challenge for public-health officials, schools and parents. The number of high-school students who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days has risen roughly 75% since last year, according to a person who has seen new preliminary federal data. That would equate to about three million, or about 20% of high-school students, up from 1.73 million, or 11.7% of high-school students in the most recently published federal numbers from 2017. Nearly a third of 13-to-18-year-olds who responded to a separate survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal with research firm Mercury Analytics said they currently vape. The new numbers offer a rare look at evolving teen vaping habits. Sales of e-cigarettes are expected nearly to double this year over 2017, and researchers have wondered how much of that increase is because of teen use. But there can be a long lag time between the collection of data and public reports. Most of the teens who vape said they are doing it for reasons other than to quit smoking, according to the Journal’s survey conducted in 49 states in May. More than half said they do it because they like the flavors that e-cigarette liquids come in and they think vaping is fun. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-09-21T08:57:52-07:00September, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

E-cigarettes ‘could give you mouth cancer by damaging your DNA’

Source: metro.co.uk Author: Zoe Drewett Researchers say vaping could lead to an increased risk of developing mouth cancer. A study carried out by the American Chemical Society found evidence to suggest using e-cigarettes raises the level of DNA-damaging compounds in the mouth. If cells in the body are unable to repair the DNA damage after vaping, the risk of cancer can increase, the study claims. The long-term effects of e-cigarettes are not yet known but researchers say they should be investigated further (Picture: PA) The researchers admit the long-term health effects of using electronic cigarettes are still unknown. Researcher Dr Romel Dator said: ‘We want to characterize the chemicals that vapers are exposed to, as well as any DNA damage they may cause.’ Since they were introduced in 2004, e-cigarettes have been marketed as a safer alternative to smoking. But the team carrying out the study claim genetic material in the oral cells of people who vape could be altered by toxic chemicals. E-cigarettes work by heating a liquid – which usually contains nicotine – into an aerosol that the user inhales. It is often flavoured to taste like fruit, chocolate or bubblegum. ‘It’s clear that more carcinogens arise from the combustion of tobacco in regular cigarettes than from the vapor of e-cigarettes,’ Silvia Balbo, the project’s lead investigator said. ‘However, we don’t really know the impact of inhaling the combination of compounds produced by this device. ‘Just because the threats are different doesn’t mean that e-cigarettes are completely [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-08-22T12:57:31-07:00August, 2018|Oral Cancer News|