Remember our earlier Dispatch questioning a Stare Back ad? Well, this morning, ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan was appalled when she saw a one-page Camel Snus ad with the message BE There DO That and a very prominent warning label comprising a quarter of the page. Who would have known that this ad is for the less harmful, smokeless nicotine alternative, snus, unless they read it with a magnifying glass?
Harm Reduction
An iconic photo of renowned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the World War II museum in London is missing something these days: his beloved cigar. A museum visitor was the first to notice the cigar’s disappearance, which has been attributed to an unknown airbrushing censor.
Scientists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a study in the Journal of American Medical Association documenting a correlation between elevated blood levels of vitamin B6 and methionine, an amino acid, and a reduced risk of lung cancer in smokers, former smokers and never-smokers.
Upon reflection, Dr. Gilbert Ross criticism of a Reuters Health article on the decline in heart attack rates yesterday was too heavily focused on the reporters third sentence mention of public smoking bans. The news article did first mention better treatment. Our criticism should have more properly been leveled at the authors of the study, who made the unsupported assertion that public bans on smoking had some role in the dramatic decline in heart attack rates.
Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. are suing New York City for displaying graphic point-of-sale health warnings about smoking. Citing violations of their First Amendment rights and preemption by federally mandated warning labels, Philip Morris and RJR are calling for an end to the graphic campaign, which features such images of cancerous lungs and decayed teeth.
As part of their initiative to bring transparency to the FDA s tobacco advisory committee examining potential regulatory policies for menthol cigarettes, dissolvable tobacco products and other issues, the watchdog group Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) launched a Studies and Concepts Under Review forum that allows experts to analyze the FDA s reports on the issue of menthol in cigarettes.
The tobacco industry is shifting its focus to courting new female customers in developing countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control s Global Adult Tobacco Survey. The AP reports that while 80 percent of the world's estimated 1 billion smokers are men ¦ more women are picking up the habit in some countries as flavored products and glossy feminine packaging cater to them.
ACSH's Drs. Elizabeth M. Whelan and Gilbert Ross have written to the Food and Drug Administration to say that regulating or banning the ingredients in cigarettes probably won't decrease their toxicity. The text of their letter:
To: Dr. Lawrence Deyton, Director
FDA Center for Tobacco Products
Cristi L. Stark, M.S.
Senior Regulatory Health Project Manager
May 26th, 2010
Subject: ACSH additional submission re: cigarette ingredients
Dear Dr. Deyton and Ms. Stark:
This brief submission in advance of your July 15th meeting is addressed to your Center's stated concern about cigarette ingredients.
Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA s Center for Tobacco Products, spoke at a tobacco policy conference on Monday. Jeff Stier got a chance to participate in the conference on Tuesday. The topics included smokeless tobacco (snus) as a means of harm reduction, and the FDA's deliberation of a ban on menthol.
As the New York City Health Department celebrates what it calls its most successful nicotine patch and gum giveaway since the program s inception in 2003, ACSH staffers question how effective the campaign is in actually enabling smokers to quit.
"It all depends on how you define 'success'," Stier says.
ACSH s request for Dispatch-reader input on the issue of a mystifying Camel Snus ad yielded similar theories on the meaning of the Break Free and Stare Back slogans. Here are some responses:
I am wondering if Stare Back is a long-overdue call for nicotine users to stand up for themselves and face up to those who would ruin their lives by opposing [tobacco harm reduction].
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has ruled that use of a nicotine vaporizer, also known as an "e-cigarette," doesn't violate the state's indoor smoking ban, the Washington Post reports. The heated vapor the devices emit doesn't constitute "smoke" as the word is "commonly understood," Cuccinelli decided, so Virginians are free to light up in restaurants and other public places.
An American Cancer Society spokesman is quoted by the Post as saying the ruling "would really be turning back the clock on what we're trying to do in Virginia to create smoke-free workplaces and environments that promote health."