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A Major Study That Fueled National Vape Panic Has Been Retracted

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After months of pressure from the scientific community, the American Heart Association’s academic journal on Tuesday evening retracted a widely circulated vaping study, which claimed that using e-cigarettes increased the likelihood of having a heart attack.

Last June, the authors, Stanton Glantz and Dharma Bhatta of the University of California San Francisco, stated in the original study that vaping and smoking cigarettes posed a similar risk, while doing both at the same time was an even more dangerous option. Following its publication in the summer, the peer-reviewed research was referenced by major news organizations, including CNN, Yahoo News, and USA Today.

In a statement explaining the retraction, editors at the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) expressed worry that the study may have been based on misleading data. . .

JAHA pulled the paper after Brad Rodu, a tobacco control expert at the University of Louisville, noted that many of the vapers Glantz and Bhatta analyzed for the study were also current or former smokers. Rodu argued that there was a possibility that the use of combustible cigarettes is what made them more likely to suffer heart attacks. (Read more from “A Major Study That Fueled National Vape Panic Has Been Retracted” HERE)

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Congress Set to Prohibit Sales of Tobacco Products to Anyone Under 21

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Sales of tobacco products to anyone under 21 would be banned under a year-end congressional spending bill likely to pass this week, congressional staffers said Monday.

The measure, which would include cigarettes and e-cigarettes, has bipartisan support and was introduced in May by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). In November, President Trump told reporters he supported an increase in the tobacco-buying age to 21 from 18.

Public health advocates praised the move, saying it would help reduce kids’ access to vaping products. But they stressed much more action is needed to reverse the youth vaping surge. And several expressed concern that the White House will use the “Tobacco 21” measure, as it is called, to avoid imposing the ban on flavored e-cigarettes that Trump announced in September but subsequently backed away from. (Read more from “Congress Set to Prohibit Sales of Tobacco Products to Anyone Under 21” HERE)

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Tobacco Giant Says It Wants to Give up Cigarettes

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Philip Morris International has made a dramatic New Year’s resolution: “We’re trying to give up cigarettes.”

The company, which makes Marlboro, L&M and Chesterfield brands among others, took out ads in newspapers in the United Kingdom that said its ambition for the new year is to build a smoke-free future and eventually stop selling cigarettes.

The ambition described on the company’s website is to help people quit smoking traditional cigarettes and replace them with alternatives like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. (Read more from “Tobacco Giant Says It Wants to Give up Cigarettes” HERE)

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