Rodu’s research focuses on the substitution of safer tobacco products by smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking with conventional cessation methods because of their addiction to nicotine. His research in comparative epidemiology established the scientific foundation for harm reduction and he continues to study clinical and social interventions aimed at harm reduction.
- The War Against Tobacco Flavors Will Fail - February 7, 2019
- American Cancer Society Sees Zero Cancer Risk for Smokeless Tobacco - June 15, 2018
- UC San Francisco Authors Inadvertently Validate Our Call for Retraction - April 6, 2018
A feature of this month’s annual meeting of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) was a videotaped interview with Mitch Zeller, the director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. Following the video, I participated in a panel discussion of Zeller’s statements about e-cigarettes.
Mr. Zeller clearly implied that there was no population-level evidence that smokers had quit with e-cigarettes. He said that the FDA is “absolutely aware of the anecdotal reports about individuals using e-cigarettes to help them quit, but we can’t make population-level policy on the basis of anecdotal reports…FDA is required to use a population health standard.”
The FDA should also be required to acknowledge population evidence generated by federal surveys. I informed the SFATA audience that the CDC has 2015 National Health Interview Survey data documenting that 2.5 million former smokers were current users of vapor products (that is, they were vaping every day or some days). Given that CDC and FDA investigators work closely on the NHIS survey, it is inconceivable that the FDA doesn’t know this fact. These 2.5 million former smokers are more than anecdotes. They constitute population-level evidence.
Also noteworthy: In May the CDC published smoking statistics from the 2015 NHIS (here), but it just produced information on e-cigarettes today (here). Unsurprisingly, the CDC feigned alarm that 58.8% of vapors were current smokers (here) while ignoring the 2.5 million anecdotes. In fact, my July 16 blog (here) remains the sole source for this information.
I have previously documented that the CDC has withheld information about the relative safety of smokeless tobacco (here and here). This egregious behavior continues to deny important health information to smokers, dippers and chewers. The FDA’s refusal to acknowledge population data on e-cigarettes facilitates its effort to impose industry-killing regulations on the vapor market.
The chief federal regulator of tobacco products should acknowledge government survey data showing that e-cigarettes have helped as many as 2.5 million Americans quit smoking and/or stay smoke-free.
[First published at Tobacco Truth at http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/]
