Not-So Fine Whine, From the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

 

The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) bills itself as “the only professional association dedicated exclusively to the support of researchers, academics, treatment professionals, government employees, and the many others working across disciplines in the field of nicotine and tobacco research.” 

The organization claims that it advances the field of nicotine and tobacco research by working with groups including the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Control and Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  While those relationships are appropriate, SRNT’s bragging about its “close relationships” with the Truth Initiative, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use Dependence, and the American Cancer Society is unseemly, given those groups’ open hostility to any research or data supportive of nicotine, tobacco or tobacco harm reduction.

Responding to the CDC losing $310 million for its Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), SRNT published a “Nicotine & Tobacco Research Community Call to Action.”

The call to action links to a CTFK letter, dated April 30, that argues for continued CDC OSH funding: “The elimination of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health would have a profoundly negative impact on our nation’s efforts to reduce the death and disease caused by tobacco…OSH has provided grants to all 50 states and territories to support tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Comprehensive state and local tobacco control programs…OSH has provided funding to state quitlines…With $310 million, CDC will be able to address the challenges posed by e-cigarettes…”

Stated more accurately, if the CDC loses this funding, it will no longer be able to pursue its stated goal of achieving nationwide tobacco prohibition.

SRNT emphasizes the prime reason they support continued funding for their CDC piggybank: “More than ever, we need to explain how tobacco impairs health, why people continue to use tobacco, and what can be done to reduce tobacco-related deaths.”  

In reality

 The only tobacco use that impairs health is smoking;

2.  People use tobacco because it is pleasant and satisfying; and,

3   We can reduce tobacco-related deaths by reducing smoking. 

This bit of federal spending reduction may actually promote public health, “more than ever.”

 

Is Industry to Blame for Teen Substance Use?

 

I’m a member of a tobacco policy discussion group that has focused many times on the so-called epidemic of teen vaping.  One recent exchange centered on how e-cigarette and vape manufacturers and retailers might demonstrate to government regulators and policymakers that they are serious about not marketing their products to children.  Frankly, I take issue with the underlying assumption that the industry is actually responsible for teen behaviors.

First, let’s define the so-called epidemic.  The first chart at left represents “current” – that is, past-30-day – nicotine vaping prevalence rates among U.S. high school seniors, according to the federal Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey.  In 2017, the first year the MTF collected this information, 11% of seniors vaped.  Over the next five years, the percentage spiked to over 25%, then settled at around 20%.  A similar pattern is seen in National Youth Tobacco Surveys covering 2013 to 2022 (here). 

Now, ask yourself: Do vape companies play any role in this teen vaping “epidemic”? 

If you answer NO, I agree with you, but if you answered YES, please examine the next chart.

 

Here we see the same vaping numbers, but with the addition of current alcohol use rates for the past 32 years.  Although the trend is going in a welcome direction, 28% of high school seniors in 2022 were current drinkers, putting them at far greater risk than the smaller percentage who were vaping.  Note that all of these teens were under the legal age to purchase alcohol or vape products.

Does the alcohol industry play a role in teen drinking?

Oddly, in contrast to the obsession with vaping, little is said about teen drinking, despite widespread alcohol advertisements and the more immediate and greater dangers posed to underage drinkers.  Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes (PAVE) and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) portray nicotine vaping as the ruination of an entire generation.  Where are the pressure groups for teen drinking and binge drinking?

If you still blame corporate America for teen alcohol use, consider the next chart. It includes marijuana use, the rate of which has remained above 20% for high school seniors since 1995.

 

 

What industry is responsible for teen marijuana use?  

Until recent years, marijuana, which is still federally illegal, was prohibited in all 50 states, so there were no corporations producing or marketing it.  Industry would appear to be blameless for any underage consumption.

Conclusion

The explanation for teen substance use is that adolescents are strongly attracted to adult behaviors and adult products.  Blaming the vape industry while giving the alcohol industry a pass is illogical.  Teen marijuana use underscores the fact that young people will adopt adult behaviors regardless of industry marketing.

Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids Amplifies False Claim from the Council on Foreign Relations

 

A recent Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids newsletter touting its crusade to rid the world of tobacco products put the spotlight on menthol cigarettes:

“Due in large part to the tobacco industry’s targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes, Black Americans die at higher rates from cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. A new analysis from the Council on Foreign Relations [CFR] finds a U.S. ban on menthol cigarettes would quickly close disparities in lung cancer death rates among Black Americans.”

As that statement didn’t ring true, I fact-checked the CFR report and confirmed that it stated, “Both incidence and mortality from lung cancer is higher among Black Americans than their white counterparts,” citing CDC data. 

The CDC Wonder Website is the premier authority for U.S. mortality statistics.  Using their numbers, I analyzed deaths from cancers of the larynx, trachea, bronchus and lung (hereafter lung cancer mortality rate, or LCMR) among persons age 35+ years from 2012 to 2016, the latest years in the dataset.  Results are age-adjusted, comparable and expressed as deaths per 100,000 persons per year (or 100,000 person-years, p-y).

It is true that Black men have the highest LCMR, at 126 deaths per 100,000 p-y; white men are next, at 104.  Women have lower LCMRs in general because they smoke at lower rates.  The LCMR among white women is 70, but the rate among Black women is even lower, at 64.  

CFR’s causal statement is wrong anyway, as these facts remain: 1) Burning tobacco and inhaling the smoke for decades produces lung cancer and other smoking-related fatal illnesses; 2) the same cannot be said of either nicotine or menthol.