Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter
May 4-7, 2024
I will be in Washington, DC, next week. If any of you will be in the area, I’d love to meet you in person! ~ Skip
PRESCRIPTION FOR CONTROVERSY. “SEVERAL RESEARCHERS contacted by Science challenged the quality of the papers produced by these groups and expressed concern about their potential real-world consequences. A case in point is a vaping study organized by the Houston-based Research Update Organization. The resulting paper, which appeared in 2022 in the open-access journal Neurology International by the publisher MDPI, concluded that electronic cigarette users had higher risk and earlier onset of stroke than tobacco smokers. The findings quickly made headlines and became a central part of a campaign by the California Department of Public Health against vaping, with claims like “vaping is anti-aging because you’re more likely to die younger from a stroke” appearing on national TV and billboards.” (See also: Tweetorial by Floe Foxon and comments on PUBPEER.)
Will Study Linking Vapes With Heart Failure Survive Scrutiny? “It’s been a busy few weeks for health scares around vaping, with media distortion of a cancer-adjacent study and an unjustified claim about seizures from the World Health Organization. New research suggesting that vaping could lead to heart failure has also triggered headlines in the United States and United Kingdom.”
This one is not about nicotine, but I guess it could be. I thought it was an interesting perspective. Torturing Observational Data to Get a Confession – A Case Study. “So, the real point is to show there are many different ways to analyze an observational data set.”
Chapter 26 - Tobacco smoking addiction and nicotine dependence. “This research has shown three things most clearly nicotine and tobacco when combined and smoked is addictive nicotine without the smoke has a role in helping people to quit it partly solves a problem it creates and the social environment can both facilitate initiation and undermine quitting.”
Developing a vape shop-based smoking cessation intervention: a Delphi study. “There was broad consensus on how to deliver a vape shop-based smoking cessation intervention, providing a strong basis for future intervention development and implementation.”
What to know about Zyn, the tiny nicotine pouch that's sparked a big health debate. “But in the last decade or so, researchers and health regulators have begun to acknowledge different levels of harm among different tobacco products.”
South Africa's Tobacco Bill process faces scrutiny as experts uncover flaws. “Specifically, the lack of public education about the provisions of the bill compromised meaningful participation by those in attendance and raisesconcerns about the validity of the perspectives shaping the legislation.”
Response to Misinformation Piece on Comprehensive Harm Reduction Efforts. “Painting this issue as a struggle of good versus evil with no room for shades of gray and reasonable tradeoffs, while perhaps emotionally satisfying, is not beneficial to public health.”
Opinion Poll «Innovation Under Fire: A Global Alert on the Misperception Epidemic in Vaping Views». “The topline result is sobering — a full 74 percent of smokers worldwide believe that vaping is just as harmful or more harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes. This widespread misinformation represents a major public health challenge and a significant barrier to smokers switching to proven safer nicotine alternatives.”
UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill: a Misfire and a Backfire. “The real problem is that the hostile policies on vaping do adversely affect the main at-risk population: current adult smokers.”
Durbin Calls on FDA, DOJ Officials to Testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Following the Lack of Enforcement Against Unauthorized E-Cigarettes. “I write to extend a formal invitation for you to appear and testify on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at a Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on the topic of the sale of unauthorized e-cigarettes. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. in Room G50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. I am writing to you because your agencies have not confirmed your availability for this hearing since my initial request on April 17, 2024.”
Delay in authorizing vaping devices takes toll on public health. “In the battle against tobacco-related illnesses and deaths, every opportunity to promote smoking cessation should be embraced. A recent study by academics at England’s University of East Anglia demonstrated the efficacy of providing e-cigarette starter kits to smokers, highlighting a critical intervention that could save lives.”
Preconception vaping, alcohol use not linked to spontaneous abortion risk. “Nicotine vaping in either partner during the preconception period was not appreciably associated with spontaneous abortion incidence.”
For global coverage of calls to action, please click here: Advocating For Tobacco Harm Reduction.
Service Opportunities…
Nomination Call for New SRNT-E Board Members (President-Elect and Secretary. Nominations are due by June 15, 2024.
Employment Opportunities…
BR-UK GO-Science Senior Policy Fellow Interviews held on 13 May and the post is available immediately.
Research staff to assist with studies on smoking, e-cigarettes, and cancer patients at MUSC (South Carolina, US). See the tweet and flyer here.
Wanted: Videos and Films…
Jun 13-15, 2024, Warsaw, Poland - GFN - Global Forum on Nicotine. Call for the following film/video submissions: #GFNfives, #ScienceLab, and film festival. The submission deadline is May 15, 2024.
October 27-30, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo. While APHA welcomes films from all disciplines of public health, films related to the APHA 2024 theme “Rebuilding Trust in Public Health and Science” are highly encouraged. The submission deadline is May 10. Submit a film or volunteer to be a film peer-reviewer.
Wanted: Conference Submissions…
Sep 8-11, 2024, Atlanta, GA, US - 77TH TOBACCO SCIENCE RESEARCH CONFERENCE. Call for abstracts. The submission deadline is May 17, 2024.
Sep 16-17, 2024 - 7th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction by SCOHRE. Call for speakers. The submission deadline for speakers is May 15, 2024. Call for abstracts for short oral or poster presentations. The submission deadline for abstracts is July 12, 2024.
October 13-17, 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland - CORESTA Congress 2024. Call for abstracts for poster and oral presentations. The submission deadline is May 17, 2024.
Oct 24-25, Washington DC? US - Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference. The deadline for the call for proposals is May 24, 2024.
Call for speakers. The Society for the Study of Addiction is now accepting applications for speakers at the PhD Symposium. Application deadline is July 3, 2024
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Submissions for posters and oral presentations are due by July 3, 2024
Seeking Survey Participants…
Petitions…
Some are listed on this Safer Nicotine Wiki advocacy page.
Tobacco harm reduction means different things to different people. Some may wish to achieve a nicotine-free society. Others may wish to squash the tobacco industry. Some prefer that people who choose to use nicotine use it in a form that has less risk than smoking tobacco. What we all have in common is a desire to reduce/eliminate smoking-related diseases and premature deaths. The events listed below focus on nicotine. Some events may not be supportive of reduced-risk products. Some have covered nicotine in the past but may not cover that topic every year.
May 10, 2024, 2:00 PM ET (TOPS VIRTUAL) - Guillermo Paraje, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez “The Impact of WHO FCTC on the Number of Smokers: An Analysis using ITSA with Synthetic Control Groups”
*NEW* May 10, 2024, 10:00 AM CST (Virtual) - The SRNT PRN & TRSWG Presents - The Addiction Ontology: How to use it in tobacco regulatory science research. “The field of nicotine and tobacco research needs more clarity, consistency, and coherence in the usage of terms and constructs.” NOTE: Tobacco Industry Exclusion on the registration form.
May 13, 2024, Washington DC, US, 3:00-5:30 PM ACCELERATING ACTION TO END SMOKING: MINIMIZING RISK AND SAVING LIVES
*NEW* May 13, 2024, 11:00 AM, Ajax, Canada (In person) Rally to Save Flavours, Minister Mark Holland’s office. 100 Old Kingston Road, Ajax
May 14, 2024, Washington, DC, US - ECigarette Summit
May 15-16, 2024, Washington, DC, US (In-person and virtual) - FDLI Annual Conference
May 17-22, 2024, San Diego, CA, US - American Thoracic Society Conference. Note: COI statement.
May 20-22, 2024 - (Virtual) - ToPCon - Commercial Tobacco Prevention Conference
May 22, 2024 (Virtual) 8:00 AM - 12:45 PM - GTNF InFocus 2024 Nicotine
May 24, 2024 (Virtual) - BR- UK: Using behavioural theory to inform quantitative models for policy decision making- With speakers Professor Jamie Brown, Professor Robin Purshouse, Dr Hazel Squires, Professor Robert West
May 30, 2024 - (Virtual) 3:00-4:00 PM - CAsToR A Conversation about the Use of Computational Models in Tobacco Regulation.
May 30-31, 2024 - Brisbane, AU - 2024 SRNT-Oceania Chapter Conference (30th) and Tobacco Endgame Centre of Research Excellence Annual Symposium (31st) Online Registration Link (for both)
Jun 4-5, 2024, Portland, ME, US - Tobacco Treatment and Prevention Conference
Jun 13-15, 2024, Warsaw, Poland - GFN - Global Forum on Nicotine - Registration open! (Pre-Conference activities Jun 12)
Jun 16-19, 2024, San Diego, CA, US - 2024 ASHEcon Conference (Health Economists).
Jun 19-20, 2024, Miami, FL, US - Next Generation Nicotine Delivery USA
Jun 27-28, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - National Tribal Tobacco Conference
Jul 4-5, 2024, Opatija, Croatia - 13th Workshop on the Economics of Risky Behavior. Program here.
Jul 21-23, 2024, San Marcos, TX, US - Texas Tobacco-Free Conference
Aug 18-21, 2024, Mobile, AL, US - Federation of Tax Administrators - 2024 Tobacco Annual Meeting
Sep 7-10, 2024, San Diego, CA, US (In-person & Virtual) World Conference on Lung Cancer. Early Bird registration ends June 7, 2024
Sep 8-11, 2024, Atlanta, GA, US - 77TH TOBACCO SCIENCE RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Sep 16-17, 2024 (Virtual) - 7th Summit on Tobacco Harm Reduction by SCOHRE
Sep 23, 2024, NYC, NY, US - New Approaches Conference
Sep 24-25, 2024, Athens, Greece - GTNF (Event link not yet available)
Oct 13-17, 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland - CORESTA Congress 2024
Oct 23-25, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal - LISBON ADDICTIONS European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies.
Oct 23-25, 2024, Broadbeach, Australia - Oceania Tobacco Control Conference 2024. Early bird registration ends June 30, 2024. Note: not THR-friendly. See list of Conflict of Interest Principles
Oct 24-25, Washington DC? US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference. (Registration opening soon)
Oct 27-30, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo (Public Health). Registration opens in June.
Oct 28-29, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (Virtual and In-Person) 2024 NICOTINE AND TOBACCO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Early bird discounts until September 9, 2024
Nov 14-16, 2024, Chicago, IL, US—AMERSA Conference—Registration opens in June. Note: We won't know until the agenda is announced if nicotine will be part of this year's conference.
December 5, 2024, UK (Virtual and In-person), E-Cigarette Summit UK
Check out the public Google calendar of THR-related events created and maintained by Clive Bates. Also, check out the event calendar from Ecig Intelligence. Their listings include consumer/trade shows and expos that I don't include in this newsletter.
Jan 15-19, 2025 Seattle, WA, US - Society for Social Work and Research.
Mar 12-15, 2025 New Orleans, LA, US - SRNT 31st Annual Meeting
Aug 26-28, 2025 Chicago, IL, US - The National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) (Link is to the announcement, not event info)
Sep 10-12, 2025 Romania - SRNT-E Conference
Mar 4-6, 2026 Baltimore, MD, US - SRNT 32nd Annual Meeting
Notes:
Deadlines are in bold type. Additions to the seeking participants and events sections since the last edition will be denoted by "*NEW*"
I create these newsletters as a personal project. They are not affiliated with any current or past employers or groups I do volunteer work with. I believe that everyone deserves a seat at the table. If you’re interested in nicotine with a focus on THR, this newsletter is for you.
Until next time,
Skip “#BeKind” Murray
