Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter

October 3-11, 2024

Oct 12, 2024

Those in the same email group I’m in might have seen these. To those of you who haven’t seen them yet, I believe they are worth your time and consideration.

Two people are asking a similar question 1.5 years apart. I know others are asking, too.

I don’t see people with answers. Where are they? What consequences will their silence contribute to?

Silence might be the wrong word. They are vocal and a powerful force behind policies that harm people who smoke. They keep moving the goalposts while avoiding answering the crucial question being asked.

While they continue to believe their crusade benefits public health (and it does!), most seem resistant to talking to people who think we can do even more.

I continue to hope for and encourage balance. We should celebrate those who never start smoking, along with honoring every person who can stop smoking.

Many years ago, I managed to not smoke for three years.

I’ll never forget the phone call notifying me that my son-in-law had been shot in the stomach. We were in Minnesota, and my daughter’s family was in New Mexico. We were powerless to be there instantly, and the stress was immense.

I asked a co-worker for a cigarette, went back behind the restaurant, and deeply inhaled each puff of that cigarette. It felt so calming!! By the end of the week, I had blown that three years of abstinence and returned to my two-pack-a-day habit.

I read a new paper that is out, “Vaping among adults in England who have never regularly smoked: a population-based study, 2016–24,” and thought about how many people in the future who would have smoked skipped it and used a safer form of nicotine instead. I thought about how uncomfortable that would make some people.

Some have been uncomfortable with people vaping for several years, and there has been a push for research on helping people stop vaping. I don’t have a problem assisting people to quit if they want to. I find myself concerned with applying pressure on people to do so.

Let us never forget what a powerful thing heavily smoking for decades has been for some people. We’ll fail public health if we forget that for those who quit smoking, returning to use is one puff away.

Those people would be better off using an alternative product for as long as they need to - even if it means using nicotine in a safer form for the rest of their lives.

I’m still waiting for someone to conduct a study using vaping to help people stop vaping, vs. NRT or medication to stop vaping, and compare it to a control group with no tools.

Yes, it is possible to use vaping to help people stop vaping. I did it 100s of times when I owned a vape shop. But when I did, I told them that if they ever felt they were going to start smoking again, to please pick up a vape and keep using it until they thought they weren’t at risk of smoking again.

While society is failing to celebrate the reduced numbers of people smoking that we’re seeing in many countries, on a personal level, I celebrate another year of being smoke-free on the first of March each year.

It was a significant accomplishment to quit smoking. It’s a bigger achievement to remain smoke-free.

Until next time….

PS: There is an update to the 2024 Events and Opportunities sections.

CERTIORARI GRANTED. 23-1187 FDA, ET AL. V. R.J. REYNOLDS VAPOR CO., ET AL. (RE: This case). Article: Supreme Court to Hear Avail, Reynolds PMTA Case.
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. - WAGES AND WHITE LION INVESTMENTS, L.L.C., DBA TRITON DISTRIBUTION, ET AL., - BRIEF OF WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION AS AMICUS CURIAE SUPPORTING RESPONDENTS. (TL;DR, see this AVM thread.) Find all the proceedings on this SCOTUS case here.

It took *hundreds* of hours of work to complete this retraction.
Dr. Chris Lalonde was featured in a documentary Aaron Biebert made. (More information here: In memoriam: Chris Lalonde. Dr. Lalonde is in this video: A New Ending \\ SPOTLIGHT Series.)
Another misleading tweet about vaping causing popcorn lung gets served with Community Notes. Learn more about popcorn lung at the SNW.
Looking to speak to people aged 65+ who quit a lengthy smoking habit with the help of e-cigarettes.
I’m looking for some people who smoke and or vape to give their input into some work we are conducting at UCL.
This leads to another striking feature of the menthol ban advocacy.
A key to curbing groupthink is preventing powerful people from dominating discussions.
It took lots of conversations (and arguments) over years for me to fully put my thoughts down on words. (Alternative link to the article in the tweet.)
SOVAPE is dissolving.

Vaping vs. smoking: What does decades of research tell us? From Tiny Matters, a production of the American Chemical Society. Guests: Neal Benowitz, Wilson Compton, and Lynn Kozlowski.
Wednesday Night Live. Guest: Lindsey Stroud
Interview mit Riccardo Polosa - Perspectives on Nicotine GFN24.
The Popcorn Lung Correlation.

I start the next newsletter as soon as I publish one and add to the new one as things come to my attention until the next publication date. Somehow, I managed to delete what I had put in this section, so you are getting a recreated version with no quotes, as I’m in a time crunch.

The events listed below focus on nicotine. Some do not support reduced-risk products. Some have covered nicotine in the past but may not cover that topic every year.

October - Stoptober, Healthy Lung Month, Health Literacy Month, ADHD Awareness Month,
Oct 7, 2024 (Virtual) 12:00 PM (UK) - Stoptober 2024: Busting Vape Myths: A Closer Look at the Evidence.
Oct 7, 2024, (Virtual) 2-4:30PM CEST - SRNT-E Non-combustible nicotine – beyond electronic cigarettes.
Oct 8, 2024, 9 AM - 12:15 PM PT (Virtual) - the UCSF Annual Tobacco and Other Industry Documents Workshop. More info here.
Oct 13-17, 2024, Edinburgh, Scotland - CORESTA Congress 2024
Oct 14-17, 2024 (In-person) PA, US - Clearing the Air® Institute. American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation
Oct 15, 2024, (Virtual) 12-1 PM EST - Addressing the Harmful Effects of Tobacco Related Stigma.
Oct 15, 2024, US (Virtual) - FDLI Introduction to Tobacco Law and Regulation. You can follow them on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Facebook.
Oct 16, 2024, UK 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM (Virtual) - Introduction to ontologies and the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology.
Oct 17, 2024, Prague, Czech Republic (In-person) - Global Anti-Illicit Trade Summit, Europe.
Oct 19, 2024, (In-person & Virtual) Malaysia, - Harm Reduction Conference 2024.
Oct 21, 2024, Silver Spring, MD, US, 9am - 4:30pm EDT (In-person and virtual - free) - Advancing Smoking Cessation: FDA and NIH Priorities (FDA and NIH priorities). Deadline to request making an oral presentation is Oct 1. Deadline to submit written comments to the docket is Nov 21, 2024.
Oct 23-25, 2024, Lisbon, Portugal - LISBON ADDICTIONS European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies. (Some of the sessions are about tobacco/nicotine.)
Oct 23-25, 2024, Broadbeach, Australia - Oceania Tobacco Control Conference 2024. See list of Conflict of Interest Principles.
Oct 23, 2024, Washington DC, US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulatory Science Symposium. You can follow them on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Facebook.
Oct 24-25,2024, Washington DC, US (In-person and Virtual) - FDLI Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference. You can follow them on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Facebook.
*NEW* Oct 25, 2024, UK, 11 AM (Virtual) - Behavioural Research UK: Policy dynamics and 'real world' decision making in policy informed by behavioural research.
Oct 27-30, 2024, Minneapolis, MN, US - 2024 APHA Annual Meeting and Expo (Public Health). Register here.
Oct 28, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (In-Person & Virtual) 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ET - Susan Rosenblatt lecture: Brian King
Oct 28-29, 2024, Charleston, SC, US (Virtual and In-Person) 2024 NICOTINE AND TOBACCO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
*NEW* Oct 30, 2024, Catania, Italy, 9 AM - 4 PM (In-Person) - CoEHAR Annual Conference on Harm Reduction. (Press Release here. I didn’t find a link for registration. ~Skip)
November - COPD Awareness Month
November - Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Nov 6-8, 2024, Harrisburg, PA, 2024 James E. Anderson Pennsylvania Conference on Juvenile Justice. One of the workshops, Restorative Solutions: Rethinking Youth Tobacco, Nicotine, and Vaping Dependency
Nov 12, 2024, San Francisco, CA, US (In-person) 9 AM - 5 PM PT Free - Introduction to Causal Research Methods. Note: Registration Deadline September 25, 2024.
Nov 12, 2024, San Francisco, CA, US (In-person) 9 AM - 5 PM PT Free - Introduction to Difference-in-Differences. Note: Registration Deadline September 25, 2024.
Nov 13-14, 2024, Accra, Ghana - Africa Conference on Tobacco Control.
Nov 14-15, 2024, UK - SSA Annual Conference. Professor Ann McNeill will give the Society Lecture at the SSA’s Annual Conference. The title of the talk is, ‘Tobacco harm reduction – controversies and potential resolutions’.
Nov 14-16, 2024, Chicago, IL, US—AMERSA Conference—Note: We won't know until the agenda is announced if nicotine will be part of this year's conference.
Nov 14-16, 2024, Ontario, Canada - CSAM-SMCA 2024 Scientific Conference.
Nov 18-20, 2024, Olomouc, Czech Republic, (In-person) - Czech Annual Cancer Research Meeting. Note: Keynote talks: Prof. David Khayat on Cancer Risk Factors: The Role of Tobacco Harm Reduction.
Nov 20, 2024, National Harbor, MD, US 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET (In-Person) FREE - Introduction to Causal Research Methods. Note: Registration Deadline September 25, 2024.
Nov 21-23, 2024, National Harbor, MD, US Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management - Fall Research Conference. (APPAM)
Nov 21, 2024, Great American Smokeout
December 5, 2024, UK (Virtual and In-person), E-Cigarette Summit UK
Dec 30, 2024, World Safer Nicotine Day #WSND #WSND24
Scroll Down for 2025 and 2026 Events

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. This is a good resource for information on conferences about addiction/behavior.

Research Participants Wanted

UCL seeks people who vape to participate in a 30-minute lab-based study.

Positions Available

*NEW* Nicotine & Tobacco Research: Call for Deputy and Social Media Editors. Information on LinkedIn and Twitter(X).
Rutgers: Data Analyst.
Health and Environmental Economics Lab (HEEL) at URMC: Health Economics and Data Science Predoc.

Wanted: Conference/Seminar/Webinar Submissions…

Oct 21, 2024, Silver Spring, MD, US, 9am - 4:30pm EDT (In-person and virtual - free) - Advancing Smoking Cessation: FDA and NIH Priorities Deadline to request making an oral presentation is Oct 1. The deadline to submit written comments to the docket is Nov 21, 2024.
TOPS Tobacco Online Policy Seminar call for papers/nominations. The submission deadline is October 7, 2024.

Call for Papers

Cancer prevention. Submission Deadline: 11 October 2024
Mental Health, Stigma and Addictive Behaviors. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2024
Empirical modeling. Submission deadline: 28 November 2024
Generating stronger evidence to inform policy and practice: natural experiments on built environments, health behaviours and chronic diseases. Submission deadline: November 30, 2024
A Means to an ENDS: The Uncertainty of ENDS Use and Cardiovascular Disease From Human Research to Basic Science Mechanisms. Submission deadline: 31 December 2024
Cancer Causes and Control. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024
Factors Associated with Successful Smoking Cessation. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024
Scroll down for 2025 opportunities

Call for Papers / Abstracts

E-cigarettes and Vaping Products: Health Effects and Toxicological Impacts. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 21 January 2025
Tenth International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication. Call for abstracts opens Dec 1, 2024. Deadline for submissions is Janurary 31, 2025.
Thinking Outside the Box to Reduce Health Inequities in Perinatal Tobacco and Nicotine Exposure: A Nicotine & Tobacco Research Themed Issue Nicotine & Tobacco Research intends to publish a themed issue on Prenatal Tobacco and Nicotine Exposure. The guest editors for this issue will be Dr. Natacha De Genna, Dr. Laura Stroud, and Prof. Yael Bar-Zeev. Submission deadline: February 1, 2025.
LGBTQ+ Health. Submission deadline: 04 March 2025
14th Workshop on the Economics of Risky Behavior Call for Submissions. Submission deadline: 10 March 2025 (Event)
Consumer behaviour. Submission deadline: 25 March 2025
Wearable devices. Submission deadline: 27 March 2025
The Tobacco Endgame in Low- And Middle-Income Countries and Indigenous Communities: Evidence Syntheses and Systematic Reviews. Submission deadline: 25 May 2025
STRONGER Scholars: A Research Education Program to Reduce Tobacco-Related Cancer Disparities and Improve Health Equity. A special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025

Jan 15-19, 2025 Seattle, WA, US - Society for Social Work and Research.
Jan 27-28, 2025, Las Vegas, NV, US - E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium.
Feb 13-15, 2025, Boston, MA, US - 2025 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
Mar 5, 2025 York, UK (In-person & Virtual SCAH - Smoking Cessation and Health Conference.
Mar 12-15, 2025 New Orleans, LA, US - SRNT 31st Annual Meeting
Mar 27-29, 2025 - Phoenix, AZ, US - 31st Nicotine Dependence Center Conference 2025: The Evolving Tobacco Landscape and Implications for Policy and Practice.
April 15-17, 2025, Arlington, VA, US - American Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (ATNF), formerly the TMA Annual Meeting & Conference (I’m not aware of a link available to the event yet)
Apr 27-30, 2025 - Bogotá, Colombia - 28th edition of the Harm Reduction Conference (HR25)
June 11-12, 2025, Madrid, Spain - 14th Workshop on the Economics of Risky Behavior.
June 2025, Bangor, Maine, US - 2025 Tobacco Treatment and Prevention Conference.
Aug 26-28, 2025 Chicago, IL, US - The National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH) (Link is to the announcement, not event info)
Sep 3-5, 2025 Chicago, IL, US - e 10th International Congress on Peer Review and Scientific Publication.
Sep 10-12, 2025 Romania - SRNT-E Conference.
Nov 13-15,2025 Hyatt Seattle, WA, US - Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management - Fall Research Conference. (APPAM)
Nov 17, 2025 (all week) Geneva - FCTC COP11
Nov 24, 2025 (all week) Geneva - FCTC MOP4

Mar 4-6, 2026 Baltimore, MD, US - SRNT 32nd Annual Meeting.
Sep 6-9 2026, Cape Town, South Africa - 18th World Conference on Public Health.
Nov 5-7, 2026, Boston, MA, US - Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management - Fall Research Conference. (APPAM)

Notes:

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.