Thinking 'bout THR Newsletter
May 1-3, 2024
Is there a better way to interact with people we don’t agree with?: I Never Thought Of It That Way by Mónica Guzmán. “I can see this book helping estranged parties who are equally invested in bridging a gap...” —New York Times
Do you know any bullies in the nicotine space?: On Critics and Bullies. “A critic—even a forceful one—does business in the proper currency of intellectual discourse: presenting evidence, providing reasons, making arguments; a bully questions people’s motives and calls them names.” Written by Robert P. George.
Words of Wisdom: Dragons and Dragonslayers by David Sweanor. “Once you’ve got an enemy…you’re no longer seeing a problem to solve, you’re seeing an evil to fight.”
Two Sides to Every Story: Threats and the cult of vaping. “So what would be my advice to vapers? Don’t get angry, get kind. It’s understandable to want to defend something you use, particularly if it’s better than something you were doing before.”
Does This Apply to Nicotine Research? Defining Activist Science. “Activist groups and NGOs were starting to commission academics to produce their own scientific reports or promoting citizen science initiatives, often of a very low quality, usually fear infused, biased and reverse-engineered to present data that would justify the conclusions of their campaigns.”
Thought Prompter of the Day: Is the use of alcohol rational? How about the use of caffeine? Do you apply the same reasons to determine “rational” for the use of nicotine? Why or Why Not?
Why is the WHO so wrong about e-cigarettes? (Subscription to Medium required) Cummings says: “As an important voice in public health, WHO should be basing its advocacy and communications on science, not emotion and the private view of wealthy donors. Mike Bloomberg is well respected as a champion for public health, including tobacco control, but on the issue of smoking harm reduction, he appears to be blind to the science that is emerging and the real potential to end the deadly epidemic of disease caused using smoked tobacco.”
Real-World Quitting. “Niaura and statistician Floe Foxon were already doing some analyses of NHIS data…“We found that use of e-cigarettes was pretty high. In fact, it was the No. 1 method used to quit smoking,” says Niaura. “That caught me a little by surprise.” These results hint at a quiet revolution. E-cigarettes may be playing a larger role than popularly assumed, in both attempted and successful quitting.
Medscape Gets Smoked. “Among the disappointed are those who care about smokers’ safety. After all, erecting barriers to creating and sharing data on low-risk nicotine products only helps cigarette makers worldwide, keeping millions of people smoking—and dying.”
PMTA Registry Bills, Which Ban Flavored Vapes, Are Spreading. “Tobacco harm reduction advocates have long condemned the PMTA process as excessively onerous and opaque. They point out that it’s easier to bring new cigarettes to market than it is to gain authorization for vastly safer vapes that can replace them.”
Call It Whatever You Want -- Tobacco Harm Reduction Saves Smokers’ Lives (Follow up) “Dr. Califf wrongly claimed that harm reduction is an industry term. My late colleague Dr. Philip Cole and I used that term in an article published by the American Council on Science and Health in 1995. The Institute of Medicine, hardly a tobacco industry tool, titled a 2001 report, “Clearing the Smoke: Assessing the Science Base for Tobacco Harm Reduction (here).”
A Perfect Storm. “A public health opportunity to convert over 100 million smokers and save lives with minimal stress on state resources while earning tax revenue and creating jobs, especially when unemployment rates are soaring, was lost and replaced by increased criminality, lost revenue, heightened risk for adult switchers as these products have not undergone quality checks, and easier access for teens and unintended users.”
Ex-smoking vapers plead with senators to protect legitimate e-cigarette users. “Former heavy smokers have told a senate inquiry how switching to vaping was a “miracle” that helped them curb their deadly habit, as they pleaded for greater protections for legitimate e-cigarette users.”
TACKLING VAPING MYTHS IN AUSTRALIA | Colin Mendelsohn brings THR to Australian lawmakers!
SCORING ENDGAME | Former CDC Tobacco Control Director Talks Battle Over Vaping | RegWatch - Dr. Michael P. Eriksen
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…
Freelance Statistical Reviewer Provide a statistical or methodological review, as appropriate, on manuscripts assigned by the BMJ Open editorial team. The application deadline is May 8, 2024.
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
AMERSA Conference Nov 14-16, 2024 - Notes: This conference doesn't always have content about nicotine. The conference requires the use of person-first language. Submission Deadline: May 1, 2024, for the following: abstracts, workshops, and conference awards (travel and registration fees).
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 7, 2024, 18:00-19:30 CEST, Stockholm, Sweden (In-person & Virtual) No Smoke Less Harm Report Launch
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”
May 13, 2024, Washington DC, US, 3:00-5:30 PM ACCELERATING ACTION TO END SMOKING: MINIMIZING RISK AND SAVING LIVES
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
