Statistics
Latest cigarette smoking prevalence rate announced
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201602/04/P201602040963.htm
The latest government survey results reveal that the overall prevalence of smokers in Hong Kong has been on a continuous decreasing trend. The percentage of daily cigarette smokers aged 15 and above in the local population last year was 10.5%. Relevant figure in 2012 was 10.7%. The daily cigarette smokers among teenagers aged between 15 and 19 also decreased from 2% in 2012 to 1.1% in 2015.
According to the latest Thematic Household Survey Report of the Census and Statistics Department, there were 641 300 daily cigarette smokers in 2015, with 538 300 or 83.9% being male and 103 000 or 16.1% being female.
In another school-based survey conducted from October 2014 to April 2015 on smoking among students, the smoking prevalence among Primary 4 to 6 students and Secondary 1 to 6 students was 0.2% and 2.7% respectively, representing a decrease of 0.1 and 0.6 percentage points over that of the same period in 2012/13. The survey was done by the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and commissioned by the Food and Health Bureau.
Speaking at a press conference, the Under Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, said today (February 4) that the Government is pleased to see that the overall prevalence of smokers is on a decreasing trend from 23.3% in early 1980s to 10.5% in 2015.
This shows that the Government’s multi-pronged approach in tobacco control, including legislation, taxation, law enforcement, health promotion and smoking cessation services, is proved to be effective with the support of the community.
“Although our daily cigarette smoking prevalence continues to be one of the lowest around the world, we cannot afford complacency, especially in the face of the fact that the smoking prevalence of certain groups did not see any significant decrease. For example, the smoking prevalence of female remains at the level of 3 to 4% in the past 10 years. At the same time, we also face challenges posed by e-cigarettes which have become more popular,” she said.
According to the survey done by the School of Public Health of HKU, a respective 2.6% and 9 % of Primary 4 to 6 students and Secondary 1 to 6 students were ever e-cigarette users, while 1.3% of the secondary students were current e-cigarette users.
“The Government has much concern about the use of e-cigarettes among students. The Government is therefore considering prohibiting import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertising of e-cigarettes through legislation with an aim to protect public health. We hope that the relevant amendment bill can be introduced into the Legislative Council soon. In the meantime, the Government will continue to educate the public on the potential harms of e-cigarettes,” Professor Chan said.
She added that the Government will continue to push forward its tobacco control work. It will work closely with its community partners, step up health education and promotion to raise public awareness of the hazards of smoking, second-hand and third-hand smoke. The Government will also enhance the smoking cessation services to attract more smokers to quit smoking effectively, aiming at bringing down the smoking prevalence further down to single digit.
E-cigarettes and smoking cessation in real-world and clinical settings
A systematic review and meta-analysis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=E-cigarettes+and+smoking+cessation+in+real-world+and+clinical+settings%3A+a+systematic+review+and+meta-analysis.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Smokers increasingly use e-cigarettes for many reasons, including attempts to quit combustible cigarettes and to use nicotine where smoking is prohibited. We aimed to assess the association between e-cigarette use and cigarette smoking cessation among adult cigarette smokers, irrespective of their motivation for using e-cigarettes.
METHODS:
PubMed and Web of Science were searched between April 27, 2015, and June 17, 2015. Data extracted included study location, design, population, definition and prevalence of e-cigarette use, comparison group (if applicable), cigarette consumption, level of nicotine dependence, other confounders, definition of quitting smoking, and odds of quitting smoking. The primary endpoint was cigarette smoking cessation. Odds of smoking cessation among smokers using e-cigarettes compared with smokers not using e-cigarettes were assessed using a random effects meta-analysis. A modification of the ACROBAT-NRSI tool and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool were used to assess bias. This meta-analysis is registered with PROSPERO (number CRD42015020382).
FINDINGS:
38 studies (of 577 studies identified) were included in the systematic review; all 20 studies with control groups (15 cohort studies, three cross-sectional studies, and two clinical trials) were included in random effects meta-analysis and sensitivity analyses. Odds of quitting cigarettes were 28% lower in those who used e-cigarettes compared with those who did not use e-cigarettes (odds ratio [OR] 0·72, 95% CI 0·57-0·91). Association of e-cigarette use with quitting did not significantly differ among studies of all smokers using e-cigarettes (irrespective of interest in quitting cigarettes) compared with studies of only smokers interested in cigarette cessation (OR 0·63, 95% CI 0·45-0·86 vs 0·86, 0·60-1·23; p=0·94). Other study characteristics (design, population, comparison group, control variables, time of exposure assessment, biochemical verification of abstinence, and definition of e-cigarette use) were also not associated with the overall effect size (p≥0·77 in all cases).
INTERPRETATION:
As currently being used, e-cigarettes are associated with significantly less quitting among smokers.
FUNDING:
National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, FDA Center for Tobacco Products.
Electronic Cigarette Executives Get Schooled in Senate Hearing
“I think we have seen this movie before,” Senator Richard Blumenthal said. “It is called big nicotine comes to children near you and you are using the same kinds of tactics and promotions and ads that were used by big tobacco and proved so effective”
http://time.com/2896962/electronic-cigarette-executives-get-schooled-in-senate-hearing/
In a hearing Wednesday afternoon that harkened back to the famous congressional Big Tobacco hearings two decades ago, Senators on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee eviscerated electronic cigarette executives Jason Healy, CEO of blue eCigs (owned by tobacco company Lorillard), and Craig Weiss, CEO of NJOY, leaders of the two leading e-cig brands.
The hearing was on the marketing practices by the electronic cigarette industry, which the Senators said appeals directly to kids, a lift straight from the tobacco industry’s playbook, when it began in the 1950s to try and hook young people early to addictive nicotine. Though nicotine is not the carcinogenic ingredient in tobacco cigarettes, it is the culprit behind why so many continue to smoke, and it’s hardly a benign substance either. Nicotine is highly toxic on its own, and there has recently been an increase in calls to poison control centers after contact with electronic cigarette liquid containing nicotine. Nor is the substance good for the developing teen brain.
The Senators and those offering testimony at the hearing, which included electronic cigarette executives and representatives from public health organizations, were in agreement that electronic cigarettes should not be sold to kids under the age of 18. At issue was whether the marketing practices employed by electronic cigarette makers, which are currently unregulated by the federal government, were designed to appeal to kids.
At the hearing, the e-cigarette executives were skewered by the Senators who had the facts on their side. A recent CDC report showed that the use of electronic cigarettes by middle school and high school students doubled from 2011 to 2012. The same survey showed that more than 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide have tried electronic cigarettes. A recent American Legacy Foundation report found that last year 14 million kids saw ads for electronic cigarettes on TV, 9.5 million saw them in print.
A study from RTI International and the Florida Department of Public Health published in the Journal of Pediatrics showed that exposure to electronic cigarette advertising jumped 256% from 2011 to 2013 among adolescents aged 12 to 17. Mr. Healy’s company, blu eCigs was found responsible for almost 82% of the ads that reached that age group.
Slumped in their chairs, the beleaguered executives, Mr. Weiss and Mr. Healy, argued that their marketing was not directed at kids, but adults. Electronic cigarettes, both men argued, are designed to entice those who already smoke to use the product, claiming they are a valuable public health tool to help wean the 40 million adult smokers off of deadly cigarettes. “It is our corporate mission to [make] obsolete the combustion cigarette,” Weiss testified.
“Every time I use an e-cigarette instead of a combustible cigarette, that’s a good decision,” said Mr. Healy, a smoker who “vapes” (inhales through the e-cigarette vaporizer).
Healy and Weiss aren’t wrong that electronic cigarettes hold promise to improve the nation’s well-being if they can get America’s smokers off of combustible cigarettes–a view held by many in public health. Scientific research has not yet determined how or whether electronic cigarettes can really get people to quit smoking, but it is a technology we should embrace to see if it can. As Mitch Zeller, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Control has said: “We have to have an open mind on the potential for these emerging technologies to benefit public health.”
But Senators including Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), both former prosecutors, undermined those health promotion claims during cross-examination, calling into question the brands’ use of celebrities, social media, free cigarettes, and TV and print advertisements in major television markets (NJOY advertised during the Super Bowl), and flavors that appeal to kids.
“The only difference between your testimony today and testimony of the tobacco executives is that you are not under oath,” said Senator Blumenthal. “I find in your testimony a sense of denial that I cannot credibly accept because it is defied by the numbers. 18 million teens were exposed to blu’s print TV ads in 6 months and NJOY’s ads reached 3 million teens [these statistics come from the American Legacy Foundation report]. There is a legal principle that people are responsible for the natural and logical effects of what you do, and you know that you are reaching children.”
“I think we have seen this movie before,” he continued. “It is called big nicotine comes to children near you and you are using the same kinds of tactics and promotions and ads that were used by big tobacco and proved so effective.”
Holding up a picture of Robert Pattinson, the star of the popular Twilight films, vaping an NJOY, Blumenthal asked Weiss, “Do you deny he is designed to appeal to teens?”
“He’s a 28 year old adult smoker,” Weiss replied. “Are you saying if they are older than 18, they have no impact on people under 18?”
“Our target is to reach adult smokers,” said Weiss.
Senator Klobuchar took over the same line of questioning. “Have you gone to the Twilight movies, Mr. Weiss? I’ve been to those movies with my daughter, who is 16, and I can tell you, in those theaters, the people in there are kids…[Pattinson] is an adult smoker that appears in movies that appeal to kids. That’s what matters to me.”
Klobuchar continued, “I’ve got to tell you that most people over fifty are not going to know Robert Pattinson. Justin Bieber is over 18, someone put him out there, I don’t think anyone is going to think [he is being] marketed to adults. This is my exhibit D, that heavy duty marketing [efforts] go on to youth.”
Another tense moment occurred between Senator Barbara Boxer from California, who grilled Weiss and Healy about flavored e-cigarettes.
Weiss and Healy both contended that having different flavors available appeals to adults, too. Some Senators referred to a website sponsored by blu’s parent company, Lorillard, stating that flavors like “cherry” and “vanilla” make children vulnerable to electronic cigarettes. Healy responded that the average age of a consumer using blu’s cherry flavor is in the high 40s. The average overall consumer of blu eCigs is 51, said Healy.
Responding to questions from Senator Boxer (D-California) about the flavors NJOY plans to introduce, Weiss made a slip, saying “for adults, we have single malt scotch.”
“Adult flavors?” said Boxer. “As opposed to those for children.” Weiss continued nervously, attempting to remember the new flavors off the top of his head: “In addition, there’s vanilla bean, there’s also peach tea, there’s also, um…”
At the end of her time to question, Boxer said: “Mr. Healy and Mr. Weiss, you can con yourself. But we don’t know if this product gets people off cigarettes yet, so don’t think you are doing some great mission. Don’t say you care about kids,” said Senator Boxer. “Don’t be a part of this, because you’ll regret it.”
But the harshest words came from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D- West Virginia), who said to the executives: “I’m ashamed of you. I don’t know how you go to sleep at night. I don’t know what gets you to work in the morning except the color green of dollars. You are what is wrong with this country.”