Tag: CoEHAR

  • No Added Harm from Vape Substitution: Study

    No Added Harm from Vape Substitution: Study

    Photo: fedorovacz

    A new systematic review conducted by the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction on the available scientific research showed no difference in respiratory parameters in human clinical tests on the respiratory effects of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use in participants who smoke tobacco cigarettes. 

    In their study “Respiratory health effects of e-cigarette substitution for tobacco cigarettes: a systematic review,” the researchers analyzed 16 studies from 20 publications. They found that the large majority of the studies showed no difference in respiratory parameters. According to the authors, this indicates that electronic nicotine delivery systems substitution for smoking likely does not result in additional harm to respiratory health.

    One of the problems the researchers found during their evaluation is that many studies were not of sufficient duration for observing any harmful or beneficial effects because these may take time to manifest. In fact, the researchers observed a general low quality of the studies included in the review, with 10 of 16 studies rated at high risk of bias. 

    In light of the findings of no change in respiratory function plus the presence of reporting spin bias, the researchers call for long term studies that include diverse participants and to assess smoking behavior and history. Furthermore, they note that exclusive ENDS use and dual use with cigarettes should be identified as separate categories for analysis and findings. They also stressed that additional studies are necessary to assess the potential benefits or risks of e-cigarette substitution for tobacco cigarette smoking.

  • Study Confirms Minimal Carcinogenic Effects

    Study Confirms Minimal Carcinogenic Effects

    Photos: CoEHAR

    The aerosol from e-cigarettes induced slight to no cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic effects during tests conducted by the Replica research team of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) that compared these effects to those induced by cigarette smoke.

    According to CoEHAR, science has been suffering from a “replicability crisis” in recent years. The use of different research methodologies usually leads to different data, resulting in flawed results that misinform policies and impact on health and social care practices, as well as smokers who are seeking a complete cessation.

    Replica researchers aim to fill this methodological gap by replicating  international in vitro studies on the toxicity of cigarette smoke and e-cigarette aerosol by an independent and multicentric approach, adding experiments or conditions where necessary, in order to verify the robustness and replicability of the data and results.

    The most recent study replicated by the team was published by Rudd and colleagues in 2020. The study aimed to establish the cytotoxicity, mutagenesis and genotoxicity of cigarette smoke or e-cigarette aerosol on cells .

    Replica researchers performed a standard toxicology battery of three assays used for product assessment and regulatory applications. Their results, published by Springer Nature’s Scientific Reports,  indicated that e-cigarette aerosol was low cytotoxic and it did not show any mutagenic or genotoxic activity unlike the cigarette smoke, which showed high cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic activity. Moreover, the Replica study covered some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work, by adding some conditions with the aim of covering all the possible ways of inducing genotoxicity and mutagenesis on cells.

    Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work.

    First author Rosalia Emma

    “Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work,” said Rosalia Emma, first author of the Replica study, in a statement. “However, it’s important to highlight that, despite using different machinery and the variations in the exposure methodology, in the case of cytotoxicity (NRU assay), the toxicity of the e-cigarette is significantly lower than that of traditional cigarettes”.

    In the Replica study, the team performed the NRU assay to assess cytotoxicity, the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) assay to evaluate mutagenicity and the in vitro micronucleus assay to measure genotoxicity. Despite some different methodologic aspects, the researchers obtained results similar to those obtained by Rudd and colleagues.

    “Although we have added experimental conditions neglected by the authors of the first paper, the results obtained previously are confirmed and even strengthened, confirming the electronic cigarette as a useful tool for reducing smoking damage in healthy smoking subjects” said Massimo Caruso, co-project leader of the Replica project and corresponding author.

  • New Report Touts THR Benefits

    New Report Touts THR Benefits

    Photo: Bacho | Dreamstime

    Significant numbers of lives can be saved through the widespread adoption of tobacco harm reduction (THR) and related measures in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh, according to a new report released by experts in the field.

    Titled “Lives Saved—Integrating harm reduction into tobacco control,” the report analyzed the current smoking rates and quitting rates in four low-income and middle-Income countries– Kazakhstan, Pakistan, South Africa, and Bangladesh—where 350,000 people die prematurely from tobacco use each year.

    The report aims to provide policymakers and public health experts with estimates of the potential benefit of THR, improved cessation, and better access to lung cancer diagnostics and treatment on reducing premature deaths.

    The study’s key findings indicate that significant numbers of lives can be saved in these countries through the widespread adoption of THR and related measures. For instance, Kazakhstan could prevent 165,000 premature deaths in the next four decades, while South Africa, Bangladesh and Pakistan could save 320,000, 920,000, and 1.2 million lives, respectively.

    This document marks a key milestone in the fight against smoking-related deaths. I urge decisionmakers worldwide and particularly those of low- and middle-income countries—where the total number of lives claimed by the smoking epidemic is still too high—to carefully review this document.

    Riccardo Polosa, co-author

    “Calculating the potential lives of adult smokers that can be saved by improving tobacco control and complementing it with harm reduction strategies is a critical exercise in public health,” said Riccardo Polosa, founder of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) and one of the paper’s contributors, in a statement.

    “This document marks a key milestone in the fight against smoking-related deaths. I urge decisionmakers worldwide and particularly those of low- and middle-income countries—where the total number of lives claimed by the smoking epidemic is still too high—to carefully review this document.

    “In these countries, the failure and the current stagnation in the calculation of lives saved from smoking are palpable due to the adoption of strategies that are no longer effective. The evidence is clear, wide adoption of combustion-free nicotine products can potentially save hundreds of thousands of human lives, even up to 1 million in Pakistan alone.”

    Polosa urges policymakers to consider tailor-made interventions that foster a culture of health through educational and prevention programs. This approach, he notes, should incorporate lessons learned from countries with extensive histories of tobacco control, encompassing both their successes and failures.

    The report demands several actions. “The adoption of combustion-free nicotine products presents a viable alternative, but its success hinges on the development of a strategy that thoughtfully incorporates scientific evidence” said Polosa

    “This strategy should seamlessly integrate the evidence into established healthcare approaches to maximize outcomes, which are currently at a standstill. To make a meaningful impact, maximum cooperation is imperative, particularly at the level of healthcare policies. This involves educating the medical community about the relative harms associated with different methods of nicotine consumption and providing comprehensive health education to the end consumer.”

  • Researchers Identify Flavors Used to Quit

    Researchers Identify Flavors Used to Quit

    The most interesting data is that when a smoker decides to quit smoking using modified-risk electronic tools, they gravitate toward flavors different from tobacco.

    Konstantinos Farsalinos, co-author

    A recent survey revealed that the most utilized flavors to quit smoking in the U.S. are those of fruit, baked goods and chocolate.

    A team of European researchers affiliated with the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), the University of West Attica and the University of Patras conducted an online survey on a sample of about 70,000 adult vapers in the U.S. The study focused on comparing flavor use between current-smoking vapers (dual use) and former-smoking vapers and on specifically examining patterns of flavor use among former-smoking vapers at the time of quitting smoking.

    Graph: CoEHAR

    “This is the largest survey ever conducted on the use of electronic cigarettes in terms of sample size,” said study author Konstantinos Farsalinos in a statement. “The most interesting data is that when a smoker decides to quit smoking using modified-risk electronic tools, they gravitate toward flavors different from tobacco, with a clear preference for fruit, dessert and chocolate flavors. We can deduce, therefore, that these specific flavors are more useful for those who want to quit or avoid relapses.”

    When it comes to regulating vape flavors, Riccardo Polosa, founder of the CoEHAR, urged lawmakers to strike a balance between the need to protect young people and the desire to help adult smokers quit.

  • CoEHAR Concerned About South African Bill

    CoEHAR Concerned About South African Bill

    The Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) has urged the South African government to use risk-proportionate regulation in its tobacco control efforts.

    In a reply to a public consultation on the Tobacco and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Control Bill, CoEHAR raised concerns that the current draft will restrict less risky options for people who would benefit from using these products to quit smoking.

    “The primary goal of the South Africa tobacco policy should be to prevent and control tobacco- related excess mortality and morbidity. In practice, this means reducing smoking as deeply and rapidly as possible,” wrote Riccardo Polosa and Giovanni Li Volti on behalf of the CoEHAR in their letter.

    “Tobacco harm reduction provides a fast-acting, market-based strategy for reducing smoking and eliminating most smoking-related risks. The regulation of combustion- smoke-tar-free products should always be considered as part of a regulatory system that covers all the nicotine delivery products. The aim should be to encourage the migration from high-risk to low-risk products and support positive behavior change. Regulators should take great care to avoid the perverse consequences of prohibitions and use risk-proportionate regulation instead.”

    Based in Catania, Italy, CoEHAR is a multidisciplinary center focused on the study of tobacco harm reduction.

  • CoEHAR: Lung Damage Unproven in Study

    CoEHAR: Lung Damage Unproven in Study

    Photo: Chinnapong

    A recent study comparing lung inflammation between smokers and nonsmokers does not prove any causality between the use of e-cigarettes and lung damage, according to researchers from the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) in Catania, Italy.

    A recently published study by a team of American researchers compared the scans of the lungs of five electronic cigarette users, five tobacco cigarette smokers and five subjects who never smoked or vaped. Data suggested preliminary evidence that e-cigarette users had greater pulmonary inflammation than cigarette smokers and never smoke/vape controls, implying even a greater damage to health.

    In a letter to the editor of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the CoEHAR researchers expressed their concern about the study. “The very small sample size and low reproducibility of the tests does not allow us to give a precise and scientific answer on pulmonary inflammation caused by vaping because it does not take into consideration fundamental factors, such as the prior exposure to tobacco smoking,” said CoEHAR founder Riccardo Polosa in a statement.

    “The very small sample size and low reproducibility of the tests does not allow us to give a precise and scientific answer on pulmonary inflammation caused by vaping because it does not take into consideration fundamental factors, such as the prior exposure to tobacco smoking.

    Riccardo Polosa, founder. CoEHAR

    Because it is impossible to decouple the health impact of e-cigarette aerosol emissions from prior tobacco smoke exposure, only long-term follow-up of exclusive vapers who have never smoked can verify potential harm caused by electronic cigarettes use.

    CoEHAR stresses the need to develop and adopt shared scientific research standards and a greater control of publication processes: “We often opposes poor quality designed scientific results that are published in prestigious journals without proper scrutiny: researches that only feed an unfounded anti-vape rhetoric based on preconceptions that try to dissuade smokers from making choices that are less harmful to their health,” said Polosa.