In recent years, various parties have endeavored to name and rename what the majority of consumers call “e-cigarettes.” Most notably, the World Health Organization (WHO) has rechristened these products “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Electronic Non-Nicotine Delivery Systems” (ENDS/ENNDS). Below, I describe the confusion caused by such renaming efforts—and why it matters. Name confusion The […]

Continued from Part Two: The misinfodemic spreads worldwide The first two parts of this series were based on an independent analysis of 18,000 news stories covering “EVALI” – an outbreak of lung injuries that occurred in the United States in 2019.  The probable cause of that outbreak is now clear:  An adulterant in unregulated illicit […]

Continued from Part One, Searching for ‘patient zero’ This three-part series is based on an independent analysis of 18,000 news stories covering EVALI – an outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries that occurred in the United States in 2019. Part one of this series explained why the most reasonable explanation for the EVALI outbreak is an […]

On May 6, 2020, the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) published an article by Brian Erkkila, Patricia Kovacevic, and Derek Yach titled, “Restricting Flavors in ENDS Could Have Repercussions Beyond Youths’ Use.” The authors review recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory guidance on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including plans to restrict […]

The 2019 EVALI ‘Misinfodemic’ Part One (of three):  Searching for ‘patient zero’ The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World recently commissioned an independent analysis of media coverage before, during, and after the 2019 US EVALI (e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury) outbreak. Our analysis covered over 18,000 news stories published by top-tier media outlets in […]