Research on electronic cigarettes to inform public health

Dr. Lucy Popova. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014, 10 – 11 am.

Institut Català d’Oncologia, Sala d’Actes Pau Viladiu. [see Google Maps]

Electronic cigarettes use is rapidly growing in the US and worldwide, driven in part by aggressive and largely unregulated marketing. E-cigarettes are advertised as being safer, cleaner and more environmentally-friendly than cigarettes, as helping smokers quit, with specific appeals targeting youth, women, and men, and often featuring celebrity spokespeople. Research is emerging questioning many of these marketing claims, documenting toxins in e-cigarette aerosol (including secondhand aerosol), and potential harmful health effects. This research raises the issue of the necessary regulation for e-cigarettes (including warning labels) and developing recommendations for clinicians on how to talk to patients who want to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking.  In the US, on April 24, 2014, FDA put forth proposed rules to regulate e-cigarettes, including prohibiting sales to minors, listing of ingredients, and potential textual warning labels.

Lucy Popova (PhD, Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, where she has been applying her training in communication theory and methodology to the analysis of tobacco marketing strategies and development of counter-messages. Her specific interests lie in the understanding the mechanisms of effective health messages by focusing on underlying cognitions, emotions, and perceptions, such as perceptions of harm of traditional and new tobacco products in various populations, and contributing to the development of the science base for regulation of new tobacco products.She has published her research results in journals such as Am J Public Health, JAMA Intern Med and Health Educ Res.

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