Thread by @imaracingmom

If VLNC helps some people stop smoking, I will be glad to see it. I'm concerned about sending people the wrong message about nicotine. I'm going to park some random thoughts throughout the day in this 🧵, as I work on the @SaferWiki VLN page. safernicotine.wiki/mediawiki/inde…
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2/🧵 fda.gov/media/135146/d…
Some people are concerned when people making the switch from smoking to vaping dual use. What happens if people dual use cigarettes and VLNC? Is smoking less/day a good thing? Is it reducing harm? Some against vaping have said "no".

3/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 6)
My concern is sending consumers the wrong message about nicotine. It's not the nicotine that causes death and disease. If someone likes smoking and doesn't want to quit they need to understand that VLNC isn't safer, it's less addictive.

4/🧵 fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 7) Youth use of nicotine products has been a hotly debated topic, even when they're experimenting. Will kids experiment with VLNCs? Is it better / worse / same to experiment with VLNC vs vapor products as far as health hazards go?

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There's 2 sides of the VLNC debate: Those who smoke/those who haven't. With less nicotine, there'll be less addiction and less conversion to a life time of smoking. That'd be GOOD. So maybe this is more preventative than cessation? I need more input!

6/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 9) Will the FDA make sure that ads for VLNC don't make these products appealing to young people? Will they make sure that people in ads don't look young or cool?

7/🧵 fda.gov/media/135146/d…
Follow up on 6/🧵
I'm curious to know why there wasn't research on proposed ads appeal to youth?

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Why does the process take so long? This took over 2.5 years! How will that work for products involving technology (vape, HnB, HTP)? By the time stuff gets this far, it will be outdated. Is there a fix for this?

9/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 14) This shows why accurate communication about the potential harms of VLNCs are needed. Misperceptions about nicotine makes people believe that's what makes smoking harmful. VLNCs are not safer than smoking, they are showing to be less addictive

10/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 18) as mentioned in #2, dual use of cigarettes and another nicotine product is of concern to some people. Is there a reduction of risk if there's a reduction in smoking? I found this paragraph interesting.

11/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (page 19) I would ASSUME that most people who don't smoke don't intend on ever starting or ever smoking on a regular basis. For those folks, my concern will be if they might try VLNCs because they falsely believe they're safer because of low nicotine.

12/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (pg 20) We won't know more about what effect this will have on youth use until a few years from now. Smoking rates among kids is already low, that's the good news. Years from now, we'll know if people continue to smoke VLNCs if they're less addictive.

13/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (pg 20) When I think about future generations of people who smoke, this paragraph gave me hope there they'll be less of them.

14/🧵fda.gov/media/135146/d… (pgs 21/22) Because I'm a person with a #mentalillness this paragraph was important to me. I'm concerned about other members of my community. Mostly good news, and some rare, but bad news. When I quit nicotine, I was one of those bad news folks.

15/🧵I'm at work and it's time to complete my duties. I'll probably add to this thread later today. These are just random thoughts and please be aware that I'm very biased when it comes to #THR and #Smoking. My thoughts are not intended to represent those of the @SaferWiki team.

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CPD = Cigarettes Per Day - That's in some of the graphics and I forgot to mention what it stands for.