Attitudes Toward FDA Regulation of Newly Deemed Tobacco Products

Abstract

Objective To examine how smokers perceive FDA oversight of e-cigarettes, hookah, and cigars. Methods Current US smokers (N = 1,520) participating in a randomized clinical trial of pictorial cigarette pack warnings completed a survey that included questions about attitudes toward new FDA regulations covering newly deemed tobacco products (ie, regulation of e-cigarettes, nicotine gels or liquids used in e-cigarettes, hookah, and cigars). Results Between 47% and 56% of current smokers viewed these new FDA regulations favorably and between 17% – 24% opposed them. Favorable attitudes toward the regulations were more common among smokers with higher quit intentions (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.17, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.33) and more negative beliefs about smokers (aOR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.33). Participants with higher education, higher income, and previous exposure to e-cigarette advertisements had higher odds of expressing positive attitudes toward the new FDA regulations (p < .05). Conclusions Almost half of current smokers viewed FDA regulation of newly deemed tobacco products favorably. Local and state policy-makers and tobacco control advocates can build on this support to enact and strengthen tobacco control provisions for e-cigarettes, cigars, and hookah.

Public support for pictorial warnings on cigarette packs: an experimental study of US smokers

“…Details of the trial including protocols, survey development, and participant recruitment have been previously published (Brewer et al, 2016). Other papers using this dataset have explored mediators (Hall et al, In Press; Hall et al, 2017; Morgan et al, 2017) and trajectories (Parada, Hall, Boynton, & Brewer, 2017) of pictorial warnings’ impact, as well as attitudes toward the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of tobacco products (Kowitt, Goldstein, Schmidt, Hall, & Brewer, 2017). In contrast, this paper explores public support of pictorial cigarette pack warnings.…”

Attitudes towards Potential New Tobacco Control Regulations among U.S. Adults

“…Additionally, local, state, and national policymakers can implement related restrictions on tobacco products, in which public support plays a role as well [ 14 ]. Further, understanding groups that are more likely to support certain policies can suggest target audiences for communication campaigns that can encourage support for and compliance with new policies [ 15 , 16 ]. Thus, assessing attitudes towards potential tobacco control policies, and factors associated with such attitudes, have implications for policymakers and tobacco control advocates.…”

Electronic Cigarette Companies’ Twitter Messages: Public Interest (Mis)communication

“…While e-cigarette users and dual users advocate e-cigarette use as an aid to smoking cessation, the popularity of fruit flavors in this study indicates that nonsmokers or non-e-cigarette users could be attracted by e-cigarette advertisements with flavoring options. More recently, several large cities, such as Chicago and New York, implemented regulations on the sale of flavored e-cigarette products (Kowitt, Goldstein, Schmidt, Hall, & Brewer, 2017). The results of this study demonstrate that flavored e-cigarettes are more likely to increase social media users' engagement, which potentially attenuates social media users' perceived harm of e-cigarettes and in turn increases their susceptibility to e-cigarette use.…”