At #SRNT2026 today, during a panel discussion featuring @FDATobacco's (CTP's) leadership team, Dr. David Ashley, former director of CTP's Office of Science, asked what the agency is doing to better educate adults who smoke about relative risk and the health benefits of switching to FDA-authorized noncombustible products. The answer unfortunately fell well short of what is desparately needed with 1,300 Americans dying DAILY from smoking. Anne Rancourt, the director of CTP's Office of Health Communication and Education, who is responsible for conducting public education, stakeholder outreach, and regulatory communication programs, said "we are looking very closely at what we can do in the adult education realm" with appropriate nuance about completely switching to FDA-authorized products. She also said "it needs to be personalized to the individual," even though that isn't how FDA communicates in this area. She also said that it should be a message that, "if heard by youth, won't encourage them to start using" these products. That was pretty much it. With due respect to these folks at FDA who are navigating challenging territory, why does this feel so unsatisfactory as we near the 17th anniversary of the Center for Tobacco Products?

Robert Kennedy Jr. has done more as HHS Secretary than any HHS Secretary in my lifetime. He is cleaning up the food supply. He is removing chemical dyes from children's food, pulling heavy metals out of baby food, investigating microplastics and forever chemicals. And he is working to bring the childhood vaccine schedule down from 54 vaccines to 26. That isn't a small thing. @RobertKennedyJr

"Yet when it comes to nicotine, flexibility often gives way to ideology. The emphasis shifts away from achieving the best outcome and toward ensuring compliance with a predetermined process. What matters is not whether the smoker escapes cigarettes but whether they do so using methods that fit within an approved framework." @jamomartin @drjoesDIYhealth @caphraorg @MarewaGlover @Clive_Bates @ArielleSelya @newscientist open.substack.com/pub/09algo…

Currently in Ireland. Drinking a Guinness. At 9:30 in the morning.

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What is it about the the bond markets that the Telegraph’s billionaire owners love so much? We need a government which sets the terms, the people’s terms, and an elected plan, not the interests of the 1%. Change is coming.

This week on the inaugural episode of The @SmokelessWord: Live from the Lab, Dr James Murphy and @jgitchell, CEO of Pinney Associates, on how to accelerate the migration of adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking completely to smokeless alternatives. Joe's answer? To change hearts and minds. Watch now: youtube.com/watch?v=x8PRlcn9…

We have to reject a simplistic adult smoker vs youthful non-user conflict. Harm reduction MOSTLY happens at initiation, then young people age into the population never having smoked. The whole system of nicotine use is migrating to safer forms of use, younger people first.