A scoping review on e-cigarette environmental impacts.

INTRODUCTION: The use of e-cigarettes has grown in popularity worldwide. From their manufacturing, use, and disposal, the environmental impacts of e-cigarettes present a novel public health concern that needs to be urgently investigated. However, very limited studies have focused on the subject matter. The present study aims to review available studies to identify the environmental impacts of e-cigarettes. METHODS: In this scoping review, we undertook a search in two databases (PubMed and Web of Science) from inception until 21 March 2023, and a gray literature search in Google Scholar. Reference lists of publications included in the scoping review were screened manually for additional relevant publications. Scientific publications that were in English and focused on the potential impacts of e-cigarettes on the environment were included. RESULTS: A total of 693 publications were identified, of which 33 were subjected to full-text review and 9 publications were finally included in the review. The impacts on air quality, water, land use, and animals, water and energy consumption, with associated environmental impacts, increased pollution and emissions due to greater e-cigarette production, having harmful and toxic components, creating pollution and waste issues, and global environmental impacts due to manufacturing and importing ingredients and components from low- and middle-income countries, were identified as the environmental impacts of e-cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the emphasis on the environmental threat of e-cigarettes, there are limited scientific studies on the environmental impacts of the e-cigarette life cycle. Considering the rapid expansion of e-cigarette usage, there is an urgent need for a rigorous assessment of their life-cycle environmental burden of the various potential health, environmental, and other consequences.

Implementation of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in low- and middle-income countries: recommendations for policymakers.

Longitudinal and observational studies have found a link between the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including obesity and diabetes. Following World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, SSB taxes have been implemented in over 40 countries and cities to reduce sugar consumption. Despite continuing battles with communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), an epidemiological transition towards NCDs warrants SSB tax implementation. However, LMICs face challenges when implementing SSB taxes including a lack of resources and opposing arguments from industry. Sharing experiences among countries can help to improve the likelihood of successful SSB tax implementation. We review experiences of tobacco, alcohol, and SSB tax implementation in LMICs. We discuss potential pitfalls for policymakers and how they might be overcome. We provide recommendations based on implementation experiences in LMICs to help governments improve implementation capacity and advance public health.

Correction to: The Federation's Pages Switzerland, a Haven for the Tobacco Industry : Bettina Borisch and Marta Lomazzi, Federation's Pages Editors.

Due to an unfortunate oversight the article title "Switzerland, a haven for the tobacco industry" has been omitted.

Media response to colon cancer campaigns in Switzerland 2005-2007: regional newspapers are the most reliable among the printed media.

BACKGROUND: Health campaigns are frequently covered by printed media, but coverage is not homogeneous across different types of newspapers. Switzerland as a multilinguistic country with many newspapers offers a good field for study. A better understanding of how printed media report on national campaigns against colon cancer in the three main linguistic regions may help to improve future public health interventions. Therefore, we analyzed articles published between 2005 and 2007 during the campaigns "Darmkrebs-nie?" and "Self-Care" in the German, French and Italian regions of Switzerland. FINDINGS: Some 65% of articles reporting on colon cancer were in German, 23% and 12% were in French and Italian respectively. During the campaign, topics linked to colon cancer were increasingly covered by the media. Regional newspapers (66%) reported significantly more about colon cancer and produced the most detailed articles.Both gain- and loss-framed messages have been used by journalists, whereas the campaigns used merely gain-framed messages. Latin (French and Italian) newspapers mixed gain- and loss-framed messages in the same articles, while German articles mainly used a single frame throughout. CONCLUSIONS: Swiss-German papers reported more about the topic and the reporting was quantitatively and qualitatively more prominent in regional papers. The press followed the campaigns closely only during the period of campaigning, with high coverage. We propose to consider the regional press as an important vehicle of health information. Moreover, slight differences in framing can be observed between German and Latin articles.