Podcast

Current E-Cigarette Science, with Kevin Walton, PhD

Author(s):

The National Institutes of Health expert and research joins to discuss the evolving understanding of vaping devices and effects.

Episode highlights

0:17 Remembering Dr. Alan L. Hart
5:27 Dr. Kevin Walton and e-cigarette research
6:59 The e-cigarette timeline
11:25 Nicotine delivery disparities
12:10 The standardized e-cigarette
17:28 Could they aid cessation?
19:53 Nicotine’s effect on young users
24:54 Avoiding nicotine addiction
27:37 Modified Tobacco Risk Products?
31:24 The PATH Study

E-cigarette devices are among the most divisive products introduced in the United States this century.

Their potential—fluctuating between a safe alternative to combustible cigarettes, and an altogether more harmful product than cigarettes, depending on who is asked—is not fully met a decade-plus into availability in a country where smoking-induced respiratory disease is a leading killer.

As many experts weigh their possible value as a nicotine delivery alternative, and others denounce their availability, regulation, and marketing toward younger users, some are are still seeking a refined e-cigarette product: safer, satisfactory, and better understood by scientists than what’s currently available.

This month’s episode of Lungcast, features Kevin Walton, PhD, Chief of the Clinical Research Grants Branch at the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Walton joins Al Rizzo, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the American Lung Association (ALA), for a discussion on the currently understood science of e-cigarettes—and what questions remain in research.

Prior to their discussion, Rizzo highlighted Dr. Alan H. Hart, and his contribution to science, literature, and LGBTQ+ advocacy and awareness, in alignment with Pride Month.

Lungcast is a monthly respiratory health podcast series from the ALA, produced by HCPLive.

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