“Young People’s Nicotine Habits Are Changing - Here’s Why It Matters” in Newsweek

Kenneth Cummings, PhD, MPH

Dr. Mike Cummings discusses in Newsweek results from a recent paper in collaboration with CAsToR investigators.

Lead author K. Michael Cummings told Newsweek that their study reflects “some positive trends in reduced use of combustible tobacco use,” particularly among younger adults, and that “we should be looking at substantially fewer smoking-related cancers several decades from now. On a population-wide basis, the overall pattern of tobacco use is very good,” he said.

• Read this article in Newsweek
• Read the paper in JNCI Cancer Spectrum

POSTED: Aug 4, 2026

“Flavored vapes led to a major shake‑up at the FDA” in the Conversation

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil, Holly Jarman, PhD and Claire Ma, PhD

“Researchers regularly assess the scientific evidence on whether e-cigarettes can help people stop smoking. Regularly updated evidence across more than a hundred studies continues to show that nicotine vapes can help people who use cigarettes to quit smoking.”

“Researchers don’t yet know whether or how adding flavors to vapes might affect smoking and vaping. While fruity and sweet flavors can be appealing to people who smoke, tobacco and menthol flavors are sometimes more popular among older people who have a history of smoking tobacco.”

POSTED: May 26, 2026

“Experts concerned over health effects of high-dose nicotine pouches as sales soar in UK” in the Guardian

Nargiz Travis, MScPH and Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil

“Even more concerning is that in addition to the total nicotine content being high, they have a very high proportion of freebase nicotine, which facilitates faster delivery into the bloodstream. This makes them even more effective in delivering higher levels of nicotine compared to cigarettes.” — Nargiz Travis, MScPH (CAsToR Project Director, Georgetown University)

“A lot of the challenge in regulating in this space is recognising you have a reduced-risk product, but not a risk-free product. So how do we make sure it’s helping the people it can help, and isn’t harming the people who wouldn’t have otherwise used tobacco or nicotine?” — Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil (Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts - Amherst and Co-Lead, CAsToR Policy Analysis and Dissemination (PAD) Core)

POSTED: Nov 12, 2025

“Why Is It So Hard for Older Adults to Quit Smoking?” in AARP Magazine

Rafael Meza, PhD

It can be difficult to implement policies and messaging that protect young people from e-cigarettes while also finding ways “to bring e-cigarettes into the arsenal to help people quit. The challenge has been, ‘How can we do those two things at the same time?’” says Rafael Meza, PhD.

POSTED: Aug 4, 2025

“Can Vaping Help You Quit Cigarettes? What Are The Risks?“ on NPR’s Science Friday

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil

The harms of smoking cigarettes are pretty clear. Smoking causes cancer as well as heart and lung diseases, and it's the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. When it comes to vaping, or electronic cigarettes, the risks are a bit more tricky to parse, especially if you read media reports about them. The founders of Juul, the company that mainstreamed vaping in the early aughts, said they wanted to help people kick their smoking habits. But can vapes really help people quit? And how bad are they for you, really? And if you're addicted to vaping, what's the best way to stop? To answer those questions and more, Host Ira Flatow talks with one of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

POSTED: Feb 10, 2025