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FDA reveals new ads to warn kids about e-cigarettes

​The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is launching a new series of TV ads to teach kids about the dangers of using e-cigarettes. 

The ads are part of an educational effort that started in September 2018 and is designed for kids aged 12 to 17 who have used e-cigarettes or thought about trying them. The effort also includes posters, social media messages, and educational materials for school classrooms that warn against vaping.

The FDA says the messages are important because evidence shows that teens who use e-cigarettes are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine. They also are more likely to start smoking regular cigarettes, putting them at risk for smoking-related illnesses.

"We cannot allow the next generation of young people to become addicted to nicotine, said acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD, in a statement. "We will continue to work to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of America's kids through policies to limit youth access to, and appeal of, e-cigarette products, take vigorous compliance and enforcement actions to hold manufacturers and retailers accountable when they illegally market or sell these products to minors, and continue to spearhead highly successful public education efforts to warn youth about the dangers of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes."

The tagline of the new ads is, "It's not magic; it's statistics." They feature British street magician Julius Dein turning e-cigarettes into regular cigarettes in front of the eyes of surprised teens. The magic trick is meant to send the message that teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking. The ads will appear on TeenNick, CW, ESPN, and MTV, music streaming sites, social media networks, and other media channels geared to teens.

Also part of the campaign are posters for display in high school bathrooms that warn about dangerous chemicals in some e-cigarette liquid. Examples of the messages include:

  • "You might as well flush your lungs while you're at it. Vaping can deliver toxic metal particles, like nickel, lead and chromium directly into your lungs."
  • "When you find out what's in a vape, you won't be relieved. Vaping can expose you to some of the same cancer-causing chemicals as those found in cigarette smoke."

Vaping endangers kids

The FDA has called e-cigarette use among teenagers "an epidemic" and called on manufacturers including JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, blu e-cigs, and Logic to keep their products out of the hands of minors by changing sales and marketing practices, which may mean cutting out the candy and fruit flavors that appeal to teens. Last month, JUUL's CEO apologized to parents whose children had become addicted to e-cigarettes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said:

  • E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco product by American kids.
  • More than 3.6 million middle and high school students in the US used e-cigarettes in 2018, a significant increase of 1.5 million from the year before.
  • E-cigarettes contain nicotine and other harmful substances.
  • Like regular cigarettes, e-cigarettes put kids at risk of addiction, lung damage, and other health problems.

Nicotine can cause the brain to crave more nicotine and can harm brain development in adolescents.

This story first appeared on cancer.org.

  • Applications for the Gen2End leadership team due this Friday!

    Applications are due by August 23

    The American Cancer Society seeks to be the premiere cancer nonprofit where young professionals want to volunteer and work. 

    To facilitate this need, we are seeking volunteers to serve on the Gen2End leadership team. The Gen2End leadership team will be responsible for driving young professional volunteer engagement with the ACS. They will work to implement a 5-year Gen2End strategic plan that will engage this group (ages 22-35) into every aspect of our fight to end cancer. 

    An ideal candidate for the leadership team will have at least one year of ACS experience, preferably in a leadership role. Team members will need to commit to an 18- to 24-month term. The team will primarily meet by virtual calls and the work requirement is expected to be 4-6 hours per week. 

    Each team member will have responsibility for unique aspects of the Gen2End Strategic Plan and will be expected to:

    • Understand with proficiency and speak to the overall Gen2End strategic plan with both external and internal audiences, including executive level staff and members of the Board of Directors
    • Create a positive and productive partnership with your identified ACS staff person
    • Collaborate across team roles and with additional Society stakeholders to achieve over-arching goals
    • Learn and apply volunteerism trends and engagement best practices for young professionals
    • Work with skills-based volunteers to deliver on our goals

    Interested applicants need to apply by August 23. The Gen2End chairs and staff partners will be conducting interviews in September and will notify all applicants of their selection by the end of that month. 

    Selected applicants will be joining a team of:

    • Self-starters, balancing strategic thinking with an ability to define and deliver the tactical steps needed to operationalize our vision
    • Empowered leaders who seek to inspire more leaders rather than control the process
    • Collaborative partners who respectfully challenge ideas with thoughtful feedback meant to improve our results
    • Fast-paced action takers who honor our commitments to each other, to our staff partners, and to the mission of the American Cancer Society
    • Innovative risk takers who are comfortable driving forward while the road is still being paved 

    If you have questions, need further information, or would like the full position summary sent to you, please email ACSVolunteerCare@cancer.org.


  • ACS honors actor Patrick Dempsey

    ​The actor and philanthropist received an Impact Award at our Cal Spirit 34 Food and Wine Benefit on August 18

    Actor Patrick Dempsey, best known for his role as neurosurgeon Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd in the TV show Grey's Anatomy, was honored with an American Cancer Society Impact Award on Sunday for his work helping those diagnosed with cancer through his Dempsey Centers in Maine.

    The sold-out event was held at the Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, CA. The California Spirit Food and Wine Benefit has raised more than $16 million over 34 years, and this year's event was over goal. 

    Dempsey, 53, who attended with his wife, Jillian Fink, and his daughter, Tallulah, 17, founded the first Dempsey Center in Lewiston, Maine, in 2008, wanting to give back to the community where he grew up, and where his mother, Amanda, first received treatment for ovarian cancer in 1997. She died in 2014.

    There are now two centers in his home state of Maine - in Lewiston and South Portland - where 2,500 cancer patients receive free services every year.

    The honorary chairs for Cal Spirit 34 were Sherry Lansing, former CEO of Paramount Pictures and the first woman to head a Hollywood movie studio, and Phil Rosenthal, the Emmy Award-winning creator and writer for “Everyone Loves Raymond,” “Spanglish,” and “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having.” He currently stars in “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix. 

    Lansing founded California Spirit in 1984 as her way to give back after her mother died from ovarian cancer. She has remained committed to the event throughout its 34-year history. 

    The host chef for Cal Spirit 34 was Antonia Lofaso, a chef, TV personality, cookbook author, and restaurant owner. Her dad is a two-time cancer survivor. Emcee was June Quan, Esq., founder of the popular Instagram page “Stir and Style.” She lost a grandmother to pancreatic cancer, an aunt is a survivor of ovarian cancer, and another aunt is currently fighting breast cancer.

    In addition to enjoying the gourmet food, guests had the opportunity to participate in a silent auction, where they could bid on items ranging from a VIP experience at Jimmy Kimmel Live! to dinner at Spago or a whiskey package from Kentucky Peerless Distilling Co. Live auction items included a Dodger Stadium luxury box experience and a trip to Paris to watch the French Open. Lansing may have raised the most money for any item when she auctioned off a dinner and film screening for 12 at her home theater. Three different guests agreed to pay $11,000 each for the experience.

    Following the dinner hour, there were speeches from Lansing, Rosenthal, and Dempsey, as well as from teenager Caitlin Herron, who detailed her experience as a young cancer survivor. Also speaking briefly was Harry Joseph Lennix III, co-star of the NBC drama The Blacklist.

    The annual Dempsey Challenge, a walk, run, bike event in the Lewiston-Auburn, helps support the Dempsey Centers. In October 2009, when Dempsey introduced the first Dempsey Challenge, registration was closed after reaching the goal of 3,500 cyclists, runners, and walkers. The event raised more than $1 million for the cancer center. The Challenge has become an annual October event presented by Amgen. 

    Tickets to California Spirit were $250 per person and sponsorships started at $5,000.

    To learn even more and see lots of photos, visit the Average Socialite website.

    TOP PHOTO: From left, Jeff Klaas, EVP, West Region; Phil Rosenthal; Sherry Lansing; and Patrick Dempsey.


  • Ocean City, MD, Poor Girls Open has raised more than $1M for ACS

    ​Attacking cancer from all lady anglers

    The 26th Annual Captain Steve Harman’s Poor Girls Open made a big splash against breast cancer again, supporting Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ocean City, Maryland. The three-day billfish-release tournament, a ladies-only event, took place August 15-17.

    Last year the event, which has benefited ACS  for more than a decade, surpassed the $1 million mark in fundraising to help fight breast cancer with the Society. 

    This year was larger and more exciting than ever with a record 925 anglers and 182 boats registered and raised $140,000 for the second year in a row.  In 2017, the event raised $125,000.

    The daily weigh in attracts a huge audience to see the winning fish in the entry levels for billfish, tuna, wahoo, and dolphin.  An amazing highlight this year was a new Maryland state record set by a lady angler for a 74.5 pound dolphin, also known as mahi mahi, which made news statewide and was reported by the The Washington Post.

    The Poor Girls Open was founded by Captain Steve Harman as a way for local waitresses and bartenders to have an affordable, fun competition with proceeds donated to a local charity.  He died in 2004, but Steve’s brother Shawn and the Harman family, who own Bahia Marina, carry on the tradition.  

    Volunteers from the Pink Ribbon Classic Events Committee and Mary Bellis, senior manager, community development, provide incredible support, putting in many hours of work for the tournament. 

    “It is a privilege to work with the Harman family and the tournament crew. The efforts of this group in engaging the local community and providing an extraordinary experience for the participants ensures the continuing success of this event,” said Mary.

    For more information, visit www.poorgirlsopen.com.


  • ACS asked to provide expert guidance on patient navigation

    ​Cancer Control staff is co-authoring a series of articles for a professional journal

    ACS Regional and Global Headquarters Cancer Control staff have been invited by the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) to co-author a series of articles highlighting key components of establishing successful navigation programs. The articles are published in the Journal of Oncology Navigation and Survivorship, a journal of the AONN+.  

    The article series began in 2018 and will continue through December 2019, with a different topic addressed each month, from both a clinical and nonclinical navigation perspective. ACS staff provide the nonclinical or lay navigation perspective, while experts from Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, provide the clinical or nurse navigation perspective.

    “I’m so proud of our Cancer Control staff who are seen as leaders by their peers in the field of patient navigation," said Rich Wender, MD, our chief cancer control officer. "The expert guidance they provide to navigators across the country is key to helping them support and empower cancer patients as they work to overcome barriers to cancer care.”

    The image above shows the list of published and planned ACS staff articles. Click here to view the complete series. 

    To learn more about the series, contact Monica Dean, director of Patient Navigation.

  • Our new chief medical and scientific officer says he's excited to get started

    ​He will assume his duties on Oct. 21 and will relocate from Arizona to Atlanta

    William G. Cance, MD, our new chief medical and scientific officer, said on Tuesday that he's looking forward to many things, but top of the list is "working with such an amazing organization and a team of 1.5 million volunteers to more rapidly take advances in cancer treatment and cancer prevention to the patients."

    The oncologist said: "We are at a great time in cancer therapy with the advent of precision medicine, precision treatment, precision prevention, and using science and predictive markers to guide our approaches to preventing cancer and to treating cancer. I also believe that we are at a crossroads of being able to fund such initiatives because of the dearth of federal research dollars, the high costs of health care, and the lack of creative focus on our one competitor - cancer. I hope to make a difference in those areas." 

    In the August 15 media release announcing his appointment, Dr. Cance noted that the ACS name "has been synonymous with progress and hope." He said his goal is to "help this historic organization achieve its mission to further reduce the burden of cancer nationwide and globally."

    Dr. Cance will lead the integration of our Research and Cancer Control departments, unifying our intramural and extramural research, prevention and early detection programs, patient and caregiver support, program and service strategies, global cancer control, and health systems.

    Rich Wender, MD, our chief cancer control officer, met Dr. Cance in Atlanta during the oncologist's initial interview. He described our new chief medical and scientific officer as “engaging and enthusiastic.”

    “He’ll be a wonderful spokesperson for ACS and our work. He could not have been more excited about coming to lead our mission activities,” Rich said. He added: "He has a good understanding of the special opportunities and challenges that come with this job - the need to have an entrepreneurial mindset and to link how we drive towards our mission goals and how we fund the work. He is willing to take thoughtful risks – definitely an attribute we need."

    Dr. Cance brings to the American Cancer Society an impressive breadth and depth of experience as an executive leader, practicing surgical oncologist, researcher, and entrepreneur, skills that will help us pursue our 2035 challenge goal to reduce cancer mortality by 40 percent.

    Since 2016, Dr. Cance has been at the University of Arizona, serving as deputy director and presently as interim director of the Arizona Cancer Center in Phoenix. He is highly regarded as a leader who established a culture of collaboration that advanced cancer care and treatment. He has been a professor in the departments of interdisciplinary oncology, pharmacology and toxicology, and surgery for the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in Phoenix. 

    Dr. Cance, who goes by "Bill," has an active surgical oncology practice, and he is principal investigator for a 25-year National Cancer Institute grant focused on focal adhesion kinase, a protein involved in cancer metastasis. He holds eight patents and has been involved in several entrepreneurial projects to bring his research advancements to market, much in the same way our BrightEdge impact fund seeks to do.

    Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Dr. Cance held leadership positions at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the University of Florida, and the University of North Carolina. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University, and he completed a residency in general surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine and a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. 

    In his announcement email to all staff last Thursday, CEO Gary Reedy gave a special acknowledgement to Len Lichtenfeld, MD, for his leadership and the excellent job he has done as interim chief medical and scientific officer since November 2018. Gary also thanked the volunteers and staff who assisted in the interviewing process. 

    If you would like to share this news with others, here is a link to the press release on cancer.org.

    PHOTO: Pictured with Dr. Cance in the smaller image is his wife, Jenn. It was taken during a trip to the Grand Canyon.


  • Hallmark cards now available at CVS support ACS

    ​Sometimes it's hard to know what to say when someone is affected by cancer, but these cards help show your love and support.

    With Hallmark’s new American Cancer Society card collection, ACS and Hallmark are joining forces to help people communicate compassionately about a cancer diagnosis.

    Due in part to our partnership with CVS, Hallmark has a new line of thoughtfully designed cards specifically for those who are fighting cancer. Only available at CVS, Hallmark will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for every card purchased from Sunday, August 4 through Saturday, August 24, up to $50,000. 

    The card collection will be available beyond August.

    Sample card messages include (cover/inside):

    • We are not what happens to us/No matter what the circumstances are that might make you feel otherwise, you're still the same wonderful person everyone knows and loves – and we're all rooting for you.
    • Grateful doesn't even begin to cover it/For helping on this journey, for all you do for those around you. Thank you.
    • Cancer Free/This deserves to be celebrated. Congrats!
    • It's hard to know what to say/But I can say this…If you want to talk, I'm here to listen. I'm here for whatever you need.
    • You're a fighter/I know you, and I know your courage and strength will see you through this. 

    Hallmark is dedicated to creating a more emotionally connected world and developing products that make a genuine difference in every day lives. By purchasing a card for someone you care about who is affected by cancer, Hallmark is helping us make a difference in the lives of those on their cancer journey. 

    The new Hallmark American Cancer Society cards are a thoughtful way for someone to show support for the fighters in their life. If you know a fighter, stop by your local CVS store to buy an encouraging card for them today. 


  • Unleash your inner activist . . .

    And save more lives!

    There’s so much to fighting cancer. It’s why we have “Attacking from every angle” as our tagline. We fight through events, in courtrooms, in hospitals, in communities, in labs, in corporate offices, and we fight cancer in the homes and hearts of those we help. Where has all this fighting gotten us? Further. 

    Together, we’ve saved millions of lives. Prevented multitudes of cancers. Passed laws, crossed boundaries, gotten patients to treatment, given them a place to stay, provided access to care where there was none. And brought hope.

    Cancer is a formidable opponent and there is still so much to do. We need help every year, every month, and every day. The best way to garner support for our cause is to ask for it. The more people know about what we do, the more they will want to support us, through volunteering and donating. 

    Here’s where you come in:

    We have about 1.5 million volunteers and more than 4,000 employees. And you’re one of them. If each of us told 5 friends about the work ACS does, it would create significant impact. If we use our social channels, the multiplier is staggering. 

    It might not seem appropriate to launch into a conversation about your work and the importance of fighting cancer when you’re hanging with friends, with other parents at school or at gatherings. But remember this, 1 in 3 of them will be affected by cancer, so what you have to say will be relevant. 

    When you find the right time to tell the ACS story, know that you’re a credible storyteller because you live it. Visit The ACS Story page on My Society Source and the library of ways to help you tell your story, including social posts, conversation guides, and information about our angles of attack on various cancers and patient services. 

    It couldn’t be easier! Grab one of the pre-made social posts and share it using the #AttackingCancer and #ACSemployee hashtags on your personal social media pages. ACS2Go, our employee app, also makes sharing posts easy. If you see a social media post on the app you like, share it with one click. 

    The next time someone asks you what you do for a living, tell them how you’re helping lead the fight for a world without cancer. It matters. Every time we tell our story, we’re attacking cancer. Speak up. Save lives. 


  • 2018 data shows gains in colorectal cancer screening rates

    ​Congratulations to all who are championing efforts to increase CRC screenings!

    It was an exciting news for cancer control staff who work to increase colorectal cancer screening rates. According to Emily Butler Bell, MPH, director for colorectal cancer interventions from the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT), 2018 data just released show exciting progress in screening rates.

    “The successes we are seeing in health centers are due in large part to the valuable technical assistance and quality improvement coaching that ACS staff provide,” said Emily. At least one health center in each ACS region reached an 80% screening rate. 

    According to the 2018 Uniform Data System (UDS) data released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), significant gains in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates have been achieved n the nation’s federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), also called community health centers.

    The UDS CRC screening rate reached 44.1% in 2018, which amounts to a 14%  point increase since HRSA began tracking CRC screening as a UDS measure in 2012. Furthermore, 31 health centers reached the 80% goal in 2018, up from 22 in 2017.

    Health centers serve 28 million patients, many of whom are at or below the federal poverty level and come from underserved communities that experience lower CRC screening rates. Because of this, health centers have tremendous potential to improve CRC screening rates and to reduce CRC morbidity and mortality in racially and ethnically diverse, socioeconomically challenged communities across the country.

    SMALLER PHOTO: Staff from Sandhills Medical Foundation, a health center system in South Carolina that recently reached 80% screening rates. Kim Hale, senior manager of State and Primary Care Systems with ACS, partnered in this work. 
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