Menthol e-cigs OK as alternative to help adult smokers

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized the first menthol-flavored electronic cigarettes for adult smokers, acknowledging that vaping flavors can reduce the harms of traditional tobacco smoking.

The FDA said it authorized four menthol e-cigarettes from Njoy, the vaping brand recently acquired by tobacco giant Altria.

The decision lends new credibility to vaping companies’ longstanding claim that their products can help blunt the toll of smoking, which is blamed for 480,000 U.S. deaths annually due to cancer, lung disease and heart disease. E-cigarettes have been sold in the U.S. since 2007 but in recent years their potential benefits for smokers have been overshadowed by their use by adolescents and teens.

Parents and anti-tobacco groups immediately criticized the decision, which follows years of advocacy efforts to keep menthol and other flavors that can appeal to teens off the market.

“This decision could mean we’ll never be able to close the Pandora’s box of the youth vaping epidemic,” said Meredith Berkman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes.

Youth vaping has declined from all-time highs in recent years, with about 10% of high schoolers reporting e-cigarette use last year. Of those who vaped, 90% used flavors, including menthol.

UnitedHealth cyberattack hit credit cards, SSNs

Hackers made off with Social Security numbers, credit card information, medical histories and more in the February cyberattack on a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary, the company disclosed this week.

The Minnetonka-based health care behemoth revealed greater detail on the type of consumer data compromised and a timeline for contacting those affected in a filing to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As many as one-third of Americans may have had some or all of that data swiped, but a full picture of who was affected and in what way is still not available. The company said it began sending out notices to affected customers Thursday, but it could take until late July for individuals to begin receiving notice.

“While the data review is in its late stages, we continue to provide credit monitoring and identity theft protection to people concerned about their data potentially being impacted,” Change Healthcare said in a statement.

UnitedHealth, the nation’s largest health insurer, acquired Change Healthcare in late 2022.

Kaspersky denies it’s a hazard after software ban

The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky denied Friday that it is a security threat after the U.S. Commerce Department banned the use of its software in the United States.

The Moscow-based company — whose CEO Eugene Kaspersky is Russian — said in a statement that the Commerce Department’s decision would not affect its ability to sell and promote its cybersecurity products and training in the U.S.

Kaspersky said the government had based its decision on the “geopolitical climate and theoretical concerns” rather than independently verifying if there was a risk.

The government says Kaspersky’s Russian connections mean the company poses an “undue or unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or the safety and security.”

The company conducts much of its business in Russia and, as a Russian citizen who lives in that country, Eugene Kaspersky himself is subject to Russian law, the Commerce Department said in a decision dated June 14 that was posted on the Federal Register.

Compiled from Associated Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.