Vapers Digest 5th July
Friday’s News at a glance:
Misconceptions about THR abound – Sweden’s Harm Reduction Success – Dr Cox Knocks Oz Legal Blocks – Australia’s Dog’s Dinner – Fancy 7 Years in Jail? – Ad Authority Rules Against JAC Vapour – Warsaw’s Global Nicotine Forum Concludes – Youth Tobacco Use at Historic Lows – Ten lessons learned over a decade – Poor policy practice steers Labor’s prohibition fantasy – Vape crackdown in chaos – FDA Authorizes First Menthol-Flavored Vapor Products – U.S Supreme Court to review flavoured vapes ban decision – Malaysia to introduce ‘vape laws’ next month –
Misconceptions about THR abound
Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos
For countries with limited smoking cessation resources like Bangladesh, Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) is the only viable solution for aiding smokers in quitting when other methods fail. THR is relevant now more than ever as even after six decades of established evidence, smoking remains a significant global public health issue. Unfortunately, the crucial facts about smoking are often overlooked by scientists and politicians when discussing THR. This leads to the misconception that harm reduction is part of the smoking problem rather than the solution.
Sweden’s Harm Reduction Success:
A Model for Global Smoking Reduction – Richard Crosby
There was standing room only as harm reduction experts took questions from aspiring politicians in Sweden on the role that snus & nicotine pouches could play in reducing global smoking rates.
The panels at the event held by Considerate Pouchers Sweden discussed why Swedish politicians had failed to promote the country’s success in eliminating smoking through harm reduction methods like vaping and pouches in the face of increased EU aggression toward both.
Four from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
Dr Cox Knocks Oz Legal Blocks
Dr Sharon Cox has spoken about the new vape law Down Under, saying ‘The ends do not justify the means when it comes to Australia’s vaping policy’. Dr Sarah Jackson praised the commentary saying that Dr Cox ‘gets straight to the point in her commentary on Australian vaping policy’.
Dr Sharon Cox is a Senior Research Fellow within the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG) at University College London. She has been working as a researcher for over 15 years, looking at substance use, treatment.
Australia’s Dog’s Dinner
The Australian government pressed ahead with the introduction of its “world leading” Vaping Reform Bill but amendments have turned it into an even bigger dog’s dinner of disaster. With the Green Party forcing Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler to make changes, harm reduction experts and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have lambasted the resulting Bill as “a disaster and bound to fail”.
No longer will Australian smokers have to run around trying to obtain a prescription in order to access a vape – but Mark Butler’s solution has left almost everyone angry.
Fancy 7 Years in Jail?
The Department of Health and Aged Care Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has announced what the Australian regulatory changes mean. Part of the clarification details what constitutes a “commercial quantity of vapes” for the purpose of receiving a fine, and Aussie vapers need to be scared…very scared.
Ostensibly, the TGA is detailing “what businesses involved in the wholesale, transport, logistics, and storage of vapes need to know about the regulation of vapes, and how to ensure they comply with the new requirements.”
Ad Authority Rules Against JAC Vapour
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against Magflo Ltd (trading as JAC Vapour) following an intelligence gathering operation it conducted. The Authority says that the ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on the promotion of electronic cigarettes through affiliate schemes.
The Advertising Standards Authority questioned whether the page’s text breached the Advertising Code by “irresponsibly encouraging the promotion of e-cigarettes and related components online, because unlicensed nicotine-containing e-liquids and their components could not be promoted in online media.”
🚨 Calling all UK vapers! 🚨
We want to find out more about what *you* think about potential new vaping restrictions 🤔
There is still time to take part in the survey!
Click the link – it takes 5 minutes and you can enter a draw to win a £50 voucher 💰https://t.co/oSiNUVSEXO pic.twitter.com/LdXyWydeEY
— Sarah Jackson (@DrSarahEJackson) July 4, 2024
Global Nicotine Forum Concludes
Eleqtisade News
The Global Nicotine Forum, held in Warsaw, Poland last month, concluded its activities with several recommendations for tobacco harm reduction and addressing the risks of traditional smoking. The event was attended by a wide range of experts, including public health professionals, policy analysts, parliamentarians, government officials, academics, researchers, product manufacturers, distributors, and consumer rights groups.
During the forum, Professor Clive Bates, a Tobacco Industry Policy Expert said, “We must deal more seriously with combatting smoking using all possible means to help people quit smoking, by using e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, chewing tobacco, and other innovative alternatives to traditional cigarettes.”
Youth Tobacco Use at Historic Lows
Vaping Down in Utah – Lindsey Stroud
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services recently released the results of the state’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) for 2023. Conducted biennially, the YRBS assesses various behaviors of U.S. high school students, including their dietary habits, sexual history, and substance use.
The survey brought welcome news to parents and policymakers alike; it showed a continued decline in tobacco and vapor product use among students.
In 2023, only 1.1% of Utah high school students reported current use of combustible cigarettes, defined as using the product at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey.
Ten lessons learned over a decade
Of covering the novel nicotine industry
The more things change, the easier it is to forget that often they stay the same underneath. And that’s strikingly true of the novel nicotine world, where the pace of regulatory change and product innovation is so fast on the surface, yet many of the underlying realities have barely shifted in a decade.
So here, in no particular order, are ten things I’ve learned about our sector in the ten years since I joined the then-newborn Tamarind Intelligence, publisher of ECigIntelligence, TobaccoIntelligence and CannIntelligence. They may not quite count as eternal verities, but they’re as close as you’ll get in a still-young industry.
Poor policy practice
Steers Labor’s prohibition fantasy on vapes
The Albanese government wanted clear air to bed down its tax cuts and a raft of budget goodies. Senator Payman’s defection to the cross bench has denied the government the opportunity to get on the front foot. Meanwhile, one measure that was introduced on July 1 has slipped into law quietly and with little attention.
The sale of vapes has now been prohibited and as with any prohibition, it has created a powerful black market, a multimillion-dollar enforcement exercise while consigning young people as end users to deal with the tail end of organised criminal syndicates. Alternative link
Interview on vaping and regulation
Australia. ABC Ballarat 2 July 2024
Vape crackdown in chaos
With regulators unprepared, fearing organised crime
The new nationwide vape ban is in chaos just days after it was implemented as state and federal authorities fight and blame each other over which agencies are responsible for its implementation.
In the four days since the ban came into effect, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has not issued a fine or charge to any retailers or distributors in Victoria. State-based health regulators have also been unable to launch inspections, allegedly due to a TGA oversight.
Launch of Quitting Strong.
New Zealand’s smoking cessation success story, Warsaw, Poland. June 2024
FDA Authorizes First Menthol-Flavored
Vapor Products – Azim Chowdhury & Neelam Gill
On June 21, 2024, FDA issued marketing granted orders (MGOs) to NJOY LLC for two non-tobacco flavored electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products, the DAILY 4.5% and DAILY EXTRA 6% disposable devices, along with two ACE 2.4% and 5% pre-filled pods. All four of these NJOY ENDS products are menthol flavored. This FDA action, the first of its kind since the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) was enacted in 2009, marks the only instance in which FDA, which has rejected over 26 million premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to date…
FDA authorized the sale …
Of menthol-flavored e-cigarettes – Jamie Hartmann-Boyce
On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of the first electronic cigarette products in flavors other than tobacco in the U.S. Of the four new authorized products, two are sealed, prefilled pods with menthol flavored nicotine liquid that can be used in certain types of e-cigarettes. The other two are disposable nicotine e-cigarettes – meaning once the prefilled menthol liquid is used, the device cannot be used again.
The Conversation asked Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, a health policy expert who specializes in tobacco control and e-cigarette products, to explain the pros and cons of the FDA’s authorization and what it could mean for vulnerable populations.
U.S Supreme Court to review
Flavoured vapes ban decision – Ali Anderson
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Food and Drug Administration’s defence of its decision to ban flavoured vapes. The FDA had denied applications from two companies seeking to sell e-liquids in flavours such as sour grape, pink lemonade, and creme brulee. They included names such “Suicide Bunny Bunny Season” and “Jimmy the Juice Man Strawberry Astronaut.”
However, the rejections of these applications, along with over one million other products, was challenged by the companies in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court ruled that the FDA’s denial was “arbitrary and capricious” for not considering the companies’ plans to prevent underage access to the vapes.
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether…
The FDA’s ‘Regulatory Switcheroos’ on Vaping Were ‘Arbitrary and Capricious’
Last January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously,” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, when it refused to allow the marketing of flavored nicotine e-liquids made by two companies. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review that decision. The case highlights the maddeningly unfair process by which the FDA enforced its judgment that vaping products in flavors other than tobacco and menthol are ipso facto intolerable, even though former smokers prefer those options.
Malaysia to introduce ‘vape laws’
Next month – but industry in the dark – Ali Anderson
Malaysia is set to implement stricter regulations on vapes from August – but the industry is still in the dark over what they will be. The country’s health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad this week apologised for multiple delays in getting the ‘Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (ACT 852)’ enforced, but kept details of the rules under wraps.
Ahmad said that three regulations are already endorsed, while two more regulations and an order are pending approval. “Finally…the regulations and order shall be enforced together with the Act 852 in August,” he said. “God willing, no more delays.”
Illicit Combustible Tobacco & Vapes
Take Toll on Malaysia
New collaborative projects
Between Padjadjaran University and the University of Catania
Padjadjaran University received a visit from Prof. Riccardo Polosa, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Catania and also Founder of The Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at a public lecture, laboratory visit and meeting with the Vice Rector of Padjadjaran University.
At the public lecture, Prof. Riccardo explained the results of a study regarding the concept of harm reduction, especially regarding tobacco use and the health effects it causes. This concept aims to provide an alternative to various risky activities such as smoking by encouraging people who smoke to switch to products that are lower risk and not go through the combustion process (combustible free) so that they dont produce TAR which causes health problems.
On this Day…2023
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….
Breaking Ground in Medical Vaping: UK vs USA
Ellesmere Zhu, 2 Firsts
In an enlightening exchange, Mark Dickinson, owner of OTC medicines marketing consultancy Clarityse Ltd, and Ian Fearon, Chief Scientific Officer with McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Qnovia, an American venture-backed pharmaceutical company, shed light on the convoluted process of gaining regulatory approval for medicinal vaping products in the UK and the US. The road to obtaining a license is not only filled with scientific challenges, but it also demands significant financial investment and an unwavering commitment to the end goal, to use Ian’s comment, “the common good”.
Media Release: Health Experts Ignored as Health Minister
Mark Butler’s Addiction to Tobacco Taxes Exposed
Legalise Vaping
Today’s media reports of the Health Minister ignoring the advice of his own expert health committee on vaping policy, is evidence that the only thing he cares about is protecting the Australian Government’s addiction to tobacco taxes.
In documents released under freedom of information, private correspondence from the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs revealed concerns were raised that Mark Butler’s vaping policy ‘could make smoking cigarettes more attractive’.
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