Vapers Digest November 28th
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Caught red-handed ~ The facts according to ASH ~ Harry’s blog 76: When money talks, the truth walks ~ Pediatrics Journal Wants to Rectify Teen “Inaccurate Beliefs” ~ Hopes Snussed Out ~ Vaping Linked To Drop In Smoking ~ New Zealand to legalise vaping ~ Northern Territory misses an opportunity to reduce smoking rates ~ NT government continues to put smokers’ lives at risk ~ Thai government urged to lift ban on e-cigarettes ~ Anti-Vaping Canadian Doctors Demand a Flavor Ban ~ JUUL Goes After Compatible Pods and Flavors ~ Juul’s New Product: Less Nicotine, More Intense Vapor ~ Big Tobacco not sweating proposed curb on flavored cigarettes ~ The Government’s Foolish War on Vaping
Caught red-handed
Christopher Snowden, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
I spotted this tweet by a chap called Nason Maasi yesterday. He works with Mark Petticrew and Martin McKee at the LSHTM and his view of business is informed by their conspiratorial, Marxist way of thinking.
The facts according to ASH
Christopher Snowden, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
It must be a nice feeling to know that you can get away with saying whatever you want no matter how untrue it is. That’s been Deborah Arnott’s fortunate position as the head of ASH for many years now. The facts are whatever she wants them to be.
At the moment she wants Scotland to ban smoking in prisons. This has been a disastrous policy in England and Wales so, writing in The Sun, she simply changes the facts.
Harry’s blog 76: When money talks, the truth walks
Harry Shapiro, Nicotine Science and Policy
So here is how you con smokers, the public, the media and the politicians into believing that safer nicotine products are no safer than cigarettes. The basic framework is pulled from the interweb, so can be applied to many areas of public discourse but resonates with operatic clarity in the world of tobacco harm reduction. Italics are my additions or paraphrasing. Here we go…:
Pediatrics Journal Wants to Rectify Teen “Inaccurate Beliefs” About Smoke-Free Tobacco Hazards
Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth
In the journal Pediatrics, University of Vermont’s Maria Parker, Ph.D., and 11 coauthors from four other institutions report that “Youth [age 12-17 years] who believed that noncombustible tobacco products posed ‘no or little harm’ at [wave 1 of the FDA Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, PATH] were more likely to have tried those products at wave 2.” (here)
This finding is not particularly surprising. It shows that, despite a relentless campaign against vastly safer smoke-free tobacco products, some youth recognize the truth: It’s the smoke that’s harmful.
Hopes Snussed Out
Mawsley, Planet Of The Vapes
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) upholding of the European ban on snus was predictable following the Advocate General’s ruling in April, but it is still disappointing and betrays a flawed approach to tobacco harm reduction. The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) branded the decision, “a blow to the public health of EU citizens”.
Vaping Linked To Drop In Smoking
Mawsley, Planet Of The Vapes
Anti-vaping campaigners have long held on to the lie that vaping is a gateway into smoking despite the evidence of their own eyes. The recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) report claimed there is “substantial evidence” to support it, but a study from Georgetown University finds “a strong and consistent inverse relationship” between vaping and smoking.
New Zealand to legalise vaping
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) said that following the announcement by the New Zealand Associate Minister of Health, Hon Jenny Salesa, to legalise vaping and nicotine e-cigarettes, Australia will soon sit behind more than 60 other countries in continuing to ban the alternatives to traditional tobacco products.
The announcement by Associate Minister Salesa last Friday emphasised that legalising vaping will enhance product quality and safety and assist low-income earners, who have some of the highest smoking rates, to switch to a cheaper and less harmful alternative
Northern Territory misses an opportunity to reduce smoking rates
Colin Mendelsohn, Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association,
The Northern Territory appears likely to continue to have the highest smoking rate in Australia, with a Parliamentary Report missing the opportunity to endorse tobacco harm reduction. Instead of supporting vaping, the committee agreed to regulate e-cigarettes in the same way as conventional tobacco products.
The Economic Policy Scrutiny Committee felt that ‘a precautionary approach is justified’, particularly given the conflicting evidence regarding the health effects of vaping’. As a result, it is likely that the Tobacco Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 will pass unchanged.
Related:
NT government continues to put smokers’ lives at risk
Legalise Vaping
Australia (LVA) today condemned a parliamentary report from the Northern Territory government which approves regulation of e-cigarettes or vapes in the same way as tobacco cigarettes, as it will put smokers’ lives at risk by making proven safer alternatives harder to access.
IN THE NEWS: (WISCONSIN) Record low #smoking correlates with 3/5 smokers trying #vaping and 54% of #vapers NOT SMOKING combustible cigarettes, but health officials only credit their “efforts” while worrying over minority of vapers who haven’t yet quit.https://t.co/vp6HTzhBUo
— CASAA (@CASAAmedia) November 28, 2018
Thai government urged to lift ban on e-cigarettes
Ann, The Phnom Penh Post
A NETWORK of e-cigarette users and importers have suggested that lifting the ban on smoke-free products and issuing appropriate regulations would be a more-effective measure to discourage people from smoking rather than selling cigarettes in plain packages.
The Public Health Ministry is in the process of announcing a new regulation requiring cigarettes to be sold only in plain packages, with 10 new pictures and warning messages designed by the ministry. The new regulation will come into force in 270 days after being published in the Royal Gazette.
Anti-Vaping Canadian Doctors Demand a Flavor Ban
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
Canadian anti-vaping activists really want an epidemic of their own, but Health Canada doesn’t yet seem interested in following FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s lead and declaring teen vaping to be a crisis.
The chill regulators are being pressured by the Canadian Paediatric Society to ban flavors, based on…well, nothing really. Survey numbers don’t show any increase in youth vaping, but since their U.S. counterparts from the American Academy of Pediatrics want a complete flavor ban here in the States, the Canadian doctors want a ban too.
JUUL Goes After Compatible Pods and Flavors
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
JUUL Labs has filed a patent complaint against 24 individuals and businesses, alleging infringement and asking the International Trade Commission to bar the products from being imported or sold in the United States. All 24 entities make, sell or distribute JUUL-compatible pods.
JUUL has also filed “mirror lawsuits” in 10 U.S. district courts, according to Bloomberg. Those federal suits were filed in Camden, NJ; New Haven, CT; Wilmington, DE; Rochester, NY; Chicago, IL; Denver, CO; Minnesota; and three cities in Florida.
Juul’s New Product: Less Nicotine, More Intense Vapor
Sheila Kaplan, New York Times
Juul Labs has soared to the top of the United States e-cigarette market in just three years with its high-nicotine products that give off just a wisp of vapor.
Now, facing public backlash and overseas restrictions, the company is working on a way to lower the nicotine in its pods — but still maintain a potent punch from the addictive chemical.
Big Tobacco not sweating proposed curb on flavored cigarettes
CBS News
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s effort to curb the increase of nicotine addiction, particularly among younger smokers, is unlikely to hurt the tobacco industry, experts said.
The FDA is concentrating its efforts on banning flavors from both traditional combustible cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The FDA plan is to eventually eliminate menthol cigarettes, which represent about 35 percent of the traditional cigarette market. Menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by people of color.
The Government’s Foolish War on Vaping
John Stossel, Reason
E-cigarettes let people get a hit of nicotine without burning tobacco.
Avoiding burning tobacco is the single greatest preventative health measure human beings can take, given the diseases conventional cigarettes cause.
Unfortunately, our government and media now act as if vaping e-cigarettes is the health crisis.
“Your kids are not an experiment! Protect them from e-cigarettes,” warns former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy in a CDC PSA.
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