Vaping Digest June 21st

Friday’s News at a glance:

A fear that stubbornly refuses to be a problem – New Deeming threat as FDA loses court case to extremists – Way up north – Criminalizing E-Cigarettes – San Francisco Will Become the First City to Ban All Vape Sales – San Francisco protects cigarettes to own the vapers – GFN: The Michael Russell Oration – Silly Dame Sally – Not Cool – Why are tobacco companies embracing harm reduction – JUUL is the Apple of e-cigarettes – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest

A fear that stubbornly refuses…

To be a problem – New Nicotine Alliance

Tuesday saw the publication of the latest research by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) into the subject of underage vaping in the UK.

Sadly, the media mostly avoided reporting on the good news that the proportion of under 18s who try vaping has dropped to the lowest level since 2016. There was also little coverage that those who had tried an e-cigarette once or twice in 2019 was lower than in 2015 and that regular use of e-cigarettes amongst 11-18 year olds has declined in 2019 compared to 2018.

New Deeming threat as FDA loses case

Fergus Mason, vaping Post

E-cig makers in the USA are about to lose their breathing space, as the FDA prepares to move up the deadline for submitting approval requests. Most small companies won’t have time or money to get the expensive and complex paperwork done on time, and face having to take their products off the market by next autumn. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party in California is tied up in a row over sponsorship money from JUUL Labs, while their colleagues in Washington, DC start another investigation into the company’s marketing practices. All this is happening against a backdrop of falling cigarette sales – but this good news doesn’t stop demented politicians accusing e-cig companies of “stealing” children.

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Way up north

It’s good to be home. Or is it….

While I was away in Poland, more on that later, this turned up in the Donegal Post

Vaping amongst Donegal’s young people cause for serious concern

It looks like Donegal has caught the vaping madness that has consumed America. Let’s take a look and see if there is actually a cause for concern.

“many of these are young teenagers who are now addicted to nicotine as a result“.  That’s an evidence-free claim right there. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the article. Chris Macey, Head of Advocacy at the Irish Heart Foundation agrees with this evidence-free claim.

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Consumer Advocacy Alignment Meeting

Norbert Zillatron , IG-ED Germany

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Criminalizing E-Cigarettes –

Perpetuating the Spiral of Poverty – Dr Marewa Glover

Forty-three million Americans live in poverty, and the numbers are not diminishing. Certainly poverty is complicated, and there are economic, social and cultural issues at play. But is there more government can do — or not do — to ease the burden on the working poor?

Sara Greene, associate professor of law at Duke University, thinks there is. She argues that too often state and local governments impose laws and regulations that cumulatively, and too often “invisibly,” hurt the very people we ought to be trying to help.

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First City to Ban All Vape Sales

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Pronouncing themselves “leaders,” the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to ban all vaping products from being sold until the FDA approves them. The law requires another vote, but the results will not change. The supervisors unanimously approved the prohibition.

The law bans sales in city stores, and even online sales into the city. San Francisco will not ban combustible cigarettes.

“I don’t for a minute believe that any politician who is serious about trying to prevent youth smoking would propose as a solution allowing cigarettes to remain on the shelves without any further restrictions whatsoever,” wrote Boston University public health professor Michael Siegel, a well-known tobacco control expert. “But that is precisely what the Board of Supervisors is poised to do.”

San Francisco moves to ban – horrors! – e-cigarettes

What Are San Francisco Officials Smoking?

San Francisco protects cigarettes

Guy Bentley, Washington Examiner

Awash in needles, human feces, and facing one of the worst housing crises in the country, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has decided vaping is public enemy number one.

On Tuesday, the supervisors voted unanimously to ban the manufacture, sale, and distribution of e-cigarettes in San Francisco. A further vote next week is needed to finalize the ban.

In a city where marijuana is mercifully legal, heroin injection sites are being prepared to reduce drug overdoses, and bars remain ubiquitous, it’s beyond parody to single out the most popular and effective tool for quitting smoking as a unique evil worthy of prohibition.

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Trio from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

GFN: The Michael Russell Oration

The Michael Russell Oration is an established annual event, delivered to honour the work and memory of Professor Michael Russell, a pioneer in the study of smoking behaviour, clinical interventions and public policy action. Ronald W. Dworkin, M.D., Ph.D. delivered this year’s oration at the Global Forum for Nicotine (GFN), in Poland, on the subject of “Interests and Ideology in Harm Reduction”.

GFN organisers describe Michael Russell as the person who did most to lay the foundations for tobacco harm reduction and welcomed Dr. Dworkin to Warsaw; a practising anaesthesiologist, with a doctorate in political philosophy and a lecturer on the George Washington University Honours Program.

Silly Dame Sally

Dame Sally Davies, the current chief medical officer for England, has indulged herself in fantastical alarmist hysteria about the dangers of vaping. Although she has decided to quit her post in September, her unscientific comments about electronic cigarettes (telling MPs to ban it in public) make her totally unfit for the position anyway. Davies will be replaced by Professor Chris Whitty.

Davies appeared before the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee to discuss the roll-out of the 5G mobile phone network. While there, she also vented about vaping.

Not Cool

Fears expressed by Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies in our other article today have been dismissed by latest research from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). In Britain, young people vape just to give it a try, not because they think it’s “cool”. Despite this, the British Medical Association still thinks strict legislation is the way forward.

The new research shows vaping remains uncommon among young people, and young people vape mainly just to give it a try (52%) not because they think it looks cool (1%).

Why are tobacco companies…

Embracing harm reduction but fail to avail safer products to the African market?

Joseph Magero, Medium

According to the tobacco atlas, about 77 million Africans continue to smoke, even after one of the most intense public health campaigns in history, tobacco control. Each year some 500,000 smokers die from smoking-related diseases, including lung and other cancers, cardiovascular disorders and pulmonary diseases. With a rapidly growing young population and rising prosperity, sadly, in many African countries the number of smokers is expected to soar. Perhaps one of the highest increases (at least in number terms) will be in Nigeria, where the number of smokers is expected to double from about 7,358,700 to roughly 16,868,400 by 2025.

JUUL is the Apple of e-cigarettes..

But can the American giant succeed in India?

E-cigarette giant JUUL has announced plans to launch its products in India by late 2019. According to a Reuters report, the company even began hiring new executives in January, hoping to open an Indian subsidiary soon. A rational next step in expanding the brand’s growing reach, the company’s plan to launch in India comes as no surprise since the country with 106 million adult smokers presents a highly lucrative potential market for e-cigarettes.

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On this Day…2018

A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….

American Cancer Society’s Combustible Tobacco Statement Contains Falsehood

Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth

The American Cancer Society’s new position statement offering a “bold new framework” for eliminating combustible tobacco use in the U.S. (here) contains a demonstrably invalid statement: “Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States (1), accounting for as much as 98% of all tobacco-related deaths (2) [emphasis added].

The problem with the highlighted phrase is that no estimate of “all tobacco-related deaths” in the U.S. has ever been produced by the government, academia or health organizations.  The percentage of deaths attributable to smoking, while undoubtedly large, is simply not known.

GFN18

Mawsley, Planet Of The Vapes

The Global Forum for Nicotine (GFN) took place in Poland and concluded last Saturday. Many harm reduction specialists attended but, again, the major opponents to vaping stayed away and refused to engage. A combination of presentations, debates, posters and satellite meetings all had the aim of asking questions and seeking answers.

Typically, one line of attack from opponents to vaping is that there is industry involvement from tobacco companies. GFN states: “The conference is funded by registration fees and does not receive any sponsorship from manufacturers, distributors or retailers of nicotine products including pharmaceutical, electronic cigarette and tobacco companies.”

CDC Finds Smoking Rates Are At Historic Low Across The US

Steve Birr, The Daily Vaper

The adult smoking rate in the U.S. is resting at an all-time low, dropping significantly since 2016, and vaping is likely playing a critical role.

Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday reveals after holding steady for several years, the smoking rate fell from nearly 16 percent of adults in 2016 to 13.9 percent in 2017. While the health gains are largely being attributed to years of successful public service campaigns warning of the dangers of smoking, credit is also being given to harm reduction technologiessuch as electronic cigarettes, reports the Associated Press.

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