Vaping Digest December 18th
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Regulating Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Heated Tobacco Products ~ Queen Mary e-cigarettes paper the talk of the global village in 2019 ~ Vapers Beware: New Study Does NOT Show that E-Cigarettes Cause Chronic Lung Disease ~ Does vaping cause respiratory disease? ~ Expert reaction to research on ecig vapour, cigarette smoke and bacteria using moths and human cells ~ “Specious” Glantz ~ Bates, Brexit and Vaping in Britain ~ Dora Dolt in the Philippines ~ Flavored E-Cigarette Bans are a Sure Way to Increase Youth Cigarette Consumption and Black Market THC Vaping ~ Big Pharma Funds Anti-Vape Groups and Programmes ~ E-Cigarettes and Adult Smoking: Evidence from Minnesota ~ FDA permits sale of two new reduced nicotine cigarettes through premarket tobacco product application pathway ~ Congress Will Pass Tobacco 21 Law This Week ~ New Study: Tax E-cigarettes, Increase Smoking ~ Texas Schools Use ‘Vape-Detecting Technology’ To Arrest and Imprison Teens Who Vape ~ Students face felony charges, expulsions as Texas schools ramp up fight against vaping ~Affected By Vaping Crisis, Mass. Teens Take Matters Into Their Own Hands
Regulating Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Heated Tobacco Products
Marewa Glover, PhD, Coreiss
In December 2019, the Philippines House of Representives Committee of Trade and Industry and the Committee of Health jointly convened to hear submissions on a proposed Act to regulate the manufacture, distribution, sale, importation, use and advertisement of electronic nicotine delivery systems and heated tobacco products.
One of the barriers to reducing smoking among indigenous peoples in New Zealand (NZ), Australia, the United States of America (USA), Canada and Greenland, has been the lack of recognition of socio-historical and cultural differences between indigenous peoples and the Euro-Western dominated tobacco control movement that thinks all peoples of the world are like them, or should live like them. The World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)(1) is Eurocentric and this is one of the reasons why non-European non-Western sub-groups have not found the FCTC strategies as effective for them.
Queen Mary e-cigarettes paper the talk of the global village in 2019
Queen Mary University of London
Research around e-cigarettes led by Professor Peter Hajek from Queen Mary is among the year’s 20 most discussed papers around the world, independent analysis suggests.
Vapers Beware: New Study Does NOT Show that E-Cigarettes Cause Chronic Lung Disease
Michael Siegel, The Rest of the Story
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine purports to show that the use of e-cigarettes causes long-term lung damage. The study found that adults who used e-cigarettes at baseline and had never been diagnosed with lung disease were more likely than non-vapers at baseline to be told that they have lung disease after three years of follow-up. The study controlled for whether or not a person reported smoking at baseline, but not for their lifetime history of cigarette consumption.
Does vaping cause respiratory disease?
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
Junk science supremo Stanton Glantz returned this week, with his colleague Dharma Bhatta, to claim that vaping causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis and asthma. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and widely reported in the media, the duo use the publicly accessible PATH survey to look at rates of disease in a large American sample between 2013 and 2016.
All told, they reckon that vaping increases the risk of respiratory disease by around 30 per cent.
Expert reaction to research on ecig vapour, cigarette smoke and bacteria using moths and human cells
Science Media Centre
Research, published in Respiratory Research, reports on exposure to ecig vapour, cigarette smoke and bacteria in moths and human cells.
Prof Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), said:
“This work complements previous studies showing that exposure of airway cells to e-cigarette vapour increases bacterial adhesion. This study now suggests that e cigarette vapour not only makes airway cells stickier for bacteria – but it has direct effects on the bacteria itself which increases its ability to stay in the airways for long periods of time.”
“Specious” Glantz
Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Professors Stanton Glantz and Dharma Bhatta, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), have “analysed” Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) data to look for links between vaping and respiratory disease. It will surprise nobody to discover that they found an increased risk of “chronic lung diseases including asthma, bronchitis and emphysema”.
Two more from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Bates, Brexit and Vaping in Britain
With the U.K. general election over and the dust beginning to settle, harm reduction advocate Clive Bates has ventured his opinion on what might be in the pipeline for vaping following the result. Next year will see progress on the next version of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and it bodes ill.
Dora Dolt in the Philippines
Dr Ranti Fayokun Scientific Adviser at the UK Department of Health Toxicology Unit at Imperial College London and a National Capacity Scientist for the World Health Organisation. She presented to a Philippines senate hearing and, in one slide, demonstrated how ignorant or reckless with the truth some people can be.
I just informed my mother who had chronic bronchitis and is now (6 months after switching from smoking for > 50 years to e-cigarette use) symptom-free, that e-cigarettes cause COPD according to a new study. She loved this joke!!!
— K. Farsalinos (@FarsalinosK) December 17, 2019
Flavored E-Cigarette Bans are a Sure Way to Increase Youth Cigarette Consumption
Michael Siegel, The Rest of the Story
Sometimes the most important evidence in a public health debate come from the most important informants: the people who are actually affected by public health policy and who know what is happening on the ground. This morning, WGBH reported that the Massachusetts e-cigarette ban is leading youth to substitute real cigarettes or illegal THC vapes for their flavored e-cigarettes.
Big Pharma Funds Anti-Vape Groups and Programmes
Neil Humber, EcigClick
Big Pharma funds anti-vape groups? Imagine my shock!
It appears Big Pharma company Pfizer has been funding at least one European anti-vaping organization for a number of years allegedly pumping in millions of Euros.
Nothing wrong with that you might think, however Pfizer now has former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb on it’s board of directors and also manufactures stop smoking medicines and products.
E-Cigarettes and Adult Smoking: Evidence from Minnesota
Henry Saffer, Michael Grossman, Daniel Dench, Dhaval Dave, SSRN
E-cigarettes use a battery powered heater to turn a liquid containing nicotine into a vapor. The vapor is inhaled by the user and is generally considered to be less harmful than the smoke from combustible cigarettes because the vapor does not contain the toxins that are found in tobacco smoke. Because e-cigarettes provide an experience that is very similar to smoking, they may be effective in helping smokers to quit, and thus the availability of e-cigarettes could increase quit rates. Alternatively, e-cigarettes may provide smokers with a method of bypassing smoking restrictions and prolong the smoking habit.
FDA permits sale of two new reduced nicotine cigarettes
through premarket tobacco product application pathway
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has authorized the marketing of two new tobacco products manufactured by 22nd Century Group Inc. – Moonlight and Moonlight Menthol, which are combusted, filtered cigarettes that contain a reduced amount of nicotine compared to typical commercial cigarettes.
Following a rigorous science-based review of the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) submitted by the company, the agency determined that authorizing these reduced nicotine products for sale in the U.S. is appropriate for the protection of the public health because of, among several key considerations, the potential to reduce nicotine dependence in addicted adult smokers, who may also benefit from decreasing nicotine exposure and cigarette consumption. The agency determined that non-smokers, including youth, are also unlikely to start using the products, and those who experiment are less likely to become addicted than people who experiment with conventional cigarettes.
Congress Will Pass Tobacco 21 Law This Week
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
Federal Tobacco 21 legislation will be included in the spending bill that must pass Congress before the Christmas break in order to avoid a government shutdown. The new law will include e-cigarettes among the “tobacco products” limited to those 21 and over.
The provision has widespread bipartisan support, including from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who introduced his own Tobacco 21 legislation earlier this year. The bill is also supported by powerful Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, a fierce opponent of vaping.
New Study: Tax E-cigarettes, Increase Smoking
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research examines the effects of Minnesota’s decision to tax e-cigarettes like tobacco cigarettes. Here is the abstract:
E-cigarettes use a battery powered heater to turn a liquid containing nicotine into a vapor. The vapor is inhaled by the user and is generally considered to be less harmful than the smoke from combustible cigarettes because the vapor does not contain the toxins that are found in tobacco smoke. Because e-cigarettes provide an experience that is very similar to smoking, they may be effective in helping smokers to quit, and thus the availability of e-cigarettes could increase quit rates.
Students face felony charges, expulsions as Texas schools ramp up fight against vaping
, The Texas Tribune
Before entering the halls of Channing School high atop the Texas Panhandle last year, students were required to roll up their shirt sleeves to show they weren’t sneaking in e-cigarettes.
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