Vaping Digest 16th November
Monday’s News at a glance:
Harry’s blog 106: Back to front – Another Groundless Gateway, Courtesy of Children’s National Hospital – Sensory experiences and cues among E-cigarette users – Why banning Vaping will be unwise – PayPal Problems Proliferate – PMI Accuse Tobacco Controller Of Lying – Australian Committee Submission – Vietnam needs framework for new-generation cigarettes – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest
Harry’s blog 106: Back to front
Harry Shapiro
As we have seen with the Trump playbook, seeding the media with conspiracy theories is the last gasp of the desperate and deluded. This is a favoured tactic of all anti-tobacco harm reduction organisations: anybody supporting THR must, by definition, be in the pocket of Big Tobacco and/or be a part of a ‘front organisation’.
A front organisation is a body set up by and controlled by another organisation. Front organisations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group, thereby allowing them to hide from public view. The intelligence services and groups like Scientology have a long track record of setting up front organisations – these organisations appear to be independent and make no mention of the parent body, yet they are entirely controlled by the parent…
Another Groundless Gateway
Courtesy of Children’s National Hospital – Brad Rodu
Pediatrics, the flagship journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, published an article two and a half years ago asserting that e-cigarettes are a “gateway” to smoking. After extensively analyzing the data from the FDA’s Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health, or PATH, on which the claim was based, I concluded that the study was so flawed that it deserved retraction. I discussed this in several blog posts (here, here, here and here).
Now it’s déjà vu all over again. Pediatrics has published another article by researchers at Children’s National Hospital and other institutions that is being touted by a CNH press release: “E-cigarettes can be a ‘gateway’ to conventional cigarette smoking for teens who had no prior intention to smoke.”
Sensory experiences and cues among users
J DiPiazza, P Caponnetto, G Askin, P Christos, M Lyc Psych Maglia, R Gautam, S Roche, R Polosa
A nonrandom purposive sample of 156 participants recruited in the USA through the Consumer Advocates for Smoke Free Alternatives Association Facebook page completed an online cross-sectional survey to assess sensory experiences and smoking cues associated with e-cigarette use. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and the ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis test with post hoc testing and the two-sample t test/Wilcoxon rank-sum test, as appropriate based on distribution, were used to assess the association between sample characteristics and sensory experiences and cues using investigator constructed questions, the Modified Cigarette Evaluation Questionnaire (mCEQ) and the Smoking Cue Appeal Survey (SCAS).
Have you done ETHRA’s EU Nicotine Users Survey, yet?
Available in multiple languages, only takes a few minutes to do.
DO the survey, SHARE the survey! https://t.co/DTfwmDLuAn pic.twitter.com/wxeAaNehy6— European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (@europethra) October 14, 2020
Deadline approaching for our THR scholarships. Big opportunity to enhance your THR skills and knowledge. Join an impressive group of graduates from this programme. https://t.co/dvdp11iJOA
— Gerry (@GerryStimson) November 14, 2020
Why banning Vaping will be unwise
Mithun Alamgir
The recent call for a ban on vaping appears misguided and a failure to appreciate the role of harm reduction in the fight against cigarette smoking.
The first thing any policymaker should note about vaping is that, it is not meant for non-smokers. It is strictly for cigarette smokers who want to quit smoking and choose a healthier lifestyle. Is there any evidence that supports vaping to be less harmful than regular cigarettes?
It seems, in Bangladesh, the anti-tobacco lobbyists are not really looking into the relevant data before declaring a war on vaping and demanding a ban. By doing so, they are not helping the overall agenda of decreasing tobacco related burden in Bangladesh; they are in fact harming the cause. Here’s why:
Three from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
PayPal Problems Proliferate
Vape companies have experienced issues with PayPal in the past, not least a problem that funds in accounts would be frozen for a considerable length of time – causing serious concerns for businesses impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Now an increasing number of reports are cropping up of companies across Europe and beyond being blocked from using PayPal.
Recently, eliquid company Supergood reported how its account had been frozen for up to 180 days. “Cash is king and holding any small business’ cash is detrimental to their ability to run. They do not want to facilitate the sale of any vape related products. They feel there is not enough scientific evidence to ensure the products are safe. The science is there for all to see,” they told Vapouround.
PMI Accuse Tobacco Controller Of Lying
Dr Lindsay Robertson is a researcher at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at New Zealand’s University of Otago. She claimed she visited an IQOS store in Seoul, South Korea, and was sold products without any checks. Philip Morris International (PMI) Vice President Dr. Moira Gilchrist was quick to rebuff claims, stating that video evidence proved the claimed events didn’t happen.
As part of her crusade against smoking, Robertson is staunchly opposed to reduced-harm products when it comes in the form of the new heat-not-burn (HNB) devices. Out of step with her peers in New Zealand, Robertson thinks reducing harm is “inconsistent with the Government’s goal of becoming a smoke-free country by 2025.”
Australian Committee Submission
Expert Clive Bates has submitted a document to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Tobacco Harm Reduction. In it he details the evidence on vaping and calls for the government to conduct a complete overhaul of the approach to tobacco harm reduction in Australia.
Clive is a UK-based consultant in sustainability, a former senior civil servant in Tony Blair’s government, and a former director of Action on Smoking and Health, the UK’s main anti-smoking organisation.
He writes: “The government, regulators and public health establishment are overly focussed on trivial or implausible risks, while downplaying or ignoring the very considerable public health opportunities and manageable risks. Vaping and other tobacco harm reduction options are beneficially disruptive to the tobacco and nicotine market, but they are also disruptive to organisations and individuals strongly vested in Australia’s model of tobacco control.”
Vietnam needs framework
For new-generation cigarettes
Vietnam should not legalise the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated-tobacco-products (HTPs) immediately but conduct a pilot phase allowing the production, import and trading of this new-generation cigarettes in the country, officials have said.
Representatives from various agencies of the Government were speaking at a workshop on the legal framework for new-generation cigarettes in Vietnam, held by Phap Luat Vietnam (Vietnam Law) Newspaper in Hanoi on November 11.
The representatives said e-cigarettes and HTPs were the result of the global application of technology and still very new to Vietnam’s tobacco industry and regulators.
On this Day…2019
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
E-Cig Summit Round Up 2019
James Dunworth, Ashtray Blog
Time drifts away like a cloud of gentle vapour, and after attending the 1st E-Cigarette summit in 2013 (and every one since!) it seems astonishing to find myself at the 7th event.
Events change too, and gone are the huddles of dedicated vapers at the back of the room. Indeed, you can’t now vape in the building of the Royal Society, or even in the forecourt. Instead you have to head to the side of the road and join the tobacco guys, the engineers and the occasional remaining advocate for a chilly vape and warmer conversation.
Act Now: Say No to a Senate Bill
That Will Ban Vape Mail! – Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
The Senate is considering a bill that would prohibit the U.S. Postal Service from shipping vapor products, and would require online purchasers to pay extra for point-of-delivery age verification. The cost of an online vaping purchase could increase by as much as $20.
Senate bill S 1253 is known as the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act. The House of Representatives already passed an identical bill (HR 3942) on Oct. 28. If the Senate approves the bill, it will go to President Trump to be signed into law or vetoed.
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