Vapers Digest 12th April
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
SnusForumNet
The Norwegian government wants to ban online snus sales as part of a new tobacco strategy. But experts warn the measure may be counterproductive for efforts to reduce smoking rates.
Norway’s new tobacco strategy was included in a sweeping public health report released on March 31.
“Our vision is a tobacco-free generation, and we want to make ensure children born in 2010 and later are given that opportunity,” said Norwegian health minister Ingvild Kjerkol in a statement.
Liberalised nicotine pouch regulation could be short-lived
YLE News
Strong nicotine pouches are no longer classified as medicine in Finland, announced the medicines regulator on Thursday, freeing them from import restrictions applied to medications.
Finnish Customs announced it would implement the new designation immediately.
Three from Gov.UK
Minister Neil O’Brien speech on achieving a smokefree 2030:
cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping
It’s an enormous pleasure to be here today at Policy Exchange to set out the government’s next steps on vaping and smoking. Everybody agrees that we must do more to prevent ill health in the first place – not just treat it afterwards. Cutting smoking is one of the most evidence-based and effective interventions that we can make.
Youth vaping: call for evidence
In the UK, vapes (e-cigarettes) are regulated as consumer products that can be legally sold to anyone over the age of 18. The government encourages adult smokers to switch to vapes as they are substantially less harmful than smoking. However, vapes should not be used by people under the age of 18 (children) and we have a range of restrictions in place to prevent their uptake and use.
One million smokers will be encouraged to swap cigarettes for vapes under a pioneering new ‘swap to stop’ scheme designed to improve the health of the nation and cut smoking rates.
As part of the world-first national scheme, almost 1 in 5 of all smokers in England will be provided with a vape starter kit alongside behavioural support to help them quit the habit as part of a series of new measures to help the government meet its ambition of being smokefree by 2030 – reducing smoking rates to 5% or less.
The UK government announces new enlightened
and proportionate Smokefree 2030 proposals
New Nicotine Alliance (NNA)
Today, public health minister Neil O’Brien announced a raft of new initiatives to reduce smoking in the UK and prevent adolescents from accessing vaping products. They are designed to accelerate the government’s target of reaching smokefree status by 2030 – defined as smoking prevalence of less than 5% – and will cement the UK’s place as the world leader in recognising tobacco harm reduction as a powerful public health tool.
Vaping: Free e-cigarettes to be handed out in anti-smoking drive
Sean Seddon & Rachel Russell, BBC News Services
One million smokers will be given a free vaping starter kit to encourage them to give up tobacco products.
Pregnant women will also be offered up to £400 to stop smoking as part of a package of measures in England unveiled by the government on Tuesday.
A consultation will be launched on compelling cigarette manufacturers to put advice on quitting inside packs.
Vape starter kits for one million smokers in ‘swap to stop’ scheme
Sky News
One million cigarette smokers will be offered vape starter kits as part of a government “swap to stop” scheme to make the nation “smoke free”.
The kits will be offered to almost one in five of all smokers in England as part of a push that is “the first of its kind in the world”, Health Minister Neil O’Brien will announce on Tuesday.
Vaping: New measures to crack down on illegal sale of e-cigarettes to teenagers
Marita Moloney, BBC News Services
Plans to make it more difficult for children to illegally buy e-cigarettes in England are to be laid out by the government next week.
An enforcement squad made up of trading standards officers will be set up to carry out test purchases and clamp down on shops selling vapes to under-18s.
The Department of Health says it will allocate £3m to tackle the issue.
UK Will Give Away 1 Million Free Vapes, Crack Down on Youth Vaping
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
The United Kingdom will offer free vapes to one million smokers in England—the first time such a plan has been tried nationally. The quit-smoking scheme was announced today in a speech by British Health Minister Neil O’Brien.
People who want to quit smoking will be given free vape starter kits, along with behavioral support. Such “swap to stop” programs have been proven effective in local trials.
The UK must not give in to the anti-vaping zealots
Martin Cullip, CAPX
The Government’s refusal to give in to anti-vape campaigners in the recent Spring Budget is a win for smoking harm reduction advocates. It is also encouraging to note that ministers have announced plans to spend £3m on creating a new ‘illicit vapes enforcement squad’ to enforce the sensible laws on sales of vaping products that are already in place.
Do Studies Show Vaping Causes Cancer? No.
Aaron Brown, Reason
In February 2022, the World Journal of Oncology published an article by a team of 13 researchers claiming that vapers are about as likely to get cancer as people who smoke traditional cigarettes.
Citing this article, Stanton Glantz, a tobacco-control activist and retired professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, claimed that not only are there “some carcinogens in e-cigarette aerosol,” but “now there is also direct evidence that people who use e-cigarettes are at increased risk of some cancers.”
And then the World Journal of Oncology‘s editors retracted the study because “concerns have been raised regarding the article’s methodology, source data processing including statistical analysis, and reliability of conclusions.”
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