Vapers Digest 18th October

Friday’s News at a glance:

The Lancet: Go Smoke-Free – Brazil’s Plan To Save Millions Of Lives – Poland’s Setback Tax – Canadian Group Calls For Reform – Ecig Summit 2024 – UN Report Slammed – We Vape Poll Shows Public Dissatisfaction – Member States Should Reject the EU’s Ideological Smokefree Recommendations – Rachel Reeves considers raising tax on vapes – Going smoke free will add years to global life expectancies – France set to hike e-liquid tax by 38% – Banning vape flavours in Canada will harm public health – Canadian Advocates Clash – Are Nicotine Pouches the New Villain? – Appeals Court Tosses Oregon’s Bizarre Vape Packaging Restrictions – FDA’s Tug of War with Americans Who Vape – Feds Say Vapes, and Not Abstinence – US Vaping Index 2024 – THR strategies in the workplace

Six from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

The Lancet: Go Smoke-Free

New research published in The Lancet has revealed that going smoke-free by adopting methods used in Sweden would increase life expectancy around the world and prevent millions of premature deaths by 2050. The paper, Forecasting the effects of smoking prevalence scenarios on years of life lost and life expectancy from 2022 to 2050, is linked to at the foot of this article.

According to the research, reducing smoking levels to less than 5% by 2050 could increase global life expectancy by one year for men and by 0.2 years for women. This is equivalent to an additional 735 million healthy years for men and 141 million healthy years for women.

Brazil’s Plan To Save Millions Of Lives

Brazil is “on the cusp of a public health miracle” as it prepares to legalise vapes in the ongoing war against smoking, according to international health experts. Lifting its current ban on vapes would throw a lifeline to millions of people who smoke, help to cut rampant illicit trade and offer protection to the underaged, the experts at Smoke Free Sweden say.

Although vapes are currently prohibited in Brazil, they are widely available on the black market and youths have easy access to unregulated, potentially dangerous illicit products.

Poland’s Setback Tax

The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) has said that it strongly opposes the Polish government’s decision to implement a new raise excise taxes on heated tobacco products and e-liquids for vaping. The government is aiming to reduce price differential between tobacco products and their substitutes to limit their consumption – thereby removing one main incentive for smokers to switch and quit smoking.

Under Poland’s new rules, eliquids for vaping will face a significant and unjustifiable hike in tax, similar to heated tobacco products, making vaping more expensive and less attractive to switch to. The World Vapers’ Alliance says that increasing taxes on vaping products often leads to unintended consequences.

Canadian Group Calls For Reform

Rights4Vapers, Canada’s largest vapers’ rights and safer nicotine advocacy movement, is calling on the federal government to dismantle and defund its so-called tobacco control organisations and implement changes to reflect the new realities of tobacco harm reduction.

Maria Papaioannoy, a spokesperson for Rights4Vapers, said: “Over the past 10 years, since vaping entered the market, we’ve seen a disturbing pattern of fearmongering, misinformation, and deliberate efforts to push people back toward smoking…”

Ecig Summit 2024

Organisers of Ecig Summit 2024 are delighted to announce the speakers and draft agenda for its 12th annual event, taking place at the Royal College of Physicians on the 5th of December. Registration is now open and Early Bird rates will apply up to Monday 11th November.

Ecig Summit 2024 organisers say that all of the speakers are scheduled to attend in person this year, but that there is a hybrid option for attendance for people who cannot join in person in London.

UN Report Slammed

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has strongly criticised a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, calling it a dangerous setback in the global fight against smoking-related deaths.

CAPHRA, an alliance of tobacco harm reduction advocates across the Asia Pacific region, argues that the report’s stance on vaping and other reduced-risk nicotine products is not only misguided but potentially lethal for millions of people who smoke seeking safer alternatives.

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We Vape Poll Shows…

Public Dissatisfaction With UK Vaping Policy

Michelle Jones – ECigClick

A recent We Vape poll shows a quarter of UK Labour voters were less likely to vote for the party again over the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. It also shows 67% of all vapers feel stigmatised in UK society. Britain in Focus polled 2,775 adults in the UK on the biggest issues facing the country, public health and attitudes to vaping.

When asked about the biggest causes of people’s poor physical health, “people eating junk food” was cited by 41% of those polled. Lack of exercise (34%) and poverty (34%) were also seen as major contributors. The state of the NHS is also on people’s minds, with lack of access to a GP appointment (27%) and the NHS waiting list backlog (26%) seen as causes of poor health.

Member States Should Reject the EU’s…

Ideological Smokefree Recommendations – Martin Cullip

Last month, the European Commission (EC) published proposals to extend smoke-free environment policies to outdoor areas and to include vaping products and heated tobacco products (HTPs). This followed a consultation process, with many respondents warning of the harmful consequences of following such ideological grandstanding. This was largely ignored in favour of extreme policy ideas which are misguided scientifically and in terms of public health outcomes.

Rachel Reeves considers raising tax …

On vapes in autumn budget

Rachel Reeves is considering raising the tax on vaping products in her budget this month as figures show that a quarter of 11 to 15-year-olds in England have used e-cigarettes.

The chancellor is looking at increasing the tax after a consultation carried out by the last Conservative government.

In his budget in March, Jeremy Hunt announced a tax on vaping products, which is due to take effect in October 2026, in a move to make vaping unaffordable for children.

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Three from Ali Anderson, Clearing the Air:

Going smoke free will add years….

To global life expectancies – Ali Anderson

Going smoke free would increase life expectancy around the world and prevent millions of premature deaths by 2050, new research shows.

The research, published in scientific journal The Lancet, shows that reducing smoking levels to under five per cent (when a country can officially be declared ‘smoke free’) would  increase global life expectancy by one year for men and by 0.2 years for women.

This means average life expectancy would increase to 77·1 years for men and 80.8 years for women by 2050 – equivalent to an additional 735 million and 141 million more healthy years respectively.

France set to hike e-liquid tax by 38%

France is set to increase tax on e-liquids by a whopping 38 per cent, according to a leading French vape awareness organisation. FiVape says there is an imminent plan by the French government to add a flat-rate tax of €0.15 per millilitre of e-liquid, whether it contains nicotine or not.

The organisation warns that the new law will put lives at risk by making vaping too expensive for smokers wanting to quit. “Vaping has been the number one tool to help people quit smoking for over 10 years,” FiVape said in a statement. “Its impact is unprecedented and historic..

Banning vape flavours in Canada…

Will harm public health and put youth at MORE risk

A ban on flavoured vapes in Canada would have “devastating public health consequences,” a vaping advocacy group has warned.

The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) says the proposed legislation undermines the country’s goal of becoming ‘smoke-free’ (defined as a smoking rate of under five per cent) by 2035, as it withdraws an important aid for smokers wanting to quit.

Canadian Advocates Clash…

Over Calls for Vape Flavor Ban – Kiran Sidhu

Tobacco harm reduction advocates in Canada have fired back, after tobacco control groups urged the government to ban vape flavors at an October 4 press conference. Its participants also demanded the resignation of Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks if she fails to comply.

In their own press conference on October 10 and an associated press release, advocates from Rights 4 Vapers and the Canadian Vaping Association highlighted the public health consequences of a flavor ban, urging Minister Saks and the government to reject the “bullying tactics” of what they termed “anti-harm reduction lobbyists.”

Are Nicotine Pouches the New Villain

Or a Public Health Opportunity?

In recent discussions across the Australian media landscape, nicotine pouches have struck a controversial chord. A report by ABC News highlights concerns regarding the rising use of these products among young Australians, prompting a deeper investigation into whether they’re a public health menace or a savvy step towards harm reduction.

According to the survey highlighted by ABC News, about one in four young Australians aged 16 to 39 have experimented with nicotine pouches, despite their illegal status.

Appeals Court Tosses Oregon’s Bizarre…

Vape Packaging Restrictions – Jim McDonald

The Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that the state law restricting the words and images used on vape product packaging, and the administrative rules that detail the restrictions, violate the free speech guarantees of the state constitution. The decision, handed down yesterday, reverses a lower-court ruling that upheld the state restrictions.

The appeals court sided with Division Vapor owner Paul Bates, who filed the lawsuit challenging the state restrictions in 2018. The lawsuit, which named the Oregon Health Authority as defendant, was originally filed in the Oregon State Circuit Court in Multnomah County.

Oregon ban on ‘flashy’ e-cigarette packaging targeting minors is unconstitutional

FDA’s Tug of War

With Americans Who Vape – Amanda Hagerman

E-cigarettes have been proven to help smokers quit, but that’s not stopping the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from blocking the marketing of the products under the baseless claim that they may increase smoking among young people. This week, the Goldwater Institute filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the FDA’s actions and ensure that adults can safely purchase e-cigarettes.

Beginning in 2021, the FDA shut down more than one million applications to market fruit- or candy-flavored e-cigarettes. However, in restricting the marketing of those products, the FDA effectively blocked adults from accessing the most important cessation tools for smokers who want to quit and transition to healthier alternatives.

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Two from Lindsey Stroud:

Youth Vaping Is Down in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has released the 2023 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey (MYHS) results. The biennial survey tracks health status, risk behaviors, and protective factors among middle- and high-school students in the Bay State.

New Hampshire Youth E-Cig Use Down

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services has released the results of the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). This biennial survey tracks various risk behaviors among high school students in the Granite State, including dietary habits, physical activity, mental health, and substance use. The findings are encouraging, with combustible cigarette use at record lows and a significant decrease in youth vaping since its peak in 2019.

The Misleading Correlation Between Teen Vaping and Teen Smoking Declines

2024 NYTS: Youth Smoking Is Practically Dead – Jim McDonald

Tobacco Product Use

Among Middle and High School Students — National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2024

Use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe, and nearly all tobacco product use begins during adolescence. CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey to determine tobacco product use among U.S. middle school (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12) students. In 2024, current (previous 30-day) use of any tobacco product was reported by 10.1% of high school students (representing 1.58 million students) and 5.4% of middle school students (representing 640,000 students).

PackBreakers Ep. 4 (Pt 1): Vape Crusaders

VSML South Africa

Part 1 of 2: Meet Elna and Keiran, South Africa’s frontline heroes of tobacco harm reduction as they discuss their switch to vaping, the effects of the 2020 lockdown, the rise of disposable vapes, and share a message for the South African government.

Smoking in Newport is down since 2022

In a bid to be ‘smoke-free by 2030′, Wales introduced smoking bans in outdoor areas in 2021, including hospital grounds and play grounds while the Welsh Government published a long term plan for the control of tobacco in July 2022.

Based on the 591 respondents to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) annual population survey in Newport, an estimated 13.7 per cent of adults in the area were smokers in 2023, which is down from 15.1 per cent in 2022 and the lowest since local records began in 2012

Feds Say Vapes, and Not Abstinence,

Research Priority for Smoking Harms – Kastalia Medrano

In a call for innovation to reduce the public health harms of smoking, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration say they’re particularly interested in research on nicotine vapes. In a departure from their traditional emphasis on abstinence as the only study end point worth measuring, they also explicitly invited research focused on reduction in cigarette use.

Electronic cigarettes/vapes

For smoking cessation survey 2024

Are you interested in the topic of electronic cigarettes and stopping smoking? We would like to hear your views. This survey should take less than 4 minutes to complete.

We are a group of researchers looking into whether electronic cigarettes or vapes can help people to stop smoking, and whether they have any unwanted effects when used in this way. We gather information from studies to try to get all of the best information in one place.

The toxicology and dependency

Of harm reduction alternatives with Garrett McGovern | Ep. 62

In this episode of the WVA Podcast, Michael, the WVA Director sits down with Dr. McGovern, a renowned expert in dependency treatment with over two decades of experience. Dr. McGovern, who qualified in Medicine from Trinity College Dublin and is the Clinical Lead for the HSE Addiction Services in Louth Meath & The Midlands, brings his extensive knowledge on substance misuse and harm reduction to the conversation.

US Vaping Index 2024

Despite initially embracing vaping technology, numerous U.S. state governments are increasingly imposing stringent restrictions on flavored nicotine vaping devices. Only a handful of states—Alaska, North Dakota, and Tennessee—maintain fully permissive policies that avoid conflating vapes with traditional tobacco products, refrain from banning flavors, and allow online sales without excessive taxation or regulation. In contrast, twelve states, including Utah, California, and New York, have adopted aggressive measures against vaping, driven largely by misconceptions that equate vaping with smoking and fears of a moral panic surrounding youth usage.

THR strategies in the workplace

Nevada’s economy is still shaky at best after recovering from the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Today, over one-third of small businesses are struggling to stay open while optimism is at an all-time low. While this list of “why’s” is nowhere near exhaustive — inflation, labor shortages, supply chain interruptions — the list of possible solutions is growing. Businesses are doing what they can to survive, such as implementing flexible scheduling or automation, but there’s one cost-savings that research shows works: investing in employee health.

Nicotine pouches Under Threat

Maria Papaioannoy joins us for part 2 of our Canada special

Canada’s Minister for Health wants to ban nicotine pouches but how easy will it be to shut down the booming black market? In Part 2 of our Canada special, Maria Papaioannoy talks to Joanna Junak about the difficulties THR advocates are facing in Canada, and why Rights for Vapers now advocates for all safer alternatives to smoking.

BAT to launch synthetic nicotine pouches

Reuters

British American Tobacco (BAT) (BATS.L) will launch a version of its Velo nicotine pouches using synthetic nicotine in the United States, David Waterfield, president of the company’s U.S. subsidiary Reynolds American, said on Wednesday.
Smoking alternatives like vapes from big tobacco companies, including BAT, usually contain naturally occurring nicotine derived from the tobacco plant, whereas synthetic nicotine is made in a lab from chemicals.

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On this Day…2023

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

Harry’s blog 121:

International tobacco control and the search for intelligent life

Harry Shapiro, Nicotine Science and Policy

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Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World

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