Vapers Digest 1st November

Friday’s News at a glance:

Tax proposals are a misguided assault on quitting smoking – The ‘saint tax’ on vaping – UK Government Announce Extortionate Vape Tax – UK confirms vape tax rise date – Abysmal 378% Tax Hike – Cessation Study from CoEHAR – IBVTA Welcomes Clarity – BMA Wants A Bigger Ban – WVA Criticises UK Government – UKVIA Responds to Disposables News – ASH has forgotten its purpose – UK disposable vape ban a ‘disaster’ – England Will Ban Disposable Vapes Next Year – France Announces Nicotine Pouch Ban – Poland vape and e-liquid tax hike – Mexico to ban vapes by the end of the year -Thinking ’bout THR Newsletter – I’m back! – Back to the (Vaping) Future – Let’s talk e-cigarettes no 36 – More people vaping after Quebec banned flavours – “Never Seen Anything Work Like This” – Why the Demise of Youth Smoking – Reflections on a year of change – Will the Next President Save Vaping? –

Chancellor’s new vape tax proposals …

Are a misguided assault on quitting smoking – NNA

Yesterday, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced amendments to the vape duty which was originally proposed by Jeremy Hunt in the spring budget that preceded the general election.

The NNA wrote at the time that Hunt’s plans were “wrong in principle and childlike in application.” They seemed to be rushed, were based on flawed reasoning, and relied on a fundamental lack of understanding of how vaping works to reduce smoking rates.

It was to be hoped that a new government would take time to consider the problems that would arise as a result and study the subject more seriously.

The ‘saint tax’ on vaping

Christopher Snowdon – 6th March 2024

Hear me out: is it possible that when Rishi Sunak became UK prime minister he set himself a Brewster’s Millions-style challenge of getting support for the Conservative Party down to zero by the time of the General Election? Does he have brainstorming sessions in Downing Street late at night to identify the dwindling number of people who might still vote for him and discuss how to alienate them? ‘We’ve already lost the people who use disposable vapes, but there are still people who use refillable e-cigarettes’, you can just imagine him saying. ‘How do we needlessly annoy them? I’ve got it! Let’s tax e-cigarette fluid.’

Government Announce Extortionate Tax

Will Vaping Be Too Expensive? – Michelle Jones

According to HM Treasury – a flat rate of £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid will be applied from 1st October 2026.

This is all very murky to me as well. Does this tax only apply to e-liquid which contains nicotine? Would nicotine free bottles – such as shortfills – not be taxed? At present it would appear that all e-liquid is subject to this tax.

I asked around and the wonderful Martin Cullip pointed me towards the Vaping Products Duty Consultation Response published recently which breaks down the proposals in more detail.

UK confirms vape tax rise date

Ali Anderson – Clearing the Air

A new tax on vapes in the UK will start from October 2026, the Chancellor confirmed in the Budget. The government had considered a three-tiered system of taxation, with higher strength nicotine subject to the biggest increase.

But the proposal was heavily opposed by industry representatives and some public health bodies, who argued it would put off smokers looking to switch to less harmful vaping.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in her Autumn Budget that the government will instead add a flat rate of £2.20 per 10ml of e-liquid, to start from October 2026.

Chancellor’s vape tax increase will ‘hurt working people’, says Labour MP

Budget 2024: The vaping industry responds

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Six from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

Government’s Abysmal 378% Tax Hike

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced during the Budget speech that the UK will see a flat-rate tax applied to all eliquid bottles from the 1st October 2026. The HM Treasury said: “We want to discourage non-smokers and young people from taking up vaping. We’re introducing a vaping duty for the first time at £2.20 per 10ml of liquid. Plus, a one-off tobacco duty rise to keep the incentive to choose refillable vaping over smoking.”

Cessation Study from CoEHAR

A new analysis conducted between Italy and USA has evaluated the effectiveness of the currently available methods to quit smoking, concluding that these products, which include both pharmaceutical cessation products and nicotine substitution products, offer more tailored solutions for individual sensory and nicotine delivery preferences and can improve efficacy of smoking cessation paths. In other words, The Centre of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) says that vaping works!

IBVTA Welcomes Clarity

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), the independent trade association for the UK vaping industry, has welcomed the clarity provided by the Government on the future of single use/disposable vapes. The ban first was set to be introduced by the previous Conservative Government. However, IBVTA says, it needs to reiterate concerns about unintended consequences, and on any future regulations that may follow.

BMA Wants A Bigger Ban

A disposable vapes ban long overdue, according to the British Medical Association (BMA), as it calls for additional anti-vape measures including a ban on eliquid flavours, plain packaging and a complete ban on companies being able to make any efficacy claims.

WVA Criticises UK Government

The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) has criticised the UK government’s plan to ban disposable/single-use vapes, calling it a misguided policy that threatens to undermine public health and disproportionately harm the most vulnerable. Research from University College London (UCL) and King’s College London shows that banning disposable vapes could stall progress in reducing smoking rates in the UK

The research from UCL and King’s was published in the Public Health journal back in January. It laid out the stark reality of what a ban on disposable/single-use vapes would achieve.

UKVIA Responds to Disposables News

Following the announcement that disposable vapes will be banned from June next year, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has warned policy makers ahead of the Tobacco & Vapes Bill that it has to strike the right balance between introducing new vaping legislation and ensuring that it does not deter smokers from giving up by switching to considerably less harmful vapes.

Industry body UKVIA contends that vaping and disposable vapes have made “a huge contribution” to bringing down smoking rates amongst adults to the lowest levels on record in recent years.

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The disposables ban shows that….

Action on Smoking and Health has forgotten its purpose

Martin Cullip – The Daily Pouch

What has been lost in the growing moral panic about these products are the clear benefits that they have been making to public health in an incredibly short space of time. The latest Smoking Toolkit study data – compiled regularly by University College London’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group for more than a decade – shows that there has been a significant population wide increase in quit smoking attempts since use of disposables started to rise in 2021. This has happened along with a dramatic increase in the number of people who successfully quit smoking as a result.

UK disposable vape ban a ‘disaster’

That will fuel black market – Ali Anderson

A blanket ban on single-use vapes will come into force across Britain on June 1, 2025, in a bid to stop children and young people from taking up vaping and reduce damage to the environment.

But leading experts in harm reduction say the move will backfire by making it harder for smokers to transition to far less harmful vapes and handing the market over to illegal traders.

England Will Ban Disposable Vapes

Jim McDonald

England will ban the sale of disposable vapes beginning June 1, 2025, and Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will implement similar laws around the same time.

The Labour Party-led government announced in an Oct. 24 press release that a bill has been introduced in Parliament to ban disposables. The government also intends to pass the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which includes additional regulatory powers over vaping and a so-called “smokefree generation” law that would raise the legal age for buying tobacco (not vapes) by one year every year.

Government’s Own Assessment Admits Ban Will Drive 30% Back to Cigarettes

Disposable vapes ban could push some users back to smoking

France Announces Nicotine Pouch Ban

Richard Crosby

The land of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” might need to change its famous motto. Unfounded fears over youth nicotine pouch use mean that France will ban the harm-reduction product in a few weeks, forcing many consumers back toward lethal cigarettes.

In an exclusive interview with Le Parisien on October 29th, French Health Minister Geneviève Darrieussecq announced the government will ban nicotine pouches. Citing fears over youth use, the physician and MoDem member wheeled out some of the old tobacco control greatest hits.

France to Ban Nicotine Pouches

‘Concerns’ Around Nicotine Pouches

Richard Crosby

The growing popularity of nicotine pouches has sparked both curiosity and concern among public health officials and policymakers. An article from Oxfordshire County Council titled Protecting residents as nicotine pouches rise in popularity explores the regulatory dynamics of these products and the efforts to manage non-compliant versions sold locally. While acknowledging the council’s intentions to safeguard public health, it’s crucial to examine the underpinnings of their claims concerning nicotine pouches’ safety and regulatory oversight.

Spain’s anti vaping plans

Alberto Gómez Hernández

Poland vape and e-liquid tax hike

Ali Anderson

A plan to hike tax on vapes and e-liquids in Poland has passed a major legal hurdle. The legislation – which will see increased excise taxes on vapes and tobacco products – passed a vote in the lower house of parliament with 236 votes for and 188 against, according to Polski Radio.

The proposed law will now pass to the Senate, the upper house of Poland’s parliament, for debate. If approved at that stage, it will be signed into law by President Andrzej Duda.

Mexico to ban vapes by the end of the year

Ali Anderson

Mexico is set to ban vapes by the end of the year, the country’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has announced. The decision has prompted fears that it would fuel an already thriving black market, led by powerful and violent organised crime gangs.

Sheinbaum said her government wants to enshrine the ban into Mexico’s constitution before January 2025. Currently, vapes are in a legal grey area after a previous ban on their import and sale – introduced in May 2020 – was successfully challenged in court.

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Thinking ’bout THR Newsletter – I’m back!

Kim “Skip” Murray

My vacation is officially over. While that makes me sad in some ways, I am also happy to return to the comfort of my routine.

I have much to say about this trip and will comment soon on all the highlights. But for now, I will focus on getting a newsletter out, as it has been a couple of weeks since I have done so.

I will leave you with a few impressions of my experience until I can write more.

Back to the (Vaping) Future

Michael Landl

It’s surprising—and a bit frightening—to stumble across the same old anti-vaping arguments in a press release from the Singaporean Ministry of Health from July 2013. Over a decade later, we still hear identical claims, despite extensive research showing vaping to be less harmful than smoking and effective as a smoking cessation tool. Here’s a look at some outdated arguments that refuse to go away:

Let’s talk e-cigarettes no 36

October 2024, Professor Stephen Higgins University of Vermont

Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Professor Stephen Higgins from the University of Vermont Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science, Burlington, USA. Professor Stephen Higgins uses the concepts and methods of behavioural economics and behavioural pharmacology to investigate tobacco, illicit drugs, and other health-related risk behaviours in vulnerable populations.
In the October podcast Stephen Higgins describes his recent studies on reduced nicotine cigarettes and e-cigarettes in high-risk populations.

More people vaping…

After Quebec banned all flavours a year ago

It’s been one year since Quebec banned flavour vapes, and the vaping results are unfavourable according to a survey by Léger. The data shows that 30 per cent of young people currently vape and 36 per cent of vapers have started smoking again.

The Coalition des droits des vapoteurs du Québec (CDVQ) says that this situation could have been avoided if Health Minister Christian Dubé acted rationally instead of relying on the opinion of Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control co-director Flory Doucas.

“Never Seen Anything Work Like This” –

Pioneer on NZ’s Vaping Story – Helen Redmond

Dr. Marewa Glover has dedicated her life to helping people stop smoking in New Zealand. Her hard work has paid off. The country’s smoking rate has almost halved in just five years. The reason for the massive decrease is the availability of safer nicotine products like vapes, and government endorsement of tobacco harm reduction.

“Once the government regulated and legalized vaping, they said if you can’t stop smoking any other way, switch to vaping,” Glover says in the Filter video above. “They did a mass media campaign and they have a vaping facts website that addresses myths and misinformation. The government is actually encouraging people to switch.”

Why the Demise of Youth Smoking

Is an Overlooked Public Health Triumph – Kiran Sidhu

Amid the moral panic over youth vaping and a widespread belief that it’s a “gateway” to cigarettes, youth smoking in the United States is at an all-time low. Yet very little is written about this. Why?

Professor Kenneth Warner, of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, asks that very question in his new paper, published by the American Journal of Public Health and titled: “Kids No Longer Smoke Cigarettes. Why Aren’t We Celebrating?”

Reflections on a year of change

Clifford Douglas

Having spent nearly four decades in tobacco control, individual years often slip by. But this past one, my first as the president and CEO of Global Action to End Smoking, has been one of the most invigorating and productive of my career.

I’m proud of the outstanding number of positive changes we have made to our organization that strengthen us in our mission to end the smoking epidemic. We changed our name and relaunched as an organization focused more on traditional public health and those who are most affected: people who smoke.

Episode 27: Ross Marchand

Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Novelty Vape Warning Letters:

An Annual FDA Ritual – Jim McDonald

The FDA announced Wednesday it has issued warning letters to nine American online retailers and one Chinese manufacturer for selling unauthorized products with features like functional display screens. The products are mostly disposable vapes.

“The products cited in the warning letters,” says the FDA press release, “are advertised as having a variety of designs and functions that may appeal to youth, such as the ability to play games, connect to a smartphone, receive text or call notifications, play music, or personalize products with custom wallpaper.”

Will the Next President Save Vaping?

RegWatch

With only days remaining in the 2024 U.S. presidential race, it’s crunch time for the candidates—and for nicotine vape consumers and the businesses that drive the U.S. vaping industry.
One candidate, former President Donald Trump, announced in September that he “saved vaping” in 2019 and vows to do it again if elected to a second term. Yet, some remain unconvinced, given Trump’s mixed record on vaping.

Snubbing smoke-free alternatives

Kang Siew Li – The Edge Malaysia

THE strategic shift Philip Morris International Inc (PMI), a “big four” tobacco company that sells Marlboro, L&M and Chesterfield cigarettes, began 10 years ago — moving away from cigarettes and towards smoke-free products — has recently marked a major milestone.

Its flagship heated tobacco product (HTP) IQOS, launched in late 2014 in Japan and Italy, outpaced its leading cigarette brand, Marlboro, in terms of global net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 for the first time.

Vaping Unplugged Podcast – Alex Clark

Understanding the Consumer Consequence of Policies

Take Big Tobacco’s money

And help people quit smoking

Canada’s three major cigarette producers have offered $32.5 billion to settle suits brought against them by provincial governments and smokers. The plaintiffs should take the money.

Big Tobacco has a history of being bad tobacco, so more punishment may always seem fairer than less. But let’s not lose sight of what should be our ultimate goal: getting smokers to quit combustibles, whether or not they then switch to lower-risk ways of getting their nicotine fix. Viewing the settlement solely as a punishment for Big Tobacco’s past behaviour can divert us from good public health policy.

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On this Day…2023

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

REPLICA STUDY:

SLIGHT OR NO CYTOTOXIC, MUTAGENIC

AND GENOTOXIC EFFECTS INDUCED BY THE E-CIGARETTE AEROSOL 

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

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