Vapers Digest 20th June

Friday’s News at a glance:

Holiday Warning for British Vapers – Majority Of European Vapers Are Former Smokers – Parliament Discusses Barber Shops – Flavour Bans Will Fuel Smoking – The Silencing That Prolongs Combustion – A HOSTILE ATTITUDE TO NICOTINE – Lessons For Marcomm Leaders: Let’s Talk About Choice, Not Prohibition – Outrage over leaked EU pouch tax proposal: ‘An attack on Swedish public health gains’ – Tobacco Industry Calls for Age Restrictions on Nicotine Pouches in Ireland – Australia: Black Market Vape Sales Outpace Legal Products 1,700 to 1 – Quit or Die Is Failing, Yet Hong Kong Plans Sweeping Vape Ban – Most non-combustible nicotine products pose minimal oral health risks, new CoEHAR review finds – Global Panel Urges Rapid Reform of WHO and FCTC to Embrace Science, Transparency, and Consumer Voices – London scientists find vaping exposes pregnant women to fewer toxins than smoking – POLAND’S TRICKY RELATIONSHIP WITH TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION

Four from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Holiday Warning for British Vapers

Dan Marchant, director of Vape Club, is cautioning holidaymakers to check restrictions at popular holiday destinations. British tourists could be fined up to £1,700 this summer if they’re caught vaping on beaches where a ban is in place, including popular destinations in Spain, France, and Italy.

Majority Of European Vapers Are Former Smokers

In the lead-up to World No Tobacco Day 2025 on 31 May, the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) shone a light on compelling evidence that the majority of e-cigarette users in Europe are former smokers. The organisation says this underscores the important role that vaping can play in tobacco harm reduction and as a tool to support smoking cessation.

Parliament Discusses Barber Shops

MPs recently debated support for small businesses. Part of the debate saw MPs discussing non-specialist shops selling vapes and other reduced harm products – some of which have been accused of selling to children. Industry fears that the current state of play feeds into the black market has been knocked by Action on Smoking and Health. VPZ | The Vaping Specialist spoke to Planet of the Vapes to clear up its position.

Flavour Bans Will Fuel Smoking

The World Health Organization’s latest push to ban flavours in vaping, nicotine pouches, and other nicotine products is a reckless attack on harm reduction and adult smokers’ right to quit. The WHO’s claims that flavours target youth and make quitting harder are simply not supported by evidence. In reality, flavours are a vital tool for millions of adult smokers looking to quit and stay smoke-free.

Australia: Black Market Vape Sales Outpace Legal Products 1,700 to 1

Quit or Die Is Failing, Yet Hong Kong Plans Sweeping Vape Ban

Diane Caruana, Vaping Post

As Hong Kong prepares to tighten its tobacco control laws through sweeping restrictions on both combustible and alternative nicotine products, new data and global health trends suggest the need for a more pragmatic approach—one rooted in tobacco harm reduction (THR). A recent study from a Hong Kong university, which found that nearly 70% of individuals under the age of 25 have tried e-cigarettes, serves as a powerful reminder: prohibition alone is not enough to address the complex motivations behind youth and adult nicotine use.

Two From Ali Anderson, Clearing The Air

Most non-combustible nicotine products pose minimal oral health risks, new CoEHAR review finds

Most non-combustible nicotine products (NCNPs) like vapes, nicotine gum, sprays, and snus show no increased risk of oral health issues when compared to placebo.

Minor irritation such as a dry mouth or ulcers is likely due to the physical mode of delivery – such as chewing or vapour inhalation – not the nicotine or other ingredients of the product.

No NCNPs showed consistent oral side effects serious enough to put people off using them or reduce stop-smoking success.

Despite low-quality evidence, the review supports NCNPs as safe and practical tools for reducing harm in smokers concerned about oral health.

Teen smoking leads to vaping more than vaping leads to smoking, major U.S. study finds

A major US survey finds teens who smoke cigarettes are more likely to vape than vice versa, directly challenging the “gateway theory.”

The widely-cited idea that vaping causes smoking may be a misinterpretation of limited data, researchers say.

Vaping and smoking are both more closely linked to other risky behaviours than to each other.

Study suggests prevention strategies for teens should focus on wider behavioural patterns.

Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Cision

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is leading a robust and candid panel discussion on Wednesday alongside the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, Poland.

Consumer advocates will issue a resounding call for urgent reform of the taxpayer-funded World Health Organization (WHO) and its tobacco control arm, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The panel argues that years of politicized policymaking, opaque governance, and disregard for consumer perspectives have rendered the FCTC increasingly ineffective and out of touch with scientific and social realities.

London scientists find vaping exposes pregnant women to fewer toxins than smoking

London Post

Pregnant women are exposed to lower levels of toxic chemicals if they vape during pregnancy compared with if they smoke cigarettes, according to new research led by scientists at City St George’s, University of London and published today in Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Stopping smoking during pregnancy is a key health priority for both the mother and developing baby, with more pregnant women choosing to vape as a way to stop smoking.

Until now, there’s been a lack of reliable data on exposure to harmful substances that can result from vaping during pregnancy.

POLAND’S TRICKY RELATIONSHIP WITH TOBACCO HARM REDUCTION

Global Forum on Nicotine

Poland is forging ahead with new restrictions on safer nicotine products, whilst still equating vaping with smoking – is this anti-THR messaging harming efforts to reduce smoking in the country? Przemysław Bobiński of #GFN25 media partner Vapour Poland joins us to discuss this and more!

On this day…2022

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

Race to Replace Cigarettes Is Heating Up

Carol Ryan

American smokers trying to quit have a choice between vapes, nicotine pouches and—a more recent introduction—heated tobacco sticks. Cigarette companies have a lot riding on which way they turn.

Research launched at GFN

Shows WHO’s tobacco control measures are failing – and that harm reduction works

A new study launched at the ninth annual Global Forum on Nicotine (#GFN22) in Warsaw shows implementation of the WHO’s tobacco control measures known as MPOWER has no clear association with low-levels of tobacco-related mortality in Europe.

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

Vapers Digest 20th June

Friday’s News at a glance:

Four from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Holiday Warning for British Vapers

Majority Of European Vapers Are Former Smokers

Parliament Discusses Barber Shops

Flavour Bans Will Fuel Smoking

The Silencing That Prolongs Combustion

Claudio Teixeira, Dispatches From the Editor’s Desk

A HOSTILE ATTITUDE TO NICOTINE

Oscar Glyn, Shorthand

Lessons For Marcomm Leaders: Let’s Talk About Choice, Not Prohibition

Markus Lindblad, Forbes

Outrage over leaked EU pouch tax proposal: ‘An attack on Swedish public health gains’

Snusforumet

Tobacco Industry Calls for Age Restrictions on Nicotine Pouches in Ireland

Pouch Forum

Australia: Black Market Vape Sales Outpace Legal Products 1,700 to 1

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360