Vapers Digest 11th July
Friday’s News at a glance:
Airline Denies In-Flight Pouch Use –Pouches Are Game-Changer – One in 20 adults in England now smoke cigarettes and vape, study finds – Anti-Vaping Physician Claims that a Single Vape Can Cause Severe and Irreversible Lung Disease – A full guide to vape aerosols. Post 6: organic byproducts – Protected to the Point of Suffocation: The Myth of Perfect Prevention and Europe’s New Phantom—Harm Reduction – Will Sweden dare to export its own vaccine against smoking? – Sweden rejects EU plan to fund budget with tobacco tax – In Sweden, smokeless products drive tobacco harm reduction push – 6 Interesting Points From the Haypp UK Nicotine Pouch Report – Brussels Misses the Goal While Harm Reduction Nations Lift the Trophy – Is Malawi ready to regulate vaping? – Opinion: NZ is on the cusp of smokefree history, we should celebrate – Finance Minister: “EU tax proposal on nicotine pouches completely unacceptable” – Failed vape policy in disarray, but what to do? – President Trump can save vaping freedom – Smoking declines as vaping rises in Czech Republic, new figures show – Swedish finance minister hits back at EU tax on nicotine pouches – Australia’s youth smoking and vaping rates surge after vape ban – Tobacco harm reduction, cessation services key to achieving a smoke-free Pakistan – Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Radical Nicotine-Free Generation Bills – Wisconsin law cracking down on e-cigarettes just took effect. Now, distributors are suing. – Nicotine Myth | Two-Thirds of U.S. Healthcare Providers Think It Causes Cancer
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Airline Denies In-Flight Pouch Use
The New York Post recently discovered that a passenger has been asked to stop using a tobacco-free nicotine pouch on a Delta Airlines flight. The incident raises a number of questions, but airline companies have not been forthcoming in responding. Pouch possession and use can vary depending on the country visited, so it is best to check the situation and with your airline prior to flying.
Pouches Are Game-Changer
Oral nicotine pouches are game-changer for women as part of Sweden’s smoke-free success, according to a new study from tobacco harm reduction experts. A first-of-its-kind study has revealed how female-friendly pouches have revolutionised how to wipe out cigarettes.
One in 20 adults in England now smoke cigarettes and vape, study finds
Sarah E. Jackson, Hazel Cheeseman, Katherine East, Jamie Brown, BMJ
Rapid Response:
To reduce smoking harms, there is an urgent need to correct misperceptions about the risks of vaping
Despite substantial evidence that vaping exposes users to much lower levels of toxicants than smoking,[1] most adults in Britain who smoke believe vaping is equally or more harmful.[2,3] This widespread misperception is not just an issue of misinformation – it has important implications for public health. Evidence suggests it can prevent people from switching completely from smoking to vaping,[1,4,5] resulting in more disease, disability, and premature death.
Anti-Vaping Physician Claims that a Single Vape Can Cause Severe and Irreversible Lung Disease
Dr. Michael Siegel, The Rest Of The Story
In an article posted late last month on Medscape, a physician claimed that using even a single vape can cause severe and irreversible lung damage.
Here is what she writes: “Vaping has become a global health epidemic affecting everyone from high schoolers all the way to adults. This has gained popularity in recent years, but what people don’t know is that vaping has now been shown to be linked to irreversible lung damage. It has been linked to conditions such as bronchiolitis obliterans, which is narrowing and scarring of the small airways due to diacetyl, which is found in nicotine liquid in vapes. Also, vaping has been linked to lung collapse,which can then cause hospitalizations and require patients to have chest tubes, or EVALI, which is a significant, life-threatening disease that can leave patients on a ventilator.
A full guide to vape aerosols. Post 6: organic byproducts
Roberto Sussman, Roberto’s Substack
This is the sixth Substack post of a series of posts describing vaping aerosols, their properties, their optimal regime of operation and comparisons with tobacco smoke and other aerosols.
Summary of previous posts:
Post 1. Basics: what is an aerosol? Vapes and kettles. Byproducts of the heating process. Post 2. Physical processes in vaping. Essentials of laboratory testing. Optimal Regime. Post 3. Overheating: exponential production of toxic byproducts and the “dry puff”. Post 4. Laboratory testing. The CORESTA standard and the evolution of the vape market. Post 5 Metals in vapee aerosols. Emission studies detecting metals. Our review of metal studies
Protected to the Point of Suffocation: The Myth of Perfect Prevention and Europe’s New Phantom—Harm Reduction
Claudio Teixeira, Dispatches From the Editor’s Desk
On July 1st, Copenhagen awoke to a city that was orderly, clean, and almost sterile. Not just in its streets, but in its shop windows: alternative nicotine products had lost their identity. Bright colors, sleek fonts, even sensory hints had been stripped away, replaced by flat, uniform, silent packaging, like gray-uniformed soldiers, marching toward invisibility.
Six executive orders from the Danish government took effect that day.
Will Sweden dare to export its own vaccine against smoking?
SnusForumNet
Snus is one of Sweden’s most successful innovations, but politics lags behind in taking steps to reap the full public health benefits. Industry leaders, researchers, and politicians gathered recently to discuss how Sweden can move from moralism to leadership and treat snus like a vaccine against smoking.
In practice, Sweden is a smoke-free country, largely thanks to snus and nicotine pouches. But could Swedish nicotine innovations become the next big export wave?
Sweden rejects EU plan to fund budget with tobacco tax
Emma Pirnay, Euractiv
Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson has strongly opposed an EU proposal to use revenue from higher tobacco taxes to help fund the bloc’s next long-term budget, calling it “completely unacceptable”.
The proposal, referenced in a document from Germany’s International Affairs Liaison Office in Brussels and submitted to the German parliament, suggests new EU revenue sources for the 2028–2034 budget could include levies on electronic waste and tobacco.
In Sweden, smokeless products drive tobacco harm reduction push
Sandhya Raman, Roll Call
The solution is simple, according to Karl Fagerström.
Now retired, the Swedish researcher and inventor has dedicated his life to smoking cessation therapies and strategies. In 2000 he founded Niconovum, a pharmaceutical company that created the first tobacco-free nicotine pouches, sourcing nicotine the same way as for patches or gum.
The rationale? To create a better way to stop smoking.
6 Interesting Points From the Haypp UK Nicotine Pouch Report
Joseph Hart, The Daily Pouch
Swedish retailers Haypp and The Northerner have come together to produce the Nicotine Pouch Report for 2025. It’s the third edition of the report, meaning it now covers data from 2022, 2023, and 2024. As such, it provides a moving record of the trends around nicotine pouch use, adoption, and sales within the UK.
The report is chock-full of valuable and, in some cases, surprising data that is drawn from a survey of 1,581 UK customers and purchasing data from over 35,000 customers throughout 2024.
Brussels Misses the Goal While Harm Reduction Nations Lift the Trophy
Michael Landl, The Parliament
Brussels recently hosted a Champions League final of a different kind. As the World Vapers’ Alliance awarded Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Greece the “Champions of Change” trophy for their achievements in tobacco harm reduction, the contrast with the EU’s own approach could not have been clearer. While these countries are delivering real results and saving lives, the EU remains stuck on the sidelines, clinging to prohibitionist thinking and outdated tactics. Europe faces a crucial decision: will it finally learn from its champions or continue to double down on failed policies?
Is Malawi ready to regulate vaping?
Josephine Chinele, Nation Online
Vaping products intended to reduce illness from smoking combustible cigarettes are often mistaken as a tactic to entice youth and nonsmokers.Our contributor JOSEPHINE CHINELE explores whether Malawi is prepared to regulate safer nicotine products amid rising tobacco-related deaths.
As Malawi’s tobacco auction season winds down, a silent but urgent concern is emerging: the country’s lack of enforceable tobacco control policies for harm reduction.
Opinion: NZ is on the cusp of smokefree history, we should celebrate
Robert Beaglehole, NZ Herald
THE FACTS
New Zealand is nearing a smokefree status, with daily smoking rates under 7%.
Vaping has significantly contributed to the decline, especially among Māori, halving rates in six years.
Youth smoking has nearly disappeared, with only 1% of 14- and 15-year-olds smoking daily.
New Zealand is on the cusp of making history – soon to be one of the first truly smokefree nations.
Finance Minister: “EU tax proposal on nicotine pouches completely unacceptable”
Stefan Mathisson, Vejpkollen
The battle for white snus is heating up in the EU, at least when it comes to taxes on the popular Swedish nicotine product. A current EU proposal would increase the tax and thus the price of a can by SEK 25. And now Sweden’s finance minister Elisabeth Svantesson (m) is speaking out. “The proposal being circulated is completely unacceptable to the Swedish government.” writes Elisabeth Svantesson in a post on X.
Failed vape policy in disarray, but what to do?
Ross Fitzgerald AM, City News
In Australia, the availability of vapes has been severely restricted to pharmacies. In contrast, high-risk cigarettes continue to be readily available from more than 40,000 outlets. And that’s where the problem starts, says PROF ROSS FITZGERALD.
Australia’s health policy in relation to vapes is in disarray. Yet this deeply flawed approach is currently supported by all state, federal and territory governments
President Trump can save vaping freedom
Brian Darling, American Thinker
The Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should reverse a Biden-era ban on flavored vaping. E-Cigarettes provide safety and choice for consumers who want to avoid smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes. The Biden administration used the FDA to insert politics into decision-making and pushed to ban these products because of pressure from groups opposed to vaping freedom.
As a candidate, Donald J. Trump pushed the idea of freedom. His administration rehired many military men and women who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, because they thought a mandate was violating their right to refuse it.
Three from Clearing The Air
Smoking declines as vaping rises in Czech Republic, new figures show
Tim Hong
Cigarette smoking is falling out of favour in the Czech Republic as more people – especially the young – turn to lower-risk nicotine alternatives like vaping, new government data reveals.
In a striking shift in national nicotine habits, traditional cigarette use is dropping fast, while vaping, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches are on the rise, according to the government’s 2024 annual tobacco report.
“In the last ten to twelve years, we have seen two trends,” said Pavla Chomynova, head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addictions.
Swedish finance minister hits back at EU tax on nicotine pouches
Alistair Cohen
Elisabeth Svantesson, the Swedish Minister of Finance, has hit back at plans – first revealed on Clearing the Air – to make levies on tobacco and nicotine products part of the EU budget.
“Leaks suggest that the EU Commission will next week present proposals for a new Tobacco Tax Directive. The proposal circulating is completely unacceptable to the Swedish government” she said on X yesterday (in Swedish).
“It appears that the EU Commission’s proposal would entail a very significant tax increase on white snus, and furthermore, the Commission wants the tax revenues to go to the EU and not to Sweden” she continued.
Australia’s youth smoking and vaping rates surge after vape ban
Ali Anderson
Shock new data shows smoking and vaping rates are surging among young Australians despite the sweeping ban on vapes.
Young people aged 18 to 24 now have the highest rate of smoking or vaping of any age group in Australia, with 28 per cent (700,000 people) reporting they engage in one or both habits. That’s up from 25.1 per cent (620,000) in September 2024 – a sharp 2.9 percentage point increase in under a year.
Almost a fifth (20.5 per cent, or 510,000) of this age group now vape, up from 19 per cent (470,000). It marks the highest vaping rate recorded among young adults since early 2024.
Tobacco harm reduction, cessation services key to achieving a smoke-free Pakistan
City News
This call was made by the Alternative Research Initiative (ARI) and its partner Workers Education and Research Organisation who emphasized the urgent need for evidence-based approaches that prioritize public health. They stated that achieving a smoke-free Pakistan is within reach—provided current tobacco control efforts are diversified to include innovative and science-backed solutions. Despite two decades of progress, combustible smoking remains a leading health concern, with over 31 million tobacco users in the country, 17 million of whom are cigarette smokers.
Massachusetts Lawmakers Consider Radical Nicotine-Free Generation Bills
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
On July 14, a joint public health committee of the Massachusetts State House and Senate will hear testimony about two proposed bills that would, if passed, create a so-called nicotine-free generation.
The nicotine-free generation (NFG) law would create a slow-moving prohibition. The state would raise the legal age to purchase by one year every year, so eventually—decades in the future—nicotine product sales are fully outlawed.
Wisconsin law cracking down on e-cigarettes just took effect. Now, distributors are suing.
Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A group of e-cigarette distributors is suing the state of Wisconsin over a new law that imposes fines on those who make and sell products that are not authorized by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Wisconsin passed the law in late 2023 in an attempt to crack down on such products, but it only took effect July 1. In the lawsuit, filed June 30 in federal court, the industry group Wisconsinites for Alternatives to Smoking & Tobacco says it will eliminate many of the products made, sold and used by Wisconsin residents as alternatives to traditional cigarettes. The group is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the law as the case proceeds.
Nicotine Myth | Two-Thirds of U.S. Healthcare Providers Think It Causes Cancer | RegWatch
Brent Stafford, Regwatch
A new study from Philip Morris International reveals that widespread misconceptions about nicotine are undermining tobacco harm reduction in clinical care.
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. healthcare professionals, including primary care doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, mistakenly believe that nicotine causes cancer.
In this episode of RegWatch, filmed on location at the 2025 Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, we unpack the findings with Dr. Pritika Kumar, U.S. Director of Scientific Engagement at Philip Morris International.
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
FDA Fails to Follow the Science
Edward Longe
Over the past year, the Food and Drug Administration has taken an increasingly aggressive and anti-scientific approach to regulating electronic cigarettes, despite empirical evidence showing they are far safer than traditional combustible products. The agency’s approach became very apparent when it ordered JUUL, a manufacturer of popular electronic cigarettes, to remove their products from the U.S. market on the grounds their application to sell their products “lacked sufficient evidence regarding the toxicological profile of the products to demonstrate that marketing of the products would be appropriate for the protection of the public health.”
Restrictive policies block progress …
Towards smoke-free world – Dennis Gutierrez
Restrictive policies and regulations, such as bans or excessive taxes on vaping products in many countries, block global efforts to reduce the harm caused by smoking, experts said in a global forum held in Warsaw, Poland to address the smoking problem.
Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World
