Vapers Digest 14th July
Monday’s News at a glance:
Over 1000 Vapes Seized – Vapers Treated Like Piggy Banks – GFN Declared a Breakthrough Success – Rapid response to: One in 20 adults in England now smoke cigarettes and vape, study finds – Sweden slams leaked EU plan to fund budget with tobacco tax hike – Has Ethics in Medical Research Completely Disappeared? Study Assigns Half of Pregnant Women Subjects to Continue Smoking – Who’s Missing From the Tobacco Harm Reduction Conversation? – Most teens who try vaping have quit within a year, new national U.S study finds – Shaping The Future Of Tobacco Harm Reduction In Asia-Pacific: AFN25 – Clearing the Smoke: Why Uganda Must Embrace Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and Why The WHO Must Get the Science Right – Lawsuit Challenges Wisconsin’s PMTA Registry Law – Youth vaping rates have dropped by 28%, analysis shows – WHO’s Sin Tax Scheme Is a War on the Working Class – UK Smoking Ban & the Black Market Chaos | IEA Live – Power in a Pouch | Prof Marewa Glover
Two From Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Over 1000 Vapes Seized
Barking and Dagenham Trading Standards has seized almost 1,300 illegal vapes from retailers in the district over the first two weeks of the nationwide ban on disposable/single-use vapes, which came into effect on 1 June 2025. This highlights how the current ban is failing – confirmed in an opinion piece in Talking Retail magazine.
Vapers Treated Like Piggy Banks
A leak of the European Commission’s new plan shows it intends to raise taxes on vapes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products. The World Vapers’ Alliance says this is not about protecting public health, calling it a “blatant cash grab”. The leaked impact assessment, now published online so the public can read it, “exposes a scheme to squeeze extra millions out of adult vapers and users of safer nicotine alternatives, with little regard for the real-world consequences”.
GFN Declared a Breakthrough Success
The 12th Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN25) concluded in Warsaw on 21 June 2025. The success of GFN25 was celebrated as a breakthrough in tobacco harm reduction by the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA). The organisation says compelling evidence in favour of tobacco harm reduction continues gaining momentum despite opposition from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Who’s Missing From the Tobacco Harm Reduction Conversation?
Kiran Sidhu, Filter
When it comes to tobacco harm reduction, whose opinions and voices should be heard? The question was put to a host of experts at the Global Forum on Nicotine, which took place in Warsaw, Poland from June 19-21.
A session titled, “Who else should be in the room?” was pertinent to this year’s conference theme of effective communication for tobacco harm reduction (THR).
Most teens who try vaping have quit within a year, new national U.S study finds
Ali Anderson, Clearing The Air
More than half of teens who tried vaping had quit by the following year, a new U.S study finds
Just 5.6 per cent of teens who tried vaping became regular users a year later
The most common pattern among teen vapers was reducing or stopping use within a year
Teens who smoked cigarettes or had parents who used nicotine were more likely to keep vaping
Shaping The Future Of Tobacco Harm Reduction In Asia-Pacific: AFN25
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates, Scoop
The inaugural Asia Forum on Nicotine (AFN) will take place online on Wednesday, 27 August 2025, beginning at 1300 Singapore Time (SGT). This high-impact event will convene global and regional leaders in science, public health, and lived experience to address the urgent challenges and transformative opportunities in tobacco harm reduction across the Asia-Pacific region.
Clearing the Smoke: Why Uganda Must Embrace Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and Why The WHO Must Get the Science Right
Joel Sawa, Medium
Uganda’s Progress and the Challenges That Remain:
This article is written in response to the World Health Organization’s publication titled “World No Tobacco Day 2025: Unmasking the Appeal Protecting Uganda’s Youth,” published on the WHO Africa website on 31 May 2025. While we commend the WHO for its continued leadership in tobacco control, we believe this particular communication requires balance and clarity especially regarding nicotine, tobacco harm reduction (THR), and the role of safer alternatives in public hea
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
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