Vapers Digest 28th November

Friday’s News at a glance:

Parliamentary Matters ~ Dirty Ashtray Hypocrisy ~ Betrayal by EU Commission and Denmark ~ FCTC Locks Out NZ ~ “Ugly” COP11 Attacks THR, But Nations Avert Worst Damage ~ The WHO’s Campaign Against Safe Nicotine ~ The Ongoing Failure of UK Tobacco Control ~ COP11: dysfunction over harm reduction reveals WHO ‘in crisis’ ~ A third of MEPs say novel nicotine products are as harmful as smoking ~ SFP youth-use claim about Sweden doesn’t match the data ~ The Flat Earth Argument: Derek Yach on WHO, Bloomberg, and the Smoke-Free World ~ Mapping Philanthropic Capture in Global Tobacco Control: Bloomberg’s Influence over the FCTC and the Suppression of Harm Reduction ~ Sweden’s experience in innovative alternatives opens doors to a smoke-free future ~ Tobacco Regulation: The European Union ~ How Trump can fix the illicit vaping crisis ~ What EU Lawmakers Really Think About Vaping — Plus a Look at COP11 ft. Barnaby Page | Ep. 88

Four From Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Parliamentary Matters

In our second thrilling sojourn to Westminster, we say hello to the Richard Holden Show, as the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport takes the Department for Health and Social Care to task. His three questions draw a lengthy reply from Ashley Dalton MP – but did she actually answer them? Let’s find out…

Dirty Ashtray Hypocrisy

The announcement of the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control’s “Dirty Ashtray” award being given to New Zealand at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Conference of Parties (COP11) exposes deep hypocrisy in global tobacco control, according to consumer advocacy group The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).

Betrayal by EU Commission and Denmark

Reports from Geneva reveal that Denmark, backed by the European Commission, aggressively pushed for a ban on vapes and nicotine pouches across the entire EU at the World Health Organization’s Conference of Parties, in direct contradiction to the EU’s agreed position before COP11.

FCTC Locks Out NZ

As the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Conference of the Parties (COP11) unfolded in Geneva, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) hailed New Zealand’s delegation for its courageous endorsement of evidence-based tobacco harm reduction and slammed the FCTC for locking out voices in favour of tobacco harm reduction.

“Ugly” COP11 Attacks THR, But Nations Avert Worst Damage

Kiran Sidhu, Filter

The World Health Organization’s 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ended on November 22, having demonstrated how tobacco harm reduction remains a global battleground.

The six-day gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, was ostensibly aimed at advancing global measures to reduce health, environmental and economic harms of tobacco use. Instead, it was used to target tobacco harm reduction (THR) and smear it as an industry ruse, rather than a life-saving strategy—even if pushback from a number of nations blocked the adoption of yet more damaging anti-THR policies.

The WHO’s Campaign Against Safe Nicotine

Roger Bate, Brownstone Institute

Every two years, the 183 Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) meet for the Conference of the Parties (COP). This is the treaty’s governing body: a closed-door diplomatic forum where decisions are made on global tobacco policy, regulatory guidelines, technical documents, and the political direction of the treaty system.

Civil society is largely excluded. Journalists are barely tolerated. Outsiders appear only in tightly controlled “public sessions,” while all substantive negotiations occur behind locked doors. These meetings are dominated by the FCTC Secretariat and a small constellation of Bloomberg-funded NGOs that orbit it. What they endorse becomes the agenda; what they oppose is often treated as illegitimate. That structure is an essential backdrop to the story of COP11.

The Ongoing Failure of UK Tobacco Control

Martin Cullip, The Daily Pouch

In the run-up to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) eleventh conference of the Parties (COP11) meeting, the UK’s public health minister, Ashley Dalton, categorically stated that the country would stand up for tobacco harm reduction. Yet when the moment arrived, the delegation did nothing of the sort.

In its country statement during the opening plenary, the UK said it was “looking forward to the agenda item on forward-looking measures,” even though that agenda contained proposals that would have severely damaged vaping and other reduced-risk products.

COP11: dysfunction over harm reduction reveals WHO ‘in crisis’

SnusForumet

With the WHO COP11 meetings in Geneva now over, Snusforumet catches up with Patrik Strömer of the Association of Swedish Snus Manufacturers for an analysis of what happened, why, and what it means for tobacco and nicotine regulation moving forward.

The parties gathered in Geneva for COP11 ultimately failed to agree on calling for an outright ban on nicotine pouches.

But leaked documents from the meetings revealed a concerted effort by the European Commission, with the Danish EU presidency, and other parties to push for language that would have paved the way for a ban on nicotine pouches and other products less harmful than cigarettes.

Sweden’s experience in innovative alternatives opens doors to a smoke-free future

Gulf News

Sweden has provided a pioneering model in the pursuit of a smoke-free future, by adopting a harm reduction strategy and use of less harmful nicotine alternatives. While many countries are still struggling to reduce smoking rates, Sweden is close to becoming the first smoke-free country as defined by the World Health Organisation, meaning less than 5 per cent of the adult population smokes.

This shift was not born of the moment, but rather the result of a gradual decline in smoking rates over two decades, driven by continuous awareness campaigns and the availability of less harmful alternatives such as traditional snus and tobacco-free nicotine pouches, emphasising that the way nicotine is consumed plays a crucial role in health effects, not nicotine itself.

Tobacco Regulation: The European Union

Tobacco Insider

EU member states have expressed significant reservations about the European Commission’s proposed overhaul of the Tobacco Excise Directive, according to a draft status report prepared for finance ministers. The proposal – set to more than double the EU-wide minimum tax on cigarettes and introduce updated rules for alternative products – has triggered concerns across several capitals. Governments argue that the scale of the tax increases is too steep, the transition period too short, and the mechanism for regularly adjusting minimum rates insufficiently clear. These issues form the core of what the draft describes as “serious concerns,” indicating a broad lack of comfort with the current version of the bill.

How Trump can fix the illicit vaping crisis

Richard Burr, Washington Times

Less than a year into his second term, President Trump has his hands full reversing the poor decision-making of the Biden years. Perhaps nowhere is this trend more evident than in the illicit nicotine market crisis.

Today, up to 85% of the vaping devices sold in the U.S. are illegal, having not received authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, whose Center for Tobacco Products oversees the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products and their smoke-free alternatives.

That means nearly 9 in 10 vaping devices have never received FDA review, let alone market authorization, or they are caught in an FDA backlog of products waiting for action. The ingredients and manufacturing of the parts used in devices that avoid FDA oversight are a mystery.

What EU Lawmakers Really Think About Vaping — Plus a Look at COP11 ft. Barnaby Page | Ep. 88

World Vapers’ Alliance

In this episode of Vaping Unplugged, Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, sits down with Barnaby Page from E-Cig Intelligence — a former reporter who now provides deep analysis on global harm reduction and nicotine policy.

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

Vaping Won’t Work If Nicotine Is Attacked

AVCA

Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 is in jeopardy if New Zealand’s Vaping Regulatory Authority (VRA) stands by its new interpretation of its own product standards which would dramatically reduce the maximum ‘nicotine salt’ limit, say smokefree advocates.

“If the VRA continues down this path it not only endanger

‘Strong evidence’

That e-cigarettes most effective way to quit smoking – Emma Wilkinson

There is strong evidence that e-cigarettes are a more effective way to help people quit smoking than nicotine patches or gum, a Cochrane review has concluded.

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