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Vapers Digest 6th February

Kevin CrowleyPosted on Posted in Latest News

Friday’s News at a glance:

Expert Slams TikTok Research ~ ScienceLab Returns for GFN26 ~ Crackdown Raises Over £1.4 million ~ Parliament Matters ~ Australia Is Drowning ~ Brazil May Finally Be Ready to Talk About Vape Regulation ~ While Europe dithers, US moves closer to seeing nicotine pouches as less harmful ~ The WHO Is Attempting to Sabotage Life-Saving Products ~ 20 is plenty – strength limits and market regulation ~ Shameful Changes in the WHO’s European Code Against Cancer ~ Mexico’s vape ban sparks jail threat for travellers ~ Harm reduction critics reject Sweden’s success in reducing smoking ~ Interview: David Zaruk, The Risk Monger ~ Oklahoma Prisons Will Sell Vapes and Nicotine Pouches to Inmates ~ From Curiosity to Crisis: How Youth Nicotine Data Gets Distorted ~ Sweden’s smoke-free success is ‘inconvenient truth’ for prohibitionists ~ Opinion: Health Canada ghosts the science on smoking cessation aids ~ Twisty Science and Definitions: Vaping Edition ~ ETHRA December and January news roundup ~ The smoking dilemma ~ Disposable vape ban hits convenience footfall, as soft drinks and RTDs drive growth ~ Fears Over 1,000 Clare People Will Return To Smoking Due To Proposed Vape Ban ~ World Cancer Day 2026: Africa should emulate Sweden’s proven blueprint to reduce smoking-related cancer ~ Mexico Vape Ban 2026: Tourists Face $12,500 Fines & Jail ~ Mexico’s vape ban has led to a cartel-controlled black market ~ Florida Moving Toward Taxing HTPs Differently ~ What AI says about vaping vs smoking ~ Vaping as an off-ramp from smoking | #GFN25 Science Discussion

Five From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes

Expert Slams TikTok Research

Harm reduction expert Ariel Celia has attacked poor quality research that claimed to find a correlation between viral Tik Tok videos about nicotine pouches and sales of nicotine pouches. The majority of the researchers work for the Truth Initiative – an American organisation founded as part of the Master Settlement Agreement and receiving significant funding from anti-vape billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

ScienceLab Returns for GFN26

Organisers of the Global Forum on Nicotine have announced that ScienceLab, the popular opportunity for researchers to present their harm reduction science, is returning for 2026. With limited opportunities remaining, attendees are being encouraged to act quickly to upload their videos, register for the event and make their submissions to take part.

Crackdown Raises Over £1.4 million

An enforcement initiative, led by National Trading Standards, has raised over £1.4 million in penalties as part of a crackdown on dodgy shop owners stocking and selling illicit tobacco and vape products. The operations have been conducted in partnership with local authority Trading Standards, Scottish Trading Standards Services and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Parliament Matters

This week, James Cartlidge MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, takes the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Home Office to task on matters relating to vaping. He asks about illegal vaping products, organised crime and closing down stores on the high streets of the United Kingdom.

Australia Is Drowning

Australia is drowning, says the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates, while looking away from New Zealand’s lifeboat. The consumer advocacy organisation believes that, as Canberra is spending millions on a policy of failing enforcement, its neighbouring nation is proving that tobacco harm reduction works.

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Oklahoma Prisons Will Sell Vapes and Nicotine Pouches to Inmates

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is launching a program to allow prisoners to purchase nicotine vapes and pouches through prison canteens. Tobacco has been banned in Oklahoma prisons for a decade, and cigarettes and cigars will remain prohibited.

Related: NICOTINE IN PRISON: Oklahoma prisoners will soon be able to purchase nicotine vapes and pouches

From Curiosity to Crisis: How Youth Nicotine Data Gets Distorted

Alan Gore, Substack

The latest RCH National Child Health Poll, titled “Hooked Early: Nicotine use among Australian teens”, arrives wrapped in the familiar language of alarm. Teenagers, we are told, are being “hooked early.” Nicotine use is framed as widespread, insidious, and escalating. The implication is clear: Australia is losing control of youth nicotine, and urgent intervention, more enforcement, more restriction, more prohibition, is the only responsible response. But when the poll is read carefully, and when its findings are placed alongside broader national data and recent policy changes, the story becomes far less dramatic and far more troubling in a different way. The real problem is not what the poll shows, but how it is framed, what it omits, and how eagerly it is being used to reinforce a pre-existing narrative.

Sweden’s smoke-free success is ‘inconvenient truth’ for prohibitionists

Smoke Free Sweden

Sweden’s rapid progress towards ‘smoke-free’ status is an “inconvenient” reality that contradicts those who seek to crack down on safer nicotine alternatives, say advocates of harm reduction.

MEP Charlie Weimers (ECR, Sweden) spoke out yesterday (Wednesday 3 February) as international health experts unveiled evidence in the Brussels Parliament showing that oral nicotine pouches are helping to wipe out cigarettes in Sweden and allowing women to close a long-standing gender gap in quitting smoking.

Opinion: Health Canada ghosts the science on smoking cessation aids

Ian Irvine, Financial Post

Bureaucracy’s first rule is to sustain itself. Whether in the private, non-profit or government sectors, bureaucracies make themselves appear indispensable, praise their past performance and seek ways to lay responsibility for shortcomings onto groups underneath them in the power pyramid.

Twisty Science and Definitions: Vaping Edition

Kevin Crowley, Substack

The Playful Art of Being Unscientific Yet Convincing –

Let’s explore with a bit of cheek how various authoritative figures and entities maintain their stance of always being right with the fun and creative use of the word “science” in and out of different contexts, and how the public is unaware.

Science Is Science: Imagine science as the self-assured professor at the university, always right in its quest for knowledge, rarely admitting it might need to revisit its notes.

ETHRA December and January news roundup

European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA)

ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: EU Cardiovascular Health Plan – Tobacco Tax Directive – ETHRA Submission to CVD Plan – Youth Smoking Plummets in Finland – Norwegian Nicotine Cap Proposal – The future. Like it or loathe it? – Mysterious NGO is Smearing Ordinary People – 13th Annual E-Cigarette Summit videos – Country updates. Read on for more.

The smoking dilemma

Swissre

As cigarette smoking declines globally, the use of alternative nicotine products is rising rapidly. E-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches, and inhaled cannabis are increasingly popular, especially among younger users, and are often seen as safer alternatives. While these products may reduce exposure to combustion-related toxicants, they are not risk-free and introduce more complex exposure patterns that challenge traditional insurance definitions of a “smoker.”

Disposable vape ban hits convenience footfall, as soft drinks and RTDs drive growth

Alice Leader, The Grocer

“The UK convenience sector declined 1.7% in 2025, with losses accelerating to 2.5% over the Christmas period, new data from specialist convenience insight agency Talysis has revealed.”

Fears Over 1,000 Clare People Will Return To Smoking Due To Proposed Vape Ban

clare.fm

It’s feared that almost 1,300 people in Clare will return to smoking following a proposed ban on vape flavours.

A new Public Health Bill seeks to ban all but tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes affecting the over 320,000 vapers in Ireland.

Data from Respect Vapers shows that of the over the 7,000 product users in Clare, more than half of those have quit smoking, which the organisation claims could lead to their relapse in cigarette use.

World Cancer Day 2026: Africa should emulate Sweden’s proven blueprint to reduce smoking-related cancer

Environews Nigeria

Due to declining smoking rates, Sweden has the lowest mortality from all cancers among men in the EU and an overall cancer incidence that is 41% lower than the EU average, offering a stark contrast to Africa

Across Africa, smoking-related diseases continue to place a heavy burden on public health systems, with cancer rates rising despite decades of traditional tobacco control measures. While many countries have focused almost exclusively on abstinence-only approaches, global evidence shows that this strategy alone is not enough to reduce smoking-related harm rapidly.

Mexico Vape Ban 2026: Tourists Face $12,500 Fines & Jail

Matthew Ma, Lifehack

Mexico has enforced a draconian prohibition on all vaping devices, enacting a total ban on their importation, distribution, and sale effective January 17. The decree, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), reforms the General Health Law to eliminate the legal vape market entirely. For international tourists arriving for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, this poses immediate legal risks: bringing a vape into the country—even for personal use—can result in confiscation, detention, and fines reaching up to $12,500

Mexico’s vape ban has led to a cartel-controlled black market

Theara Coleman, The Week US

Mexico has amended its constitution to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes and vapes. The move has led to legal sales plummeting as vendors close up shop, leaving the $1.5 billion industry in the hands of the country’s infamous cartels. A lack of clear legislation is enabling criminal organizations to strong-arm their way into the industry.

Florida Moving Toward Taxing HTPs Differently

Tobacco Reporter

A Florida House panel advanced legislation that would establish a separate tax structure for heated tobacco products (HTPs), distinguishing them from traditional cigarettes under state law. The bill (HB 377), introduced by Rep. Chase Tramont, reinforces an existing Department of Business and Professional Regulation interpretation that classifies HTPs as “other tobacco products” rather than cigarettes. The change would allow HTPs to be taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes, which are currently taxed at approximately $1.34 per pack. The measure cleared the House Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee with bipartisan support, though some lawmakers raised concerns about offering tax incentives for products that still pose health risks.

What AI says about vaping vs smoking

VSML South Africa

This is an AI-generated audio overview based on a comprehensive search of 68 research sources that compare cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The goal is to explain the evidence across several key areas: chemistry, exposure, youth “gateway” claims, technology distrust, and public health impact.

Vaping as an off-ramp from smoking | #GFN25 Science Discussion

Global Forum on Nicotine
In our next Science Lab session Dr Marewa Glover presents the key findings of the Voices of the 5% Study, a 4-year longitudinal qualitative study of New Zealand adults who used vapes but had no intention of quitting smoking. #GFN25ScienceLab

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

Smoking or vaping, it’s your choice

Simon Clark, Talking Liberties

The Fine Gael Senator (above), who was awarded the title ‘Nanny-in-Chief’ by Forest in 2017, told the Irish Independent: “We are currently on track to miss our smoke-free deadlines in Ireland and I believe that we can correct this course by potentially incorporating e-cigarettes in our policies.

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

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