Vapers Digest 9th March
Monday’s News at a glance:
Lords Debate Vape Bill ~ expert reaction to observational study on vaping/smoking and blood pressure ~ Quitting smoking — and switching completely to e-cigarettes — improves vascular health ~ What are heated tobacco products? ~ The Error of Equivalence ~ The Updated Meta-Analysis of E-Cigs & Health Outcomes: Still Critically Flawed ~ Flavour Bans and the Cigarette Rebound: The Evidence Public Health Doesn’t Want to Discuss ~ Fourteen Years Without Smoke ~ Nothing About Us Without Us ~ Vaping is less harmful than smoking, experts say. Why don’t smokers know this? ~ The EU’s own advisers just backed “less harm, less tax”. Will the Council Listen ~ The Irreconcilable Conflict Principle (redux) ~ The defective reasoning of Bloomberg’s tobacco control activists ~ Letter to European Commission on risk misinformation ~ The WHO is a risk-factor for cancer ~ Findings from the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey that Anti-Nicotine Groups Don’t Want You to Know ~ From Crisis to Progress: What the 2025 Youth Tobacco Survey Really Shows ~ Herzog Talks Industry Shifts, Expects Market to Hit $67B by 2035 ~ Fight the vaping ban ~ On the global intensification of “vapor-free” policies (Part 2) ~ Beyond the Panic: A Harm Reduction Lens for Teen Drug Use ~ “Disguised” Vape Flavor Ban Threatens Harm Reduction in Germany ~ Myanmar Bans Sale and Possession of Vapes ~ The Biggest Missed Opportunity in Global Health ~ MARTIN VAN STADEN | SA need not follow Singapore on caning vapers ~ Ireland moves to tighten vape rules and regulate nicotine pouches in new bill ~ Studies cited in viral video show vaping far safer than smoking ~ Germany plans menthol vape ban under draft cooling agents rule ~ UK Vape Tax 2026: Vaping’s About to Get Expensive ~ Taxing Consumers off a Cliff ~ Substitution Effect | Canadian Flavour Bans Increase Smoking ~ Endgame Delusions | FDA Rejects Reality of Safer Nicotine ~ What we missed over the past two weeks
Lords Debate Vape Bill
Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Lords debated the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in the House of Lords on the first day of Report stage – with Action on Smoking and Health calling it “a significant moment for public health”. As part of the debate, the peers voted 78 to 246 against an amendment that would have removed the generational ban from the legislation and replaced it with an age of sale increase to 21.
expert reaction to observational study on vaping/smoking and blood pressure
Science Media Centre
An observational study published in The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology looks at vaping and smoking and blood pressure.
Quitting smoking — and switching completely to e-cigarettes — improves vascular health
Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction
The damage caused by smoking does not start with a heart attack. It begins much earlier, at the level of the blood vessels. When someone smokes, the chemicals produced by combustion make arteries stiffer and impair the inner lining of blood vessels (the endothelium), reducing their ability to dilate properly. These early changes increase long-term cardiovascular risk — often years before clinical disease becomes visible.
What are heated tobacco products?
Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR)
Heated tobacco products are a non-combustible safer nicotine product that use an electronic heating element to heat sticks of tobacco, producing a nicotine vapour that is then inhaled. Also known as heat-not-burn products, they first came to market in the mid-2010s and include brands such as IQOS, glo and Ploom. This Briefing Paper provides an introduction to the heated tobacco product category and explores their tobacco harm reduction potential.
Findings from the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey that Anti-Nicotine Groups Don’t Want You to Know
Dr. Michael Siegel, The Rest Of The Story
Earlier this week, the FDA released the data from its 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey. This is a public use dataset so it is freely available to all. My own analysis of these data revealed some important findings that I want to share. To the best of my knowledge, the questions I investigated in my analysis are questions that no health agency or anti-nicotine organization has ever examined. When you see the results, you will understand why.
Ireland moves to tighten vape rules and regulate nicotine pouches in new bill
Tim Hong
Ireland’s government has approved new legislation that would tighten rules on vapes and introduce regulation of nicotine pouches, as ministers push ahead with a broader package of nicotine controls.
Studies cited in viral video show vaping far safer than smoking
Ali Anderson
Cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 70 known carcinogens.
Research cited in the viral video states vaping exposes users to “95 percent fewer toxic chemicals” than cigarettes.
Germany plans menthol vape ban under draft cooling agents rule
Tim Hong
Germany is moving to ban menthol vapes and a wide range of e-liquids containing cooling agents under draft regulations that could take effect later in 2026.
The proposal, put forward by the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, would prohibit menthol and other flavourings that use synthetic cooling additives on the grounds that they make vaping “more attractive.”
UK Vape Tax 2026: Vaping’s About to Get Expensive
James Dunworth, E-cigarette Direct
From 1 October 2026, the UK government is introducing what it officially calls the VPD. That’s not an STD – it’s short for Vaping Products Duty, which you probably think of as ‘the vape tax’.
Whatever you call it, every 10ml of e-liquid you buy is about to cost a lot more.
Taxing Consumers off a Cliff
David Zaruk, Firebreak
The European Commission is in the process of harmonizing tax policies on nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes.
Their proposals will increase taxes by up to 50%.
The EU ignored the overwhelmingly negative reactions in the consultation process.
Two From Brent Stafford, Regulator Watch
Substitution Effect | Canadian Flavour Bans Increase Smoking | RegWatch
Canadian flavour bans were sold as a public health win, but the data says otherwise.
In this episode of RegWatch, economist Dr. Michael Pesko breaks down new research examining the real-world impact of provincial bans on flavoured nicotine vaping products.
Endgame Delusions | FDA rejects Reality of Safer Nicotine| RegWatch
What we missed over the past two weeks:
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