Vapers Digest 12th June
Friday’s News at a glance:
Penn State Study Bucks Trend ~ LGA Wants Parks Vape Ban ~ Parliament Matters ~ Palau Wants the United Nations to Review Nicotine. But Who Will Review the Evidence? ~ Brussels wants to make Europe ‘smokefree’ – and the European Parliament already knows how ~ Media Watch: The Telegraph is Confused About “Illegal” Disposable Vapes ~ Costa Rica’s War on Nicotine ~ The war on drugs comes for nicotine: Brussels lobbyists, failed Australian prohibitionists and a tiny island lobby the UN to treat vapers like meth addicts ~ “This Is Criminal Neglect of Evidence” — Tobacco Control, Ideology & Harm Reduction Explained ~ Tobacco policy should reflect the world as it is ~ FDA’s e-cigarette authorization: Fruity vapes not significantly better than tobacco ones ~ Trump Bought Tobacco Stocks and Raked In Industry Donations as FDA Eased Standards ~ ‘Find Some Kids’: How Health Officials Drummed Up Fake Support for Tobacco Bans in Massachusetts Towns ~ Go figure: Vapers are turning to cigarettes to quit vaping, new study finds | Ryan Bridge TODAY
Three From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Two From Peter Beckett, Clearing The Air
The war on drugs comes for nicotine: Brussels lobbyists,
failed Australian prohibitionists and a tiny island lobby the UN to treat vapers like meth addicts
A tiny archipelago with a population of just 18,000, has asked the UN to put nicotine on the same list as crystal meth, ecstasy and the date-rape drug GHB in an audacious move co-ordinated by European tobacco control bigwigs.
Palau – a country with a GDP similar to the cost of a single Boeing 787 airliner – has prepared a detailed dossier and a slick website explaining why it thinks the war on drugs should be extended to smokers. But it hasn’t acted alone, and the country’s co-conspirators will be hugely influential when the EU revises its tobacco laws next year.
“This Is Criminal Neglect of Evidence” — Tobacco Control, Ideology & Harm Reduction Explained
Peter Beckett: Delon Human, welcome to Clearing the Air.
Delon Human: It’s my privilege.
Peter Beckett: Can we get a short introduction of who you are and how you came to be where you are now?
Delon Human: Well, I am a physician first and foremost. I started my career in clinical medicine, but after a few years, I grew frustrated; telling the same story repeatedly to individual patients is valuable, but I felt I could do more systemically.
FDA’s e-cigarette authorization: Fruity vapes not significantly better than tobacco ones
Matthew Perrone, ABC News
Fruit-flavored e-cigarettes recently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration were not significantly better at helping smokers quit than tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes, according to a new memo that’s likely to stir new questions about the agency’s decision.
The FDA last month gave its first OK to fruit-flavored vapes — essentially endorsing them as a less-harmful alternative to traditional cigarettes. The decision came despite the agency’s longstanding position that such flavors appeal to children and must show extra health benefits to warrant approval for adults.
Trump Bought Tobacco Stocks and Raked In Industry Donations as FDA Eased Standards
Darius Tahir, KFF Health News
President Donald Trump, who once declared he had “saved” flavored vapes, grew his stock holdings this year to as much as $1.64 million in tobacco giant Philip Morris.
He also had holdings in Altria and a third leading tobacco company, though an apparent discrepancy in his disclosures clouds the extent of his investments. In 2025, tobacco interests donated $6 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports the president, and Trump’s inauguration. And, on April 30, a week before FDA guidance that provided a critical boost to the industry, Reynolds American dropped an additional $5 million into the super PAC’s coffers.
On this day…2019!
