Vapers Digest 13th July
Monday’s News at a glance:
Who Benefits from the Status Quo? – Part 2 ~ Who Benefits from the Status Quo? – Part 3 Final ~ Ethics & Prohibition in Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ Government risks driving smokers away from lifesaving alternatives ~ Events ~ See Opportunities ~ Tobacco and vapes: packaging, appearance and display ~ The False Claims That Keep People Smoking ~ Regulators accused of stubbing out Sweden’s ‘solution’ to smoking ~ EU Consultation on tobacco products directive draws overwhelming opposition ~ Tobacco: over 82,000 responses to the EU public consultation, with 90 per cent raising objections to the reform ~ Banning flavoured vapes harms adults and does little for youth ~ New data shows 3.3 million ex-smokers used vapes to quit, but youth regulation still urgently needed, says charity ~ New illicit tobacco laws expose federal failure says Aldred ~ Investors flock to Big Tobacco as companies pivot to vapes and pouches — as moral taboo goes up in smoke ~ SAFER NICOTINE FACES A NEW WAVE OF PROHIBITION
Two From Alan Gor
Who Benefits from the Status Quo? – Part 2
This Substack continues from Part 1, where I explored how institutional incentives, path dependence and organisational structures can shape public policy. In Part 2, I examine how these dynamics influence public health philosophy, regulatory decision-making, enforcement, media narratives and political incentives, and why these forces can make meaningful policy change far more difficult than it first appears.
Who Benefits from the Status Quo? – Part 3 Final
This is the final instalment of the series and continues directly from Part 2. Having explored how institutional incentives, public health philosophy, regulation and political realities can shape policy, this concluding essay examines international comparisons, the opportunity costs of maintaining the status quo, and why understanding the systems behind policy is essential if we are to achieve better public health outcomes.
Ethics & Prohibition in Tobacco Harm Reduction
Arielle Selya PhD, Selya Behavioral Science Substack
The following is a written version of one of my presentations at the annual Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) 2026. The theme of the conference was prohibition and this session was focused on ethics of prohibtion. Jean-François Etter and myself presented and Garret McGovern was the excellent moderator and discussant. Prof. Etter also wrote up his own presentation on his own Substack (here) and the full 1.5-hour video of the session is available on YouTube (here).
Government risks driving smokers away from lifesaving alternatives
New Nicotine Alliance
The NNA can welcome one part of the Department of Health’s latest crackdown on vaping. At least ministers have stopped short of proposing a blanket ban on all vape flavours, something that would have removed one of the most effective tools helping millions of adults stay away from cigarettes.
Unfortunately, much of the rest of the suite of proposals risks sending exactly the wrong message to smokers.
Two From Skip Murray, Skip’s Corner – Let’s Talk!
Events
Here’s to networking, sharing our lived experiences, disseminating knowledge, collaboration, active listening, productive conversations, bridge-building, and spending time with friends and colleagues – old and new.
In a hurry? To quickly find additions to the previous Events post, look for the ones labeled NEW.
See Opportunities
These newsletters are read by a variety of people. Academics, media, regulators, public health, industry, tobacco control, and people with lived experience are among my readership. There may be content you support and some you don’t. But if I’m going to preach that people like me should have a seat at the table, it is important to me to practice what I preach and offer a seat to as many perspectives as I can.
GOV.UK
Consultation description
We are seeking views on proposals to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products under the Tobacco and Vapes Act. The proposals cover:
- packaging for some tobacco products, cigarette papers, herbal smoking products, heated tobacco devices and vaping and nicotine products
- the appearance of heated tobacco devices and vapes
- where shops can display herbal smoking products, cigarette papers, heated and other tobacco-related devices and vaping and nicotine products
The False Claims That Keep People Smoking
Martin Cullip, The Daily Pouch
There is something deeply troubling about the latest findings from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). According to analysis reported by The Observer, 54 percent of UK adults and 52 percent of smokers now believe that vaping is just as harmful as (or even more harmful) than smoking. Among smokers who have never tried vaping, that figure rises to an astonishing 61 percent.
This is undoubtedly a significant public health failure, as HazelCheeseman (ASH’s chief executive) recognises. “For smokers, thesemisconceptions have real consequences. If someone believes vaping is asharmful as smoking, they are less likely to use it to quit smoking andmore likely to stop vaping and return to cigarettes. Both of thoseoutcomes are far worse for their health.”
Regulators accused of stubbing out Sweden’s ‘solution’ to smoking
Marine Saint, The Observer
Swedes have been placing snus under their top lips for more than two centuries. A modern-day iteration of the powdered tobacco – white, tobacco-free nicotine pouches – was developed in Sweden in the 2010s as a safer alternative, but restrictions across Europe are threatening a market overhaul.
EU Consultation on tobacco products directive draws overwhelming opposition
Carl Deconinck, Brussels Signal
The European Commission launched the call for evidence in May, running until mid-June.
According to an analysis published today by Path to Smoke-Free and We Are Innovation, more than 82,000 submissions were received from 138 countries.
Over 90 per cent of these raised substantive objections to the Commission’s proposed direction, while only around 2 per cent expressed outright support for tighter rules.
Tobacco: over 82,000 responses to the EU public consultation, with 90 per cent raising objections to the reform
Annachiara Magenta, EU News
Brussels – The European Commission’s review of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) is faced with a fact that is hard to ignore. Over 90 per cent of the more than 82,000 responses responses received during the public consultation on the reform of the legislation expressed at least one substantial criticism of the regulatory approach proposed by Brussels. This is the finding of an analysis published by We Are Innovation, an independent network of experts studying the relationship between innovation, regulation, and economic growth, entitled “The TPD Revision and Europe’s Innovation Economy: A Review of the Evidence”. The study examined the entire body of the European consultation, classifying the contributions received by content and the positions expressed.
Banning flavoured vapes harms adults and does little for youth
David Clement, National Post
Five years is a very long time to announce a policy and not implement it, but Ottawa’s promised ban on flavoured vapes has now outlasted a health minister, a pandemic, and several news cycles’ worth of moral alarm. The Globe and Mail weighed in with an editorial on Monday insisting that the government’s stalling has gone on far too long. The case leans on frightening figures about the young, warnings that vaping leads kids to smoking, and a study of secret shoppers said to prove retailers cannot be trusted. It is, on its face, an argument built to alarm rather than to inform, and it collapses the moment one bothers to check the footnotes.
New data shows 3.3 million ex-smokers used vapes to quit, but youth regulation still urgently needed, says charity
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH UK)
New data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) shows daily vaping among adults has overtaken daily smoking in Britain for the first time, with 3.3 million vape users saying they are ex-smokers. At the same time over a million 11-17 year olds say they have tried vaping. The data highlights both the success of vaping as a quit aid and the urgent need to reduce youth uptake.
ASH is calling on the government to proceed swiftly to regulate the promotion of vapes to children, now it has powers under the Tobacco and Vapes Act but cautions that regulation must be proportionate and should not dissuade people who smoke from using them as a cessation tool.
New illicit tobacco laws expose federal failure says Aldred
Rick Koenig, Sentinel Times
Federal Monash MP Mary Aldred has seized on tough new landlord penalties in Victoria and New South Wales to renew her call for the Federal Government to slash the tobacco excise she says is fuelling the illegal trade.
The co-chair of the Coalition’s Illegal Tobacco Taskforce said targeting landlords was welcome but would not fix the problem on its own without stronger powers to tear up leases.
“Tougher penalties for landlords without the ability for them to terminate leases based on the sale of illegal tobacco doesn’t address the real issue,” Ms Aldred said.
Investors flock to Big Tobacco as companies pivot to vapes and pouches — as moral taboo goes up in smoke
James Franey, New York Post
Wall Street investors are reportedly flooding back into tobacco stocks, erasing years of ethical boycotts as the industry’s aggressive pivot toward smoke-free products blurs old moral lines.
For nearly a decade, pension funds and major endowments blacklisted cigarette makers under strict mandates.
But that taboo is quickly going up in smoke. Tobacco companies generating massive sales from non-combustible alternatives are “rejoining polite society” and earning premium stock market valuations from returning institutional capital, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Europe is escalating its war on safer nicotine by pursuing new restrictions on vaping, nicotine pouches, flavors, and affordability despite overwhelming evidence that these products can displace smoking. Shot on location at GFN 2026 in Warsaw, Poland, Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos describes the policy shift as a “tremendous setback.” He examines why Europe is abandoning common sense, refusing to learn from failed prohibitionist policies, and pushing a market serving millions of former smokers toward illicit trade.
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
China Gets Its First Industry Billionaires
Russell Flannery, Forbes
The growing global popularity of vaping helped China formally mint two billionaires from the vaping device industry on Friday.
Shares in Smoore International Holdings more than doubled from their IPO price of HK$12.40 to close at HK$31.00 at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday. That left Smoore’s valuation at HK$178 billion, or nearly $23 billion.
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