Vapers Digest 19th October
Monday’s News at a glance:
The Week in Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ Flaws in Studies of Vaping among Former Smokers ~ Teen Nicotine Use is at a 50-Year Low ~ Studies support lower-risk nicotine products, harm reduction framework pushed—PHILTHRA ~ New research bolsters case for nicotine pouches in New Zealand’s smoke-free journey ~ Vaping cancer claims challenged by limits of laboratory study ~ A story of two consultations: picking apart the Commission’s summary report ~ An Important Message About SFATA’s Future ~ EU: Consumers want to keep the flavours – authorities are calling for a ban ~ TPD: How a Nicotine Market Freeze Would Benefit Cigarettes ~ Iowa indefinitely delays its new vape registry ~ Is it true that a million people who have never smoked now vape? ~ Risk Reversal | Why Americans Now Fear Vaping More Than Smoking | RegWatch ~ ASIA FORUM ON NICOTINE 2026: MORNING SESSION
The Week in Tobacco Harm Reduction
This is another post, like my one on EMR studies, that I plan on referring to in the future every time I come across one of these types of studies. Here I discuss studies on people who formerly smoked that compare whether vaping (vs. not vaping) — or quitting with vaping vs. quitting with another method — is associated with worse outcomes (e.g., higher risk of relapse or worse health outcomes).
Teen Nicotine Use is at a 50-Year Low
Charles A. Gardner, PhD, Medium
Available evidence supports the conclusion that overall nicotine use among American teenagers is now at its lowest level in approximately 50 years. Although no single survey provides a perfectly consistent, comprehensive measure of every nicotine product across the entire period, historical cigarette-smoking data and contemporary surveys of multiple nicotine products point toward the same conclusion.
On October 6, 2026, ministers from eight European Union Member States (the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain) wrote to Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, ahead of the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Their letter starts from a simple observation: the EU legislation on tobacco products, adopted in 2014, is now outdated. Some of the products it covers have changed, and new ones have appeared. “The emergence of new product categories, rapidly evolving technologies, and increasingly sophisticated marketing strategies have created regulatory gaps that were not anticipated by the current Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD),” the signatories write.
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