In the News 19th Feb

Thursdays News at a glance:

Smoking kills, nicotine doesn’t …. European Commission considers taxing electronic cigarettes …. Fiscal deaths ahead: European Commission wants to tax e-cigarettes …. MOVE Campaign – Medical Organisations supporting Vaping and E-Cigarettes …. Uptake of e-cigs far from easy as rifts open over research from industry ….  Nicotine …. Policies and practice on use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places …. Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Thu, 19 February 2015

Smoking kills, nicotine doesn’t

Dr Derek Yach has done more than any man alive to eradicate smoking. A former professor of global health at Yale, he developed the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, now in effect in almost 180 countries. He has relentlessly drawn attention to the slippery tactics of the tobacco industry, which promotes its products while ostensibly lending its support to anti-smoking campaigns…..

 European Commission considers taxing electronic cigarettes

As mentioned in yesterdays News via FT.com

The European Commission is considering taxing ecigarettes in the same way as their traditional cousins in a move that would drastically increase the cost of the alternative smoking product and further hinder their take up.

The commission has asked excise duty experts from across the EU to consider the “best way to achieve fiscal equal treatment” between ecigarettes – where users inhale nicotine vapour – and normal tobacco products.

Fiscal deaths ahead: European Commission wants to tax e-cigarettes

Clive Bates on EC Taxation:

What if basic economics tells you that raising a tax on a newer, much safer, product will lead to more consumption of an older much more dangerous product than there would otherwise be? What if the consequence of that tax was to cause more cancer, heart disease and emphysema, and to cause more people to die prematurely? Would you raise that tax? Would you knowingly cause ‘fiscal deaths’?

MOVE Campaign – Medical Organisations supporting Vaping and E-Cigarettes

Although the science has well established that electronic cigarettes are orders of magnitude less harmful than the tobacco cigarettes, these devices have in many countries been subjected to a powerful discrediting campaign. One of many recent examples is the recent spate of sensational news about the study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine about the high levels of formaldehyde when e-cigarettes are over-heated….

Uptake of e-cigs far from easy as rifts open over research from industry

Researchers have counted 7,764 varieties of “vape”. That adds up to one of many challenges — from practical constraints to conflicts of interest — in working out how safe e-cigs are, and whether they help smokers quit.

Most scientists agree e-cigarettes have potential as a stop-smoking aid. They can be used with or without nicotine and are free of the thousands of toxins in conventional cigarettes. But they also throw up some unusual obstacles….

 Nicotine 

One of the reasons tobacco became so popular in the 1600s, along with tea & coffee (for their caffeine), was that nicotine is a powerful stimulant. Obvious enough; it affects tons of systems. Less obvious is that nicotine has many beneficial effects (and these benefits may be related toanomaloussmokingresults¹); the infamous deadliness of smoking would seem to be almost solely from the smoke, not the nicotine. Even less obvious is that nicotine itself may not be especially addictive, and its addictiveness is genetically modulated

Policies and practice on use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places

A Survey from Public Health England

In this survey we set out five draft principles for policies and practice in relation to use of nicotine vapourisers (commonly known as e-cigarettes) in enclosed public places and workplaces, on which we invite comments and input. Our purpose is to encourage debate and build an evidence-based core consensus around this important issue. Following analysis of the feedback received, we will publish Public Health England’s position and our framework advice to employers and other authorities….

Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Thu, 19 February 2015