In the News 27th Feb

Fridays News at a glance:

A Meeting with David Rees AM – Chair of the Health & Social Care Committee – Widely Reported Study Showing Dangers of E-Cigs Has One Little Problem – Italian e-cigarette firms say new tax benefits tobacco – Are e-cigarettes harmful or helpful? – 40 percent of tobacco users combine cigarettes and e-cigarettes -NHS ignoring good advice? –  E-cigarette makers face rise of fakes – New study: profound ignorance about the basic facts of the potential for tobacco harm reduction – Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Fri, 27 February 2015

A Meeting with David Rees AM – Chair of the Health & Social Care Committee

‘Here we go again’, was the thought resonating through my mind as I stood outside the Senedd in a cold and windy Cardiff Bay. Having a last minute vape, I pondered the meeting that was about to come. A meeting with the Chair of the Health & Social Care Committee – and also the very first time that a Labour AM had agreed to meet with me. For that reason alone, I was not sure whether I was going to be going into a hostile environment or not….

Widely Reported Study Showing Dangers of E-Cigs Has One Little Problem…

To sum the study up: A research team primarily based out of Johns Hopkins University exposed mice to enough e-cigarette vapor so that the levels of cotinine — a metabolite of nicotine and biomarker for tobacco smoke exposure — in their blood was roughly similar to the amount of cotinine seen in the blood of e-cig users. They found that mice which reached these levels of blood cotinine after exposure to e-cig vapor had compromised immune systems and were more susceptible to viral and bacteria infections compared to mice only exposed to normal air….

Italian e-cigarette firms say new tax benefits tobacco

Electronic cigarette firms in Italy say a new levy that doubles the price of e-liquid refills unfairly helps tobacco giants like Philip Morris International and will hurt their industry.

The tax, which was adopted in January, is set at half the rate of that on traditional cigarettes. The controversy centers on the fact that the lower rate is applied to both electronic cigarettes and to tobacco products such as Marlboro HeatSticks, which Philip Morris is launching in Italy alongside a 500 million euro ($568 million) factory investment….

Are e-cigarettes harmful or helpful?

Electronic nicotine delivery systems have both promise and concern. But since cigarette smoking causes one in five deaths in the US every year, every approach to reducing cigarette smoking should be considered, and e-cigarette use by smokers attempting to quit is promising….

NHS ignoring good advice?

The NCSCT was established to support the delivery of smoking cessation interventions provided by local stop smoking services, support the NHS and Local Authorities to deliver effective evidence-based tobacco control programmes, and deliver training and assessment programmes to stop smoking practitioners and other health care professionals….

40 percent of tobacco users combine cigarettes and e-cigarettes

“Are e-cigarettes a step toward a cigarette smoker getting off of cigarettes? Or are e-cigarettes a crutch so they can get nicotine in places and times when they wouldn’t normally be allowed to smoke cigarettes?” asked Dr. Andrew Hyland of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the primary investigator for a huge government study of trends in smoking and tobacco use….

E-cigarette makers face rise of fakes

“We’ve got a brand, we’re well-known,” said Matthew Moden, who founded Darwen, England-based Liberty Flights in 2009 and now runs so-called vape stores across the U.K. and ships to the rest of the world. “The same problem is faced by Louis Vuitton.”

New study: profound ignorance about the basic facts of the potential for tobacco harm reduction

Subjects were asked, “In your opinion, do you think that some smokeless tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, snus, and snuff, are less harmful to a person’s health than cigarettes?” Setting aside the stupid wording (“In your opinion, do you think”) which makes wrong answers technically correct, the correct response is obviously “yes”. It is more true than if they had asked “Is the Earth round” (since it is not perfectly round).

Nicotine Science and Policy – Daily Digest – Fri, 27 February 2015