Vapers Digest 10th February
Friday’s News at a glance:
Worst science journalism of the week – U.S. & UK Vaping Rates Similar Among Youth & Young Adults – Sweden should do more for snus in the EU – Is the FCTC’s website now a Bloomboard? – Bloomberg Commits Another $420 Million to Tobacco Control – Ross Responds to Mercury Madness – IEVA Calls For Reduced-risk Alternatives – World Cancer Day Change Call – Smoking Deaths Sidelined – Biden’s Anti-Vaping Policies – Major UK Grocery Chains Remove Elf Bars – Vape issue has no easy fix – Is vaping any healthier than smoking? – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest
Worst science journalism of the week
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
From the Daily Mail…
EXCLUSIVE: Using snus or dipping tobacco may raise the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 30 PERCENT, study suggests
Using snus tobacco products may raise the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 30 percent, a study has suggested.
… In the latest study, researchers in Sweden — where snus was invented and the product is popular — monitored nearly 37,000 people in the country for eight years.
This included 2,000 snus users who had never smoked a cigarette.
They found that these individuals were 29 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared to people who did not smoke cigarettes or take snus.
What the study actually says…
U.S. & UK Vaping Rates Similar …
Among Youth & Young Adults – Brad Rodu
I have previously commented on the so-called American teen vaping “epidemic”. Using federal data, I have shown how the CDC and the FDA exaggerate the magnitude of vaping, portraying a fake crisis (here, here, here, here, here, here and here). This post compares the prevalence of vaping among young people in the United States and the UK. In the latter country, e-cigarettes have been welcomed and endorsed by the public health establishment as effective quit-smoking, life-saving aids, and there has been a noticeable absence of the U.S.-style crisis scaremongering.
The chart on the left shows the prevalence of vaping in the U.S. and UK among youth and young adults age 16 to 24 years from 2014 to 2019, and 18-24 years in 2020. Note that prevalence was the same in both countries in 2014, and was higher in the UK over the next three years. Prevalence spiked in the U.S. in 2018 and 2019, but by 2020 both countries had similar rates.
Sweden should do more for snus in the EU
Johan Nissinen talks to Snusforumet
Swedish MEP Johan Nissinen talks to Snusforumet about his commitment to fighting for Swedish snus in Brussels and Strasbourg and the need for the government to do more to promote Sweden as a public health role model for combatting smoking and cancer.
Interest in Swedish snus is increasing across EU, but politics is still standing in the way. That’s Sweden Democrat MEP Johan Nissinen’s assessment in any case. He took some time to speak with Snusforumet about his views on the debates in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe about Swedish snus and smokeless nicotine pouches.
.@smokefreesheff should be commended for this.
It’s rare to see an ethical & honest vaping education resource for parents & educators. The fact that some of them smoke is too often ignored. https://t.co/tuY91DactH
— Phil (@phil_w888) February 10, 2023
Germany: the Federal Government replies to questions on tobacco harm reduction and the extortionate tax on e-liquids. @BVRAeV https://t.co/MeITe6eEmA
— European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (@europethra) February 8, 2023
Is the FCTC’s website now a Bloomboard?
COPWatch
Yet another day, yet another connection of Bloomberg with the Secretariat of the Framework Convention. Surprisingly, (or maybe at this point we should get rid of any illusions that they do not serve as a lobbying company for Mr. Bloomberg) the official FCTC website provides information about the possibility to apply for Bloomberg-funded grants (Round 33 of the Bloomberg Initiative To Reduce Tobacco Use Grants Program | WHO FCTC).
The announcement board where the information on grants can be found, serves as a newsfeed of “events and initiatives organized by the Convention Secretariat and/or its partners”.
Bloomberg Commits Another $420 Million
To Tobacco Control – Jim McDonald
Bloomberg Philanthropies, the non-profit funding arm of billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s activist philanthropic empire, has announced a new round of funding for its Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. The new donation brings total Bloomberg tobacco control spending to nearly $1.6 billion since 2005.
The 80-year-old former New York City mayor has committed to spending a total of $420 million over the next four years. Two-thirds of the money will go toward reducing tobacco use in low- and middle income countries (LMICs), and the remaining $140 million will be spent “reducing e-cigarette use among teenagers in the United States.”
Three from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
Ross Responds to Mercury Madness
Louise Ross, Chair of the New Nicotine Alliance, has written to the Leicester Mercury regarding their misleading clickbait article (covered by Planet of the Vapes last week). Her letter points out some key facts and the Mercury was gracious enough to print it in full.
As well as being Chair of the UK’s foremost nicotine consumer charity, Louise Ross has been working in stop smoking settings since 2004, launching the UK’s first “vape-friendly” Stop Smoking Service in Leicester. She is also a freelance clinical consultant at the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training.
IEVA Calls For Reduced-risk Alternatives
On World Cancer Day, the Independent European Vape Alliance says that reduced-risk alternatives can decrease smoking rates. The Alliance says that the UK government has put the harm potential of vaping at least 95 percent less than smoking and believes other nations should follow our lead.
The Independent European Vape Alliance says: “The risk of developing cancer is considered to be 99.5 percent lower for vapers than for smokers. These findings have been substantiated in multiple publications over recent years.”
World Cancer Day Change Call
Radical change is needed, and world leaders need “to wake up”, said the World Vapers’ Alliance on the eve of World Cancer Day. World Cancer Day held every year on the 4th of February, a “global uniting initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control”.
The Union for International Cancer Control says: “By raising worldwide awareness, improving education and catalysing personal, collective and government action, we are all working together to reimagine a world where millions of preventable cancer deaths are saved and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equitable for all – no matter who you are or where you live.”
Smoking Deaths Sidelined
In Biden’s State of the Union Address – Alex Norcia
President Joe Biden was set to announce in his February 7 State of the Union (SOTU) address how he’d lead the charge to reduce the number of cancer deaths in the United States once and for all: by eliminating combustible cigarette use.
News reports and a press call from the White House suggested that he’d make this statement as part of the administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, but it was left, it appears, on the cutting room floor. Biden himself did not bring it up.
Biden’s Anti-Vaping Policies …
Undermine Cancer Moonshot – Guy Bentley
In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden celebrated his reignition of the “cancer moonshot,” intending to slash cancer deaths by 50 percent over the next 25 years. A key plank in this ambitious agenda is tackling the country’s leading preventable cause of cancer, smoking.
To this end, the Biden administration will be “preparing further action to help people avoid smoking in the first place and support Americans who want to quit.” These are likely references to the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to ban menthol cigarettes and remove almost all of the nicotine in the cigarettes left on the market. It’s unclear when either of these prohibitions will be implemented.
UK Grocery Chains Remove Elf Bars
After Violations Found – Jim McDonald
Three major British grocery chains have removed some Elf Bar disposable vapes from their shelves after the manufacturer admitted that products containing illegal features were distributed to some retailers.
Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons stores have removed watermelon-flavored Elf Bar 600 devices from their stores, and Morrisons has removed all flavors of the 600 series, according to ITV News. The three retailers are among the largest British grocery chains.
Vape issue has no easy fix
The recent news of police extorting tourists for possessing e-cigarettes raises the question of whether it’s time or not to legalise these electronic devices. But it’s an issue that goes beyond limiting the income stream of crooked cops.
While cigarettes, with their detrimental impacts on health, are legal, e-cigarettes have been banned since 2017. Despite the ban, about 80,000 e-cigarette users in the kingdom are violating the law. More than half of this number is in the 15–24 age group.
Is vaping any healthier than smoking?
Kirstie Ganobsik
There’s been plenty of scientific debate about whether vaping is safer than tobacco, and whether it may help some people stop smoking.
According to a recent Cochrane Review analysis of 78 studies, electronic cigarettes show more success in helping people quit smoking than traditional nicotine-replacement therapies, such as nicotine patches and gums.
“The most important finding from our recent review update is that for the first time there is high certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective than traditional nicotine-replacement therapies, such as patches, gum or lozenges, in helping people to quit smoking,” said study co-author Ailsa Butler.
On this Day…2022
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….
Expert reaction to ecigs for quitting
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