Vapers Digest 10th June
Monday’s News at a glance:
Interview with Martin Cullip – Storm in a Teacup Over Soccer Stars’ Snus Use – WHO’s Authoritarian Tobacco Conferences – ASA Rules Against Emails – Dr Cox Wins the 2024 Impact Prize – UKVIA’s 10 Vaping Truths – FDA Scraps Its Juul Marketing Denials – Hong Kong Wants to Outlaw Personal Use – Australia accused of ‘double standards’ – Podcast: Important developments in the novel nicotine industry – Fighting Risky Forms of Tobacco in LMICs – Education, Not Plain Packaging – Egypt Lifts Ban on Vaping – Empowering marginalised communities in Pakistan
Interview with Martin Cullip
Jospeh Hart
After interviews with harm reduction legends Karl Fagerstrom and Clive Bates, this all-killer, no-filler series continues with the inimitable Martin Cullip.
Martin is a lot of things. A successful businessman, a writer, a free market champion, an International Fellow at The Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s Consumer Center, and a consistent thorn in the side of tobacco control lunatics.
He’s also a much-loved and genial figure in the harm-reduction advocacy space. I admire him because he’s passionate, straight-talking, and capable of seeing through the nonsense of the modern world.
Storm in a Teacup…
Over Soccer Stars’ Snus Use – Kiran Sidhu
“I used to have the odd cigarette on a night out,” wrote Jamie Vardy, the Leicester City striker and 2016 Premier League winner, in his autobiography, “but one of the lads introduced me to snus when I signed for Leicester and I found they helped me chill out.”
Professional soccer players in the United Kingdom are using nicotine pouches or snus in significant numbers, according to a new study. The resulting media coverage has overwhelmingly portrayed this as negative. Almost entirely ignored is the role of snus and pouches in harm reduction—together with the relevant fact that many players, including some of the most famous, have smoked.
WHO’s Authoritarian Tobacco Conferences
Prove It Cannot Be Trusted With a Pandemic Treaty
Martin Cullip
The proposed World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Treaty, aimed at addressing the glaring shortcomings exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, has sparked a heated debate. Much of the criticism centers around concerns that the treaty could infringe on national sovereignty, giving the WHO unprecedented authority to impose lockdowns and other restrictive measures during health emergencies. While the WHO has dismissed these concerns as “fake news, lies, and conspiracy theories,” the experiences with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) provide a cautionary tale.
The FCTC, the WHO’s first and only global health accord (adopted in 2003), has shown that the WHO’s approach is one of overreach, driven by narrow interests and lacking in transparency.
Only six months after the e-cigarette flavor ban in Quebec, 36% of vapers have turned to much riskier cigarettes.
And @liberal_party want to replicate this public health disaster in all of Canada.#cdnpoli @YaaraSaks https://t.co/CP7Qoq917T
— Phil (@phil_w888) June 10, 2024
Three from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
ASA Rules Against Emails
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against another ecig company, this time iVape London was found to have breached the advertising code. In particular, an email from iVape included text in the subject line saying, “Unwrap Your Savings! Get an exclusive offer on all Vape Kits”. The body of the email said, “Act fast, this special deal is valid for ONLY 24 Hours”. It then showed images and prices for six vaping kits.
To date, vape retailers have been led to believe it was claims on social media that they were banned from making – offering deals to adults who had signed up to an email was believed to be perfectly acceptable business practice.
Dr Cox Wins the 2024 Impact Prize
The Society for the Study of Addiction has announced that Dr Sharon Cox is the winner of the 2024 Impact Prize, in recognition of her work to address health inequalities in smoking cessation interventions.
Dr Sharon Cox is Principal Research Fellow in Behavioural Science and Health in the Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group at University College London (UTARG), Deputy Director of Behaviour Research UK (BRUK), and President of the European Chapter of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT-E).
Sharon’s research focuses on treatment for tobacco dependence within communities facing severe and multiple disadvantages, and how social determinants can influence uptake and use of mainstream smoking cessation treatments and act as wider barriers to tobacco harm reduction.
UKVIA’s 10 Vaping Truths
The UK Vaping Industry Association has published a factsheet to cover the “10 Vaping Truths” and combat the rampant misinformation in today’s United Kingdom. The vape trade body says the factsheet aims to “cut through the misinformation, blow away the smoke and mirrors and make the truth about vaping clear”.
The UK Vaping Industry Association says: “Misperceptions about vaping have never been higher and public trust in the stop smoking tool never lower. According to the latest data from Action on Smoking and Health, half of Great Britain’s adult smokers wrongly and worryingly believe vapes are as or more harmful when compared with cigarettes – up from 39% in 2023.”
FDA Scraps Its Juul Marketing Denials
Kiran Sidhu
The United States Food and Drug Administration has rescinded its marketing denial orders (MDOs) to Juul Labs, Inc, almost two years after the agency ordered the company’s vaping products to be taken off the market.
Juul’s submissions under the FDA’s premarket tobacco products applications (PMTA) process now return to “pending” status, and are back under scientific review.
The significance of the news extends far beyond the company’s own fortunes, when Juul has long been at the epicenter of US arguments about harm reduction and youth vaping.
After Banning Vape Sales…
Hong Kong Wants to Outlaw Personal Use – Jim McDonald
Hong Kong could soon ban personal use and possession of vapes and heated tobacco products if the health ministry has its way. The country has prohibited the sale and import of vaping products since 2022.
“We will fully ban all alternative smoking products,” health secretary Lo Chung-mau told a news conference yesterday, according to French news service AFP. “Alternative smoking products” is the term used by government officials to describe nicotine products like vapes (which emit no smoke).
Australia accused of ‘double standards’
After refusing vape shop compensation – Ali Anderson
The Australian government has been accused of an ‘outrageous double standard’ after denying compensation to legal vape shops left bankrupt due to the vape ban.
The refusal comes as pharmacists in the country are to be handed $2 billion to make up for having to offer longer 60 day prescriptions.
Dr Colin Mendelsohn, who campaigns for legal vaping as a crucial smoking cessation tool, said on X (formerly Twitter): “In an outrageous double standard, @Mark_Butler_MP denies compensation for legal #vape shops closed and bankrupt as a result of his vape ban … but provides $2 billion to compensate pharmacies after changing the prescription regulations! How is this fair?”
Fighting Risky Forms of Tobacco in LMICs
Global Forum on Nicotine
What’s holding up the transformation to safer nicotine products in low-income and middle-income countries, known as LMICs? In India, there are over 300 million tobacco users, with many using what Dr. Sudhanshu Patwardhan calls “risky forms of tobacco” that significantly increase cancer severity. Hear Dr. Sud’s “bottom of the pyramid” plan to supercharge the tobacco transformation in LMICs
Podcast: Important developments …
In the novel nicotine industry – Tobacco Intelligence
David Sweanor, adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law, and chair of the advisory board of the Centre for Health Law, Policy & Ethics at the University of Ottawa, talks to podcast host Oliver Prescott about global trends and recent developments in the novel nicotine industry, particularly in the US and Canada.
David Sweanor will be speaking at the Global Forum on Nicotine, held at the Marriott Centrum Hotel in Warsaw, Poland, from 12th to 15th June.
Education, Not Plain Packaging
Key to Protecting Youth from Vaping – WVA
The World Vapers’ Alliance expresses grave concerns over the Dutch cabinet’s recent decision to apply plain packaging requirements to vaping products. The move, proposed by State Secretary Van Ooijen of Public Health, Welfare and Sport, aims to reduce the attractiveness of these products to young people, but it overlooks critical distinctions between vaping and smoking.
Egypt Lifts Ban on Vaping
AHRA
There are approximately 13.9 million current smokers in Egypt, with 61,295 people dying every year due to tobacco smoking in the country.
Tobacco smoking is a prevalent health problem in The Arab Republic of Egypt, with the most updated prevalence of tobacco smoking at 22% in 2010 and increasing. Egypt has the largest population of tobacco users and the highest cigarette consumption per capita in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.
Empowering marginalised communities
In Pakistan: A path to tobacco harm reduction
“Smoking-related issues have burdened me during my ten years of smoking. However, since I switched to oral nicotine pouches, my life has transformed significantly. I now notice small yet meaningful improvements in my life. Access to information about available alternatives in the market is crucial for individuals seeking a better lifestyle,” Ahmed, a former smoker from Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) offers a promising solution to mitigate theadverse effects of smoking in marginalized communities. To design effective THR awareness campaigns, it is crucial to understand the barriers faced by such communities in Pakistan…
On this Day…2023
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
Vaping myths:
Medical experts answer your questions on vaping
Vaping has become one of the fastest growing trends in recent years. E-cigarettes, vape pens, and vaping are all known as the same thing. Vaping was originally developed as a tool to help people quit smoking.
However, vaping and the act itself, have developed many myths and misconceptions in recent years. Most of these incorrect myths have been driven by the media to produce headlines and contain very little scientific evidence.
This article will dispel some of the most common health myths associated with vaping.
Scientists exploring passive vaping
Neil Shaw
Researchers are searching for volunteers to take part in a new study being launched into the potential health effects of passive vaping.
Experts from the universities of Dundee, Abertay, and St Andrews will collaborate on the Vascular Effects of Passive Exposure (Vape) study, which aims to determine what – if any – health impacts vaping in close proximity to others has on their vascular health.
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