Vapers Digest 12th August
Monday’s News at a glance:
Evidence That Vaping Helps People Stop Smoking – New Zealand About To Be “Smoke Free” – Expert Reaction to the ASH Teen Factsheet – Vaping most successful aid to quitting smoking – CAPHRA Concerns Over New Bill – Nearly 3 million people in GB have quit smoking with a vape in last 5 years – Number of UK adults who vape reaches record level – The Economist on ZYN – How bureaucracy stalls the battle against smoking – NSW Parliamentary report on vaping falls short – Vape group fears new law could push vapers back to cigarettes – Five Must-Read Articles to Understand Harm Reduction
Two from Michelle Jones, ECigClick:
Evidence That Vaping Helps People …
Stop Smoking
A new study published on August 1st 2024 looked for evidence that vaping helps people stop smoking. The study is titled “E-cigarette Characteristics and Cigarette Cessation Among Adults Who Use E-cigarettes” and you can find it here.
I will just summarise the study below but you can always click the link above to read the details!
New Zealand About To Be “Smoke Free” –
But Will New Laws Stop Progress?
Following on from the success of Sweden becoming smoke free, New Zealand is next! Due to New Zealand promoting vaping as a tool to quit smoking it is looking likely they will be declared smoke free by the end of 2024!
Smoke Free status is obtained by reducing smoking rates to 5% or below. In the UK the target is for 2030 but according to a Cancer Research UK report in 2023 it does not look like we will be on track to reach that goal.
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
CAPHRA Concerns Over New Bill
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today voiced significant concerns regarding the recently released Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill 2024, which aims to address youth vaping. The bill, released by the Ministry of Health, proposes stringent measures that CAPHRA believes will inadvertently harm adult vapers and people who smoke seeking to quit smoking.
Expert Reaction to the ASH Teen Factsheet
Action on Smoking and Health published its latest results from the annual survey on teen vaping in Great Britain and the expert reaction has been…completely absent. A year ago, the report was accompanied with an outpouring of concern regarding misinformation. This year, as ASH itself indulges in emotive language, not one single tobacco harm reduction expert has commented.
A year ago, Professor Peter Hajek, Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Director, Health and Lifestyle Research Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, said:
In spite of all of the resources dedicated to stop them…https://t.co/7xverjXszc pic.twitter.com/SgVqRdbrST
— Phil (@phil_w888) August 12, 2024
Vaping most successful aid …
To quitting smoking, new study finds – Ali Anderson
Vaping has been the most successful aid to people quitting smoking over the last five years, a new study has found.
The latest survey from health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that 5.6 million adults in the UK use vapes. Of these, a massive 53 per cent said they had stopped smoking, 39 per cent are still smoking and eight per cent have never smoked.
Nearly 3 million people in GB
Have quit smoking with a vape in last 5 years
New figures show that over half of people who stopped smoking in the last five years across GB used a vape to quit. In the North East the figures are even higher – nearly six out of 10 used a vape to quit.
The research from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and supported by Fresh found that vapes have been the most popular quitting aid among those who have successfully stopped smoking in the last 5 years
Number of UK adults who vape …
Reaches record level – Tobi Thomas, The Guardian
The proportion of adults who vape in the UK is at its highest level, with the number who both smoke and vape doubling over the past three years, according to analysis.
The number of smokers who use both cigarettes and vapes has increased from 17% in 2021 to 32% in 2024 – the equivalent of 2.2 million people.
The analysis, which was conducted by Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) and was based on data collected by YouGov, found 5.6 million adults in Britain vape, about 11% of the adult population.
Media Watch: The Economist on ZYN
Joseph Hart
If you had all of these on your ZYN article in the media bingo card, then congratulations. If you didn’t, make sure you get a bingo card with those five topics next time because you’ll probably win.
The Economist is a venerable UK institution. Founded in 1843 to support the cause of free trade, it’s generally seen to this day as as economic liberalist outlet. I quite like the paper and read it often enough, so I was interested to see what they’d have to say about nicotine pouches.
How bureaucracy stalls ….
The battle against smoking – Lindsey Stroud
The latest U.S. vaping statistics highlight a changing tobacco landscape in which vaping is on the rise and smoking is declining. However, FDA regulations have not kept pace with these market shifts, particularly in allowing safer smoking alternatives to reach the market. The FDA’s regulatory processes are limiting harm reduction options for American adults and underscore the need for urgent congressional action to amend tobacco control laws to better protect public health.
A recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, using data from the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, shows a 13.3% increase in nicotine vaping among Americans ages 12 and up, from 8.3% in 2022 to 9.4% in 2023.
A missed opportunity:
NSW Parliamentary report on vaping falls short – Colin Mendelsohn
LAST WEEK, THE NSW PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY into vaping regulation released its long-awaited report. The result was predictable and disappointing and has failed the people of NSW.
From the outset, the report adopts an alarmist tone, boldly claiming that “Vaping is one of the biggest public health challenges our country currently faces” and “threatens to undermine years of progress in tobacco control.” Such statements are not only exaggerated but reveal the report’s overall bias and lack of nuance.
VSML – THE PACK BREAKERS EP 1
VSML South Africa
A show that is dedicated to vaping and people of vaping. A show around people and their involvement in vaping and tobacco harm reduction.
Vape group fears new law…
Could push vapers back to cigarettes
The Malaysian Vapers Alliance (MVA) has raised concerns over the potential impact of the upcoming Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852) on the vaping community.
In a statement today, the group voiced fears that overly strict regulations could drive former smokers who switched to vaping back to cigarettes.
Five Must-Read Articles
To Understand Harm Reduction:
The purpose of tobacco harm reduction (THR) and everything within it can sometimes be challenging to map out and understand. This leads to incorrect categorisations, false information, and negative preconceptions that interfere with THR’s actual goal and work.
To help make this harm reduction world easier to navigate, we have compiled five key articles addressing a few of THR’s facets. Together, these articles provide a foundation of what THR is, some of its key products, and the policy direction it supports.
On this Day…2023
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
Who cares about tobacco control?
Harry’s Blog 119 – Harry Shapiro
Negotiating international framework conventions demanding multi-national agreements is always going to be a challenge. And the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was no exception. Delegates went into bat armed with all their vested interests, anxious not to displease their political bosses back home. In fact, the most active participants in the smoke-free rooms were the American anti-smoking NGOs, who saw a golden opportunity to influence the global anti-smoking legislative landscape in the face of health-based delegates with no experience of drafting international agreements. Incidentally, neither did the WHO, as this was the world’s first health-focused framework convention.
’Swap-to-stop’ but let us shop
University of East Anglia
A Government scheme to give out free vapes to smokers appeals to most but not all, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).
The ‘Swap-to-Stop’ scheme was announced earlier this year – providing a million e-cigarettes to disadvantaged people who smoke.
A new study published today supports the scheme, with people who vape saying that this type of approach might have helped them if it had been available when they attempted to quit. But the research also shows that accessing vapes via the NHS might not be appealing to everyone, because some people don’t see e-cigarettes as treatments but more as consumer products that they can shop for themselves.
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