Vapers Digest 17th March
Friday’s News at a glance:
Sweet Jesus, not plain packaging again! – Internal FDA Report on Smokeless Tobacco – Biased framing of EU-questionnaire – Bans will cause more harm than good – Get With the Programme, RNZCGP – Parliament – The House of Commons – Parliament – House of Lords – FDA Denies Vuse Solo Menthol Refills – Sweden nears smoke-free status – FDA Authorizes Copenhagen Classic Snuff – Massachusetts Post-Menthols Ban – Exploring the Real-World Impact of ENDS – Why New Mexico House Bill 547 – Thai Committee on Public Health – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest
Sweet Jesus, not plain packaging again!
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
Oh joy, a new study… They showed a bunch of people some mocked up e-cigarette packaging, some of which was ‘plain’/grotesque, and found that people preferred the normal packaging. Fancy that!
The people were also less likely to say they would try vaping if the packaging was ‘plain’. I suppose they would, wouldn’t they?
From this the authors conclude that there would be less underage vaping if e-cigarettes were sold in plain packs.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) were straight out of the blocks demanding legislation (without mentioning that two members of their tiny staff had co-authored the study).
Internal FDA Report on Smokeless Tobacco
Dashes Hopes for Vaping – Brad Rodu
Kudos to Greg Conley, director of legislative affairs for the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, for making public an internal FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) report, titled, “Summary of Health Effects of Smokeless Tobacco [SLT] Products for Epidemiology Branch Product Application Review.” Mr. Conley used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the 18-page document.
It is important to note the clear acknowledgment by FDA staff that SLT products are safer than cigarettes, illustrated in this executive summary passage:
Biased framing of EU-questionnaire
Shows hostility towards harm reduction – Pouch Patrol
The European Commission is currently holding the second public consultation on the revision of the tobacco control legislation. Unfortunately, the questions and reply options are strongly biased towards prohibiting reduced-risk products.
The evaluation is part of an ongoing evaluation of the European legislative framework for tobacco control. It aims to assess the extent to which the framework has fulfilled its goals and can support a smoke-free generation by 2040, as announced in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (BECA).
Last month, we acquired a “confidential – for internal use only” FDA review of the evidence on vaping. The document covers every bit of data the agency had on health effects, teen use and smoking cessation up to March 31, 2020. THREAD 🧵 pic.twitter.com/idoe99tJJc
— American Vapor Manufacturers (@VaporAmerican) March 16, 2023
Great to see progress towards a consumer model for #vapes in AU
“there is growing cross-party support to follow other Western nations, including France, Britain and New Zealand, in regulating and licensing the sale of #vaping products”
via @australian https://t.co/vwgQRNezgC
— Dr Colin Mendelsohn (@ColinMendelsohn) March 16, 2023
Bans will cause more harm than good
In the Hoosier State – Lindsey Stroud | Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Legislation has been introduced in Indiana that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products. This is not the first time such legislation has been introduced with sttw Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, introducing similar bills in 2020, 2021 and last year. Yet, this year’s proposed ban comes amid recent state and national data that youth vaping is declining and youth use of traditional tobacco products is at record lows. Given the failed experiences in other states, Indiana should refrain from imposing restrictions on products that adults responsibly consume and youth are not overwhelmingly using.
House Bill 1133 would ban the sale of flavored tobacco and e-liquid products, including “cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco … and tobacco products that have a characterizing flavor.”
Three from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
Get With the Programme, RNZCGP
“The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) needs to get with the programme. It’s called Smokefree Aotearoa 2025,” says Nancy Loucas, Executive Coordinator of CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates). The RNZCGP has called for New Zealand to follow Australia’s lead and restrict e-cigs on a prescription-only basis.
The RNZCGP believes that vapes to be restricted to pharmacies or available through Quitline, like nicotine patches.
Parliament – The House of Commons
Tory Ben Everitt wants the law changed so that companies can be punished for breaking the law. Dean Russell let everyone know that he hasn’t bothered reading the last ecig evidence update published by his own party. Matthew Offord repeated his concerns regarding companies not complying with waste electrical and electronic equipment producer scheme regulations, and Andrew Gwynne asked (yet again) for the Tobacco Control Plan to be published.
The Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North, Ben Everitt said he was aware of “recent reports on e-cigarette manufacturers overfilling e-cigarette devices”, and asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care if he will “bring forward changes to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 to increase penalties on manufacturers found to be in breach of those regulations.”
Parliament – House of Lords
Ask anybody who knows, and they’ll tell you nothing beats the excitement of a good question and answer session in the House of Lords. Household name Lord Randall of Uxbridge wanted to know what the Government is doing about disposable vapes. Lord Naseby wanted answers to the question of – oh, disposable vapes. Phew, Lord Porter managed to be original by worrying about children. And disposable vapes. Someone is rattling the Conservative peers of the realm.
Lord Randall of Uxbridge asked the Government what assessment has been made of the environmental and health impact of disposable vapes. He wondered when the Government were going to ban them.
Sweden nears smoke-free status:
A ‘public health miracle’ – Snusforumet
The report, “The Swedish Experience: A Roadmap to a Smoke-free Society”, describes many of the circumstances that have contributed to Sweden’s current daily smoking rate of 5.6 percent. It also details many of the positive public health effects, including a 38 percent lower incidence of cancer compared to the rest of the EU and a 39.6 percent lower tobacco mortality rate.
“In many ways, Sweden is the best-kept secret in public health,” said lead author Dr. Delon Human during the report’s launch event in Stockholm. “We want to make sure that the rest of the world understands what Sweden has achieved.”
Smoke-Free Sweden 2023 Launch Event
The Smoke-Free Sweden event focused on the Swedish Experience: Sweden is set to become the world’s first smoke-free country, according to the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Countries are considered smoke-free when less than 5% of the adult population smokes tobacco.
FDA Denies Vuse Solo Menthol Refills
Jim McDonald
The FDA has rejected another menthol vaping product—this time two menthol refills for the Vuse Solo. In 2021, the Solo device and its tobacco-flavored refills became the first vaping products to receive FDA marketing authorization. The Solo is a primitive cigalike-style vape, powered by a cigarette-shaped battery and using screw-on prefilled cartomizer refills.
In a press release, the FDA explained the Vuse Solo menthol refills didn’t meet the agency’s “appropriate for the protection of public health” standard because menthol e-cigarettes “have a known and substantial risk with regard to youth appeal, uptake and use.”
FDA Authorizes Copenhagen Classic Snuff
To be Marketed as a Modified Risk Tobacco Product
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company’s Copenhagen Classic Snuff, a loose moist snuff smokeless tobacco product, to be marketed as a modified risk tobacco product (MRTP). Copenhagen’s moist snuff smokeless tobacco product is a pre-existing tobacco product that has been marketed in the U.S. for years without modified risk information. Today’s action now allows the product to be marketed as a modified risk product with the claim: “IF YOU SMOKE, CONSIDER THIS: Switching completely to this product from cigarettes reduces risk of lung cancer.”
Massachusetts Post-Menthols Ban
Helen Redmond
Massachusetts is experiencing the aftershocks of menthol prohibition. In 2020, the Bay State became the first in the country to enact a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco and vaping products. As such, it’s a real-life case study of the potential impacts of a proposed federal menthols ban. And while research on smoking rates currently raises as many questions as answers, the escalation of nicotine law enforcement is beyond dispute.
Almost three years into the Massachusetts ban, some apparently contradictory things are unfolding. One study found that sales of all cigarettes by licensed retailers declined by almost 33 percent. Proponents of the ban believe this is proof that it works.
Exploring the Real-World Impact of ENDS
Smoking-related disease causes nearly one in five premature deaths in the United States (CDC). Half of those who continue to smoke will die from a smoking-related illness — about 480,000 Americans each year, and more than 1,300 every day (CDC).
It is widely understood that the best option for adult smokers to reduce the risks to their health from combustible cigarettes is to quit tobacco and nicotine products altogether. However, for adult smokers who have not successfully quit, noncombustible products, such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), or vapor products, can provide adult smokers a potentially less harmful alternative and off-ramp from combustible use.
Why New Mexico House Bill 547’s
Tax increases undermine public health – Guy Bentley
New Mexico House Bill 547 would significantly increase taxes on e-cigarettes and marijuana vaping products. HB 547 would impose a 31% wholesale tax on vapor products and a tax equal to 25% of the product value on other tobacco products, such as cigars, smokeless tobacco, and nicotine pouches.
Research from the Cochrane Review, Yale University, and many others. shows that noncombustible nicotine products, like e-cigarettes, present significantly less danger to consumers and benefit public health if smokers switch from cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes, several have been authorized for sale by the Food and Drug Administration as “appropriate for the protection of public health,” with many more awaiting review.
Thai Committee on Public Health
Suggests E-cigarette Regulation and to End Ban on Vaping
Dr. Eak (Ekkapob Pianpises) recently unveiled a sub-committee report on the Study of Impacts on Health and Monitoring the Enforcement of Public Health Related Laws under the Committee on Public Health.
The report points out that the current e-cigarette ban in Thailand is ineffective; instead, it has led to issues in terms of the clarity of the law, which has caused unaligned interpretations of the law for relevant agencies, unfair treatment towards e-cigarette users and problems of corruption while being unable to reduce the smoking rate or prevent the sale of products to children and young people. The report suggests that the government lift the ban on e-cigarettes and apply harm reduction measures along with current tobacco control policies.
On this Day…2022
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….
NSW Health’s misinformation campaign
Colin Mendelsohn
Young people should not vape or smoke. They should also be given accurate evidence-based information to help them make informed choices. The NSW Health ‘Do you know what you’re vaping?’ campaign is alarmist and provides many misleading and inaccurate messages and is bound to flop.
Some of the more egregious and misleading statements are challenged below
“Vaping has been linked to a serious disease”
This is deliberately misleading.
Vaping Problem In Schools
Is The Result Of A Black Market That Could Have Been Avoided
Legalize Vaping
The explosion of vaping in schools that has finally triggered a response from the NSW Government is a result of backwards regulations that have fostered a black market and could have easily been avoided, Legalise Vaping Australia (LVA) said today.
While the funding of a $300,000 education campaign to support schools and students in managing the vaping problem in schools is a well-intentioned development, it is only necessary because of a black market that is now completely out of control and flooded with dodgy products.
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