Vapers Digest 17th May

Monday’s News at a glance:

Snus has Sweden on track to be world’s first smoke-free country – Proper Funding, Not Prohibitions – They protest far too much – what happened to scientific curiosity? – Sweden, Norway, Japan embrace THR – World Vape Day 2021 – UKECRF Vape Research Update – Proposed federal e-cigarette tax would threaten public health – Canada Proposes New Federal Vape Tax From 2022 – High school seniors who used e-cigarettes may have otherwise been cigarette smokers: – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest

Snus has Sweden on track

To be world’s first smoke-free country – Snusforumet

Only five percent of the Swedish population smokes, meaning the country may soon lay claim to being the world’s first smoke-free country, argues Sweden’s Snus Commission.

“The reason is snus,” the group writes in a new debate article published in Swedish business daily Dagens Industri.

The Snus Commission is an independent collection of experts who produce reports on issues related to Swedish snus.

A new report produced for the Snus Commission by the Novus polling reveals that Sweden can become the world’s first smoke-free country.

Proper Funding, Not Prohibitions…

Right Way to Address Youth Vaping – Lindsey Stroud

Under the guise of “protecting the children,” lawmakers in Maine are attempting to ban the sale of flavored tobacco and vapor products. While protecting children from the harms of adult products is laudable, this prohibition is effectively punishing adults for the failures of poorly executed and inadequately funded tobacco control programs. Worse, Maine stands to lose millions (if not billions of dollars) in the long term from tobacco-generated revenues that would otherwise help to fund said tobacco control programs.

The sponsor of the bill claims the legislation is monumental and that lawmakers have “few other bills [they] have considered together that have the potential to make such a significant impact on the health of Maine kids and communities.”

They protest far too much –

What happened to scientific curiosity? – Clive Bates

The complaints about a journal publishing scientific papers from the e-cigarette company Juul and its consultants are absurd, anti-scientific and somewhat disturbing. Juul has accumulated knowledge from extensive surveys of its users and their changing patterns of smoking and use of the Juul product. The monograph published by the American Journal of Health Behavior is a fascinating collection of papers that drills into this store of data [1]. It provides highly salient information on changes in smoking status, drivers of transition, population health impact and retailer behaviours. The summary for the introduction to the series should be enough to whet the appetite of the genuinely curious and scientifically engaged:

*Important Opportunity*
Submit your personal story re Harm Reduction and opinions on future UK moves to diverge from the TPD + more. Submit to APPG (Vaping) by May 27th https://t.co/NKGkbjS0Zk

— Alan Beard (@Alan_Beard1) May 17, 2021

Sweden, Norway, Japan embrace THR

24shareupdates

Smoking rates and tobacco-related diseases and deaths have progressively decreased in countries that have adopted tobacco harm reduction (THR), according to Karl Fagerstrom, president of Fagerstrom Consulting, a Swedish consultancy firm that conducts research on smoking cessation and THR.

Fagerstrom was one of the resource speakers during the In Focus: Tobacco Harm Reduction webinar organized by the Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum (GTNF) Trust on April 27, 2021.

“Sweden and Norway are very good examples where snus has displaced smoking and, more importantly, driven down smoking-related diseases and deaths to record-low levels among men, at least, according to World Health Organization data. Sweden has even reached its end game goal of less than 5% smoking rate,” Fagerstrom said.

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

World Vape Day 2021

“As World Vape Day 2021 approaches, I have found myself taking stock of the past year in vaping activism more frequently,” writes Michael Landl of the World Vapers’ Alliance in this op-ed article for Planet of the Vapes.

As World Vape Day 2021 approaches, I have found myself taking stock of the past year in vaping activism more frequently. From leading a Covid-19 friendly protest calling on MEPs to back vaping and beat cancer at the European Parliament, to hosting another Covid-19 friendly protest in the Netherlands defending vaping flavours, I am proud of everything we at the World Vapers’ Alliance have done to make the voices of vapers heard in debates around the world.

UKECRF Vape Research Update

The UK E-Cigarette Research Forum (UKECRF) is an initiative developed by Cancer Research UK in partnership with Public Health England (PHE) and the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS). Among other things, it brings together genuine experts to look at research related to vaping and tobacco harm reduction. It has released its latest research round-up.

The UKECRF [link] provides monthly updates aiming giving an overview of new vape. They are aimed at researchers, policy makers, health professionals and anyone else with an interest in tobacco harm reduction. The authors point out that the studies they present are but a snapshot of all the papers published over the last month.

Proposed federal e-cigarette tax..

Would threaten public health – Alan D. Viard

On April 22, Senators Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) introduced a bill to revamp federal tobacco taxes, with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) introducing a companion bill in the House. The proposed Tobacco Tax Equity Act of 2021 would sharply increase the federal tobacco tax and would apply that tax to e-cigarettes for the first time. Unfortunately, taxing e-cigarettes would impede the bill’s goal of curbing smoking and would threaten public health.

The bill cites “parity” and “equity” as justifications for taxing e-cigarettes at the same rate per use as cigarettes. Similar reasoning has prompted 28 states and the District of Columbia to tax e-cigarettes. However, as Alex Brill, Sally Satel, and I have explained, imposing equal taxes on products with vastly different harm levels is the wrong kind of parity.

Canada Proposes New Federal Vape Tax

Diane Caruana

In a recent 724-page budget tabled in Parliament which is yet to be approved, Trudeau’s government proposed a single flat rate of $1 per 10 ml of e-liquid or fraction thereof, with the aim of curtailing “harmful consumption” of e-cigarettes.

The new federal excise duty on vaping products is set to go into effect in 2022 on all e-liquids regardless of the level of nicotine they contain. However, it would only apply to e-liquids that are either manufactured in Canada or imported to be used locally.

The tax would be calculated and imposed based on the volume of the smallest immediate container holding the liquid, stated the document, and Cannabis-based vape products would be exempt since they are already subject to excise duties on cannabis.

High school seniors who used e-cigarettes

May have otherwise been cigarette smokers – Natasha A Sokol, Justin M Feldman

Introduction: Studies have indicated that youth who use e-cigarettes are more likely to progress to cigarette smoking; however, the likelihood that these youth would have used tobacco products in the pre-vaping era is unclear. This study sought to determine whether youth who used e-cigarettes in 2014-2018 would have likely been smokers in the period preceding e-cigarette availability.

Methods: Analyzing Monitoring the Future 12 th grade data (USA, 2009-2018), we forecasted the prevalence of current smoking with logistic regression-derived propensity scores. Models predicted smoking for all subsequent years, incorporating sociodemographic, family, alcohol, and school-related variables, and a linear time trend. We compared forecasted to observed smoking prevalence annually, and prevalence of current e-cigarette use among non-smokers across smoking propensity tertiles.

On this Day…2020

A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…

Death Sentence For A Vape Advocate

Refused Oxygen Because He Vapes – Neil Humber

I wrote about Nova Scotia’s latest draconian new vaping laws this week and now a pioneering vape advocate refused oxygen because he vapes is facing a slow lingering painful death.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

And not only that, he’s been refused to even be considered a new sheltered home for him and his wife – who suffers from dementia – because the local law bans smokers or vapers from being given them.

As it stands right now, Ray Yeates is forced to live in a tiny hotel room whilst caring for his desperately sick wife, and could soon have his life-saving oxygen supply taken away for no other reason than he is a vaper.

Canadian Study: Vaping More Effective ..

Than Just Counseling For Smoking Cessation – Diane Caruana

In line with previous studies, a clinical trial presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC), concluded that smokers who used nicotine-containing e-cigarettes alongside counselling, were more likely to quit smoking than those who received counselling alone.

Vaping significantly improved the quitting rate and reduced the consumption of daily cigarettes at 12 weeks. In line with recommendations by vaping advocates across the globe, the researchers pointed out that given that the long term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown, the devices should only be used for smoking cessation purposes.