Vapers Digest 17th October

Tuesday’s News at a glance:

Skepticism at Launch of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World – Asia’s ‘Next-Generation’ Nicotine Sales the Key for Big Tobacco – Chuck Schumer Comes Out As Anti-Science – Should Flavours Be Banned? – Dubai tightens ban on e-cigarette smoking in public places – NSP Daily Digest

Skepticism at Launch of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World

Kristin Jenkins, Medscape

The goal to end smoking worldwide — the number one preventable cause of death globally — appeared to take a big step in the right direction with the launch last month in New York City of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.

Surely any move toward ending smoking is a good thing. In the period 2005 to 2009, cancer deaths attributable to smoking — primarily lung cancer — topped the list of smoking-related cancer mortality in the United States, surpassing deaths caused by smoking-related heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mortality combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, many tobacco control experts remain skeptical about the new foundation, after the announcement that funding of $80 million annually over the next 12 years had been secured from Philip Morris International (PMI), one of the world’s leading tobacco manufacturers and cigarette marketer.

Asia’s ‘Next-Generation’ Nicotine Sales the Key for Big Tobacco

Alex Frew McMillan, Real Money – The Street

If Big Tobacco has a future, it’s in Asia. Heck, if it has a present, it’s in Asia, too.

Smoking rates are the highest in the world in Indonesia, where 76% of adult men smoke. Whenever I travel there, I’d say that’s 100% of the ones still walking and talking.

Laos (56%) and South Korea come next in Asia, with 50% of the dudes lighting up. Whether it’s emerging China (48%) and Vietnam (47%) or developed Japan (34%), cigarettes still have a surprisingly strong grip on society.

Asian men smoke — in places like China, a pack of cigarettes is a common icebreaker when you start a working relationship. I don’t know if it’s a lack of health education, little regard for lifespan, or hefty government ownership of the tobacco industry, but it is what it is.

Cheap smokes might sell extremely well for now across the region. But even in Asia, the future of the cigarette will be electronic.

Chuck Schumer Comes Out As Anti-Science

Joe Sylvester, Daily Vaper

In Schumer’s first complaint, he says that there is a rise in students using e-cigs. Schumer must not realize there are already laws on the books that prohibit selling these devices to minors. Of course violators can and should be punished.

Then there’s Schumer’s argument that teachers and administrators are having a hard time determining if a student’s “gadget” is a vaping device. This makes no sense. If a student is putting a device to their lips and exhaling vapor, it is an e-cig. If the educators of this country can force all faculty and staff to participate in sensitivity training one would think they could send an email to faculty and staff stating “If a student puts a device to their mouth and exhales vapor, that device is a prohibited item.” It’s a laughable notion that these educators cannot tell the difference.

Health Minister rules out legalising e-cigarettes

TripleJ Hack, ABC

Minister Hunt told Hack: “It’s not going to be happening on my watch as far as I’m concerned.”

E-cigarettes are battery operated devices that heat a cartridge of liquid nicotine into a mist to be vaporised. It is widely agreed they are likely to be less harmful than smoking cigarettes and are often used as an aid to quit smoking.

Last year, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) received an application to re-schedule nicotine, so it could be purchased in liquid form legally.

After months of consultation, the TGA decided in March against any changes.

"Look, all we want is a non-smoking section in restaurants. Is that so much to ask?" https://t.co/33hOEP5Ktx

— Christopher Snowdon (@cjsnowdon) October 16, 2017

Should Flavours Be Banned?

Mawsley, Planet of the Vapes

San Leandro City Council, a small place next to the ecig-phobic San Francisco, has voted in favour of implementing a ban on vape flavours. The decision now requires approval at a council meeting on Monday 16th October. It goes against prevailing global opinion, common sense, and the findings of a new Yale School of Public Health research paper.

Councilman Pete Ballew told his fellow councillors: “I don’t think this ordinance is about catching people selling cigarettes, and I really don’t think it’s about catching kids buying cigarettes; I think it’s bigger than that. This ordinance, to me, is about de-normalising the use of tobacco.”

Plain and simple, this isn’t about the science or evidence – Ballew’s motivations are grounded in a zealotry that believes nobody should have the choice to smoke…or do anything that looks like smoking.

Dubai tightens ban on e-cigarette smoking in public places

Arabian Business

Dubai Municipality has said it is cracking down on violations of a ban on electronic cigarette in public places and shopping malls.

Shopping malls have been encouraged to direct their security staff to stop people smoking near the entrances as well as inside the building.

“The municipality has noticed that there are some shopping centres that allow violations of the indoor smoking ban, especially so-called electronic cigarettes, and allow smoking at the entrances of shopping centres,” said Redha Salman, director of Public Health and Safety Department in the municipality in comments published by state news agency WAM.

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