Vapers Digest 19th July
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Follow the science when regulating vaping, by Justin Leventhal ~ The power of information: embrace science for a healthier future ~ Taxes on tobacco alternatives undermine harm reduction efforts ~ House of Lords ~ IBVTA responds to calls for ban on single use vapes ~ Leading health experts urge lawmakers to reform vaping laws ~ June 2023 Sarah Pratt Series Let’s talk e-cigarettes ~ Experts fight back over Labor’s vaping crackdown ~
While often justified to protect teen health, regulators have begun treating vaping products as equally, if not more harmful, as smoking traditional tobacco products. This push means that more teen and adult nicotine users will use cigarettes, which are far more dangerous.
More effort is needed to prevent teen nicotine use. Still, in doing so, we should make sure not to encourage teens and adults to use products that could cut an additional 10 years off their lives.
Taxes on tobacco alternatives undermine harm reduction efforts
Guy Bentley, Reason Foundation
The government, at state and federal levels, imposes excise taxes on combustible cigarettes. Principally, the taxes serve to offset the costs smokers impose on non-smokers through increased healthcare demands, deter use (especially among minors), and raise revenue.
Since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was tasked with regulating tobacco products in 2009, a host of safer nicotine alternatives to cigarettes have entered the market, including e-cigarettes, modern oral nicotine, and heated tobacco. The FDA has authorized these products as part of a harm reduction strategy so that smokers who are unwilling or unable to quit cigarettes through traditional methods can switch to safer forms of nicotine.
Come join us tomorrow at 4 pm PST our guest will be Kim "Skip" Murray @imaracingmom we will discuss her latest piece with Filter. "Mental Health Awareness" https://t.co/tI6I680a36
Host: John Truncali @SwiftyRawkz @alli_vapes @LabworksVapes @RushmoreExt23 #vapeadvocacy— John Truncali (@TruncaliJohn) July 18, 2023
Two From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
House of Lords
Vaping and tobacco harm reduction have been discussed in the House of Lords. Liberal Democrat Lord Storey raised the subject of prosecutions, pressed the Government on the subject of young people vaping, and asked the current administration to look at the banning of all flavoured vape products.
IBVTA responds to calls for ban on single use vapes
The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) has responded to the Local Government Association (LGA) calling for the Government to ban the sale and manufacture of single use vapes by 2024. IBVTA’s members do not hold links to any company in the tobacco industry. The LGA represents councils in England and Wales.
Leading health experts urge lawmakers to reform vaping laws
Dr. Colin Mendelsohn, colinmendelsohn.com.au
FORTY FIVE LEADING TOBACCO TREATMENT, public health and addiction experts from Australia and New Zealand are urging lawmakers to listen to the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD) ahead of Health Minister Mark Butler’s proposed vaping crackdown.
The Council’s concerns were revealed earlier this month in emails released under the Freedom of Information Act by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The emails can be found here.
None of the experts or Council members have any links with tobacco or e-cigarette companies.
June 2023 Sarah Pratt Series Let’s talk e-cigarettes
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Nicola Lindson, Sarah Pratt, University Of Oxford Podcasts
Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Dr Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Associate Professor Sarah Pratt from Dartmouth University. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches.Sarah Pratt discusses her research and her study of e-cigarette provision to people with serious mental illness to support them transitioning away from combustible tobacco. This research is funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse.
FDA Is Funding and Approving Cigarettes
Mazen Saleh
With how news moves these days, it is easy to miss the drama unfolding in the tobacco world. Over the course of this year, the Food and Drug Administration announced a plan to reduce the nicotine in all cigarettes, outright ban all menthol cigarettes, and denied an application by JUUL to sell its products, only to turn around and suspend that ban as the company appealed the decision. All of this is eclipsed, however, by the fact that U.S. health agencies funded research trials for two very low nicotine (VLN) cigarette products — one of which is a menthol — that went on to receive approvals by the FDA as reduced-risk products.
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