Vapers Digest 19th March

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

Hysteria in the Netherlands ~ UKVIA Celebrates National No Smoking Day ~ Foreign Funding Questioned ~ YCR Tackles Misconceptions ~ Scientific Inaccuracies in Smoking Cessation Guidance ~ Do Pre-Existing Brain Structures Influence Early Nicotine Use? ~ The Curious Case of the Nicotine Naysayers: When Fear Outpaces Logic ~ Dr Tedros Valiantly Aims to Solve a Problem of His Own Making ~ CAPHRA Backs Evidence That Vaping Could Save Thousands Of Thai Lives ~ Ignoring Aging Adults in Nicotine and Tobacco Research: A Public Health Blind Spot ~ The Real Cost of FDA’s “Real Cost” E-Cigarette Campaign ~ The Health Harming Snus Ban Deception Continues ~ Thousands quit smoking through ‘Swap 2 Stop’ free vape scheme ~ Not everyone’s on board with Whitmer’s 32% vaping tax plan ~ FRANCE’S RADICAL VAPING OVERHAUL

Four from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Hysteria in the Netherlands

Reporting from The Hague, the World Vapers’ Alliance has called out the Dutch officials’ misguided statement comparing vaping to crack and heroin use. The advocacy body says that comments will put the lives of smoker and ex-smokers at risk by scaring people away from a product accepted to be far safer than tobacco.

UKVIA Celebrates National No Smoking Day

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) celebrated National No Smoking Day by sharing the success stories from adult smokers who have used vapes to finally quit tobacco. Commenting on how vaping products work as an evidence-backed quitting tool, UKVIA shared its 10 Vaping Truths factsheet and asked for other ex-smokers to share their vaping journeys.

Foreign Funding Questioned

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has called for greater transparency in global tobacco control governance, citing evidence of external influence in domestic policymaking across Asia-Pacific. The organisation has documented patterns suggesting Bloomberg Philanthropies has exercised inappropriate influence over tobacco harm reduction policies in the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

YCR Tackles Misconceptions

Last week, as people across the United Kingdom were being urged to quit smoking for good on No Smoking Day, Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR) put a spotlight on the facts about vaping to ensure that a crucial opportunity to save lives was not lost. The charity is encouraged smokers to sign up to its free Stop Smoking Support Service, offering personalised support and stop-smoking aids including vapes.

Scientific Inaccuracies in Smoking Cessation Guidance

Floe Foxon, BSc, Michael Siegel, MD, MPH, The American Journal of Medicine

The Ling and Goetzl article¹ contains inaccuracies and misleading statements, often without citation, and we respectfully request corrections to the following:

1. “Approximately 46 million adults currently smoke” – In 2021, 46 million US adults currently used any tobacco product,² including smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. 35.6 million used any combustible tobacco product and 28.3 million currently smoked cigarettes.² One cannot “smoke e-cigarettes”¹; they don’t involve combustion and therefore do not produce smoke but aerosol containing fewer numbers and lower levels of most toxicants than cigarette smoke.³

Do Pre-Existing Brain Structures Influence Early Nicotine Use?

Kiran Sidhu, Filter

Pre-existing differences in brain structure are associated with earlier substance use in young people, according to a recent study. The research informs our limited understanding of the complexity of factors behind drug use.

Among its many implications, it lends support to the case that, when youth who try vaping nicotine are also more likely to try cigarettes, the reason is a so-called “common liability” to nicotine use in whatever form—and not some sort of “gateway” effect of vaping itself.

The Curious Case of the Nicotine Naysayers: When Fear Outpaces Logic

Kiran Melkote, Linkedin

In the hallowed halls of public health, a strange phenomenon has taken root. A shadow of fear looms, not over the smoldering menace of , but over the humble, albeit addictive, molecule known as . This misplaced anxiety is stifling potentially life-saving alternatives and, ironically, bolstering the very industry it seeks to dismantle. Let’s unpack this, shall we?

For decades, tobacco control valiantly fought the scourge of smoking, and rightly so. Combustible cigarettes are a slow-motion catastrophe of tar, toxins, and terminal illnesses. Yet, as science marches on and safer nicotine alternatives emerge, a peculiar resistance has taken hold.

Dr Tedros Valiantly Aims to Solve a Problem of His Own Making

Loremipsumdolor, COPWATCH

It’s amazing what one can do when one tries. Since President Trump’s announcement that the United States is withdrawing all its funding from the World Health Organization, the WHO spin machine has been working overtime to improve its image.

On social media, the WHO released a message on X (formerly Twitter) which ‘debunked’ the idea that the agency has a “massive” budget and that the WHO is “spending all its money on administration and bureaucracy”.

CAPHRA Backs Evidence That Vaping Could Save Thousands Of Thai Lives

Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA)

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today endorsed compelling evidence presented by Asa Saligupta, Director of ENDs Cigarette Smoke Thailand, highlighting the life-saving potential of vaping as an alternative to deadly combustible cigarettes.

The Bangkok Post has revealed a stark public health contradiction: whilst 47 people die daily from smoking cigarettes—totalling 71,000 deaths annually—there has not been a single recorded death from e-cigarette use in Thailand. Despite this disparity, conventional cigarettes remain widely available in every convenience store whilst potentially life-saving vaping products remain prohibited.

Ignoring Aging Adults in Nicotine and Tobacco Research: A Public Health Blind Spot

Al Gor, A.L.I.V.E., Australia, Let’s Improve Vaping Education

Tobacco control and nicotine research have historically focused on younger demographics, often sidelining the experiences and needs of older adults. This oversight has serious implications for harm reduction strategies, smoking cessation programmes, and public health policies. Given that many older smokers have been using tobacco for decades, ignoring their needs in research and policy discussions represents a missed opportunity to address smoking-related diseases effectively.

The Real Cost of FDA’s “Real Cost” E-Cigarette Campaign

Dr. Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth

FDA staff just published a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine titled, “The Impact of ‘The Real Cost’ on E-cigarette Initiation among U.S. Youth.”

The authors describe the campaign advertisements in the study’s appendix:

“Scary Enough.” Metal monsters representing toxic metal inhalation

“Addiction Isn’t Pretty: Toilet.” A teen reaches into a toilet to retrieve an e-cigarette thrown there by another teen, then takes a hit before walking out.

The Health Harming Snus Ban Deception Continues

Martin Cullip, The Daily Pouch

“We currently have a situation where the safest form of smokeless tobacco in the EU is banned, and that’s the form on sale in Sweden.”

It may surprise many to know that these were the words of Deborah Arnott, then Director of Action on Smoking and Health in 2006. And, maybe even more surprising, it was quoted by none other than the BBC. She went on to explain (quite rightly) that “[s]mokeless tobacco is much less harmful than smoked tobacco. It is smoking something which makes it really dangerous.”

Thousands quit smoking through ‘Swap 2 Stop’ free vape scheme

Tim Hong, Clearing The Air

Thousands of smokers have quit the deadly habit thanks to a government-backed scheme to hand out free vapes, new data shows.

The Swap 2 Stop initiative, launched across the UK in 2023, encourages people to switch from smoking to vaping in a bid to cut smoking rates.

Now new figures released by Public Health Dorset, which covers Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in the south of England, reveal it has provided 14,801 free vape kits to adults.

This has led to 3,562 smokers permanently switching to vaping in the Dorset area alone after just four weeks.

Click to visit Danish Vapers Association

JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press

Yohan House was a pack-a-day cigarette smoker until six years ago, when he switched to e-cigarettes, known as vaping.

The 56-year-old Detroit resident has since given up cigarettes completely, and said he can feel major improvements in his health.

“I wasn’t coughing up a lung every morning,” House said.

FRANCE’S RADICAL VAPING OVERHAUL

Global Forum on Nicotine

In the wake of a major vaping regulation overhaul in France, Claude Bamberger joins us to uncover the extent of the new disposable vape ban and where this leaves people who want to quit smoking.

On this Day…2021

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

Keep on vaping

Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist

A new study from the UK provides yet more evidence that vaping helps people quit smoking. It found that smokers who used a disposable e-cigarette were three times more likely to quit and people who used a refillable e-cigarette were five times more likely to quit.

E-Cigarettes vs. Tobacco:

What Anti-Vapers Are Getting Wrong – Steve Forbes

With the Covid-19 scourge receding, you can expect that various pressure groups and public health officials will renew their wrongful war against e-cigarettes.

For example, e-cigarettes are not the equivalent of tobacco cigarettes. They contain no tobacco! And they are 95% safer than regular smokes.

Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World