Vapers Digest 1st December

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

Tobacco Harm Reduction Products Should Be Widely Adopted ~ Is EU en route for a better policy to manage addictions? ~ Fylde GP promoting vaping to help smokers quit ~ How have MEPs changed in their views about new nicotine products? ~ Yorkshire Cancer Research welcomes inclusion of vaping products in NICE guidelines ~ Harm reduction may be a better approach for smokers with HIV than strict smoking cessation ~ Flavored Tobacco Products, Not Bans, Vital Tool to Help Smokers Quit ~ Justice Kavanaugh Asks FDA to Respond to Breeze Smoke Emergency Stay Application ~ Anti-Vape Groups Ask Judge Grimm to Monitor FDA’s PMTA Progress ~ sCOPe Launches Online Library ~ Knowledge Is Key For Politicians ~ Discontinuation of Varenicline may boost e-cigarettes use as alternative nicotine replacement therapy ~ A market snapshot of ‘novel nicotine products’ in the European Union ~ ETHRA November news roundup ~ ‘Build Back Deader’ with Democrats’ vape tax ~ Altria can’t sell Iqos in the U.S. as Biden administration opts to not intervene in patent dispute

A few months ago, I wrote on the pages of Brussels Times that a world free of addiction is utopia.

I pointed to the evidence showing that the harm and risk minimization is the only realistic approach to managing addictions. I called upon the Members of the European Parliament to let the voice of civil society who works with people with addiction problem on the ground to be heard in the EU’s elected chamber.

Fylde GP promoting vaping to help smokers quit

Tony Durkin, The Gazette

Dr Russell Thorpe is offering discount vouchers in his Old Links Surgery in St Annes for a first electronic cigarette kit from a recently-opened local vaping shop – and is considering invitations from other vaping outlets for similar links.

The association, which includes a poster featuring his picture in the vape shop, started when Dr Thorpe, a medic for 30 years, spotted the new vape shop in a neighbourhood retail area of St Annes while buying his lunch.

How have MEPs changed in their views about new nicotine products?

Tobacco Intelligence

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are due to vote on amendments to a report on Beating Cancer presented by the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) on 6th December 2021 which may set policy direction for the European Union over many years. Among the many areas in which the BECA has been active – including food, alcohol, and chemical materials – tobacco is one of the most important as it is identified as one of the areas which can contribute most significantly to reducing cancer rates. Within this, one of the main topics for debate will be the role played by new nicotine products and how their sale and use should be regulated.

Yorkshire Cancer Research welcomes inclusion of vaping products in NICE guidelines

Yorkshire Cancer Research

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has, for the first time, included vaping products (also known as electronic cigarettes) as a recommended stop smoking aid in its newly released tobacco guidelines.

Dr Kathryn Scott, Chief Executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “We are delighted to see that vaping products have been included in the NICE tobacco guidelines.

Harm reduction may be a better approach for smokers with HIV than strict smoking cessation

Alain Volny-Anne, AidsMap

An expansive harm reduction approach for people with HIV who smoke tobacco and are unable or unwilling to quit should be employed, a team of US experts argue in The Lancet HIV. The limited success of smoking cessation strategies in this population brings them to propose this approach. Harm reduction would encompass cutting down on cigarette intake, and also reducing the health consequences of smoking through more lung cancer screening and better control of cardiovascular health.

Flavored Tobacco Products, Not Bans, Vital Tool to Help Smokers Quit

Markus Lindblad, Inside Sources

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently made headlines with its marketing approval of four flavored oral tobacco products manufactured by Verve. While those products had been discontinued before the announcement, the FDA’s decision reaffirmed that flavored tobacco and nicotine products can help people transition away from using more harmful products like combustible cigarettes. It will hopefully discourage policymakers from pursuing flavor bans for tobacco harm reduction products that provide smokers with alternatives that can help them quit smoking for good.

Justice Kavanaugh Asks FDA to Respond to Breeze Smoke Emergency Stay Application

Jonathan H. Adler, Reason

Yesterday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh requested that the federal government file a response to Breeze Smoke LLC’s application for an emergency stay to block the Food and Drug Administration’s order denying approval of the manufacturer’s flavored vaping products. I noted Breeze Smoke’s application in this post last week. The government’s response is due December 6. The case docket is here.

Anti-Vape Groups Ask Judge Grimm to Monitor FDA’s PMTA Progress

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit that changed the submission deadline for Premarket Tobacco Applications (PMTAs) have asked the federal judge in that case to demand the FDA regularly report on its PMTA review process.

TWO from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

sCOPe Launches Online Library

sCOPe, a global collaboration of tobacco harm reduction groups has launched an extensive tobacco harm reduction online library of streamed panel discussions and presentations. sCOPe includes leading THR associations CASAA (Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association) in the United States, ARDT Iberoamerica in Latin America, and CAPHRA (Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates).

Knowledge Is Key For Politicians

Knowledge of e-cigarettes is key to European Parliament support, according to market experts ECigIntelligence and TobaccoIntelligence. The two bodies are the leading providers of detailed global market and regulatory analysis, legal tracking, and quantitative data for the e-cigarette, heated tobacco and combustible-alternatives sector worldwide.

Discontinuation of Varenicline may boost e-cigarettes use as alternative nicotine replacement therapy

Catania Conversation

High levels of cancerogenic nitrosamines have been recently found in the smoking cessation medicine Varenicline (Champix). As a precautionary measure, the drug has been withdrawn from the market and its distribution halted in June.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), a Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have issued a supply distribution alert for Champix and initiated the drug recall.

A market snapshot of ‘novel nicotine products’ in the European Union

Tobacco Intelligence

The use of traditional tobacco products has been in decline across the EU in recent decades, and with the growth of new novel nicotine products it is expected to decline further.

We conducted a recent study to gauge the economic impact of novel nicotine products in Europe, covering vapour products, heated tobacco and nicotine pouch products. Using our own databases and trackers in addition to industry sources has enabled us to draw conclusions and insights into the current state of the market.

ETHRA November news roundup

European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates, ETHRA

ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: BECA debate ‘controversial’ issue of flavours – ETHRA, Sovape & Aiduce letters to BECA – ACPAN joins ETHRA – Vape shop support increases smoking cessation – Nicotine pouch ban – sCOPe Livestream Library – Country updates. Read on for more.

‘Build Back Deader’ with Democrats’ vape tax

Adam Sullivan, The Gazette

As a candidate last year, President Joe Biden famously promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000. In reality, the massive spending bill under consideration by Democrats in Congress would indeed hike taxes on a bunch of poor and middle-class people.

Altria can’t sell Iqos in the U.S. as Biden administration opts to not intervene in patent dispute

Amelia Lucas, CNBC

Altria and Philip Morris International are no longer able to sell or import Iqos tobacco devices in the U.S. after the Biden administration opted to take no action on an ongoing patent dispute.

Rival R.J. Reynolds, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, had filed a claim with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

On this Day…2017

Dr. Farsalinos Submits Official Complaint

Dustin Erickson, ChurnMag

Once again it’s Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos that is fighting the good fight against false vaping information. This time he is calling into question research that was recently presented as part of the 2017 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. The study in question was just published last week and was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Their report claimed to prove that the vapor produced by Heat not Burn (HnB) technology was as impactful to Flow-Mediated Dilation (FMD), as traditional tobacco smoke.

Why It Makes Sense For Altria…

To Bet On The E-Cigarette Market

Cigarette smoking in the United States has dropped to the lowest level in generations, at 15.1% , according to the latest data supplied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ). The US has also witnessed the steepest decline in the smoking rate in the world. While this is good news, it has forced companies such as Altria ( MO ) to focus its efforts on looking for growth from other alternatives

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

Vapers Digest 1st December

Wednesday’s News at a glance: