Vapers Digest 1st July
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Parliament Matters ~ Nicotine Bans Fuel Black Markets ~ When Defending the Narrative Matters More Than the Evidence ~ Tobacco harm reduction is, at its heart, a justice issue. ~ FDA Authorizes 20 ZYN Nicotine Pouches to Be Marketed with Specific Modified Risk Claim ~ FDA allows Philip Morris to market Zyn as less harmful than cigarettes ~ Zyn Can Market Itself as Less Harmful Than Cigarettes, FDA Says ~ Watchdog Group Lauds FDA Zyn Decision as Win for Evidence-Based Policy ~ Flavour Restrictions Could Do More Harm Than Good, New Research Warns ~ Experts tell Brazil: Regulate nicotine by risk to save smokers’ lives ~ Almedalen 2026: Nicotine Pouches In the Political Mainstream ~ What are snus nicotine pouches, the ‘controversial’ item found in Olise’s locker? ~ Own-goal concessions by advocates for better low-risk tobacco/nicotine product policy ~ Vape flavour restrictions could weaken smoking quit attempts, studies suggest ~ Scotland to strip vape shops of business rates relief from 2027 ~ EU Nicotine-Tax Doubts After Parliamentary Rejections ~ The European Commission shouldn’t get to decide whose voice counts ~ Alaska Gov. Dunleavy Vetoes Crippling Vape Tax ~ Battleground Vape | U.S. Vaping Industry Continues Court Fight | RegWatch
Two From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Parliament Matters
This week’s jolly interesting article from the Houses of Parliament sees Conservative Jack Rankin asking a lot of questions about banned single-use/disposable vapes to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Does he get any answers? Oh don’t be cynical, read on for enlightenment and edification.
Nicotine Bans Fuel Black Markets
The evidence from the vape bans in Australia and Thailand shows that nicotine prohibition fuels illicit markets, according to the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates. The advocacy organisation says that Australia and Thailand prove that banning the sale of vapes does not eliminate demand, it simply shifts supply from regulated channels to the black-market.
Flavour Restrictions Could Do More Harm Than Good, New Research Warns
Quit Like Sweden
A peer-reviewed study published this month in Health Research Policy and Systems has produced a sobering finding for regulators considering restrictions on vaping flavours: removing them could increase adult smoking at a scale that outweighs any protection offered to young people.
The study, produced by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Bath and originally commissioned by Public Health England, was designed as a practical decision-making tool for policymakers. It applies available data to a specific question: if flavoured vaping liquids in the United Kingdom were restricted to tobacco, menthol, or no flavour at all, would public health improve or worsen overall?
Almedalen 2026: Nicotine Pouches In the Political Mainstream
POUCHFORUM
This year’s Almedalen Week made one thing difficult to ignore: nicotine pouches remains a serious political issue in Sweden.
Almedalen Week is Sweden’s annual political gathering on Gotland, where parties, parliamentarians, civil society, businesses and media meet for public debates, seminars and policy discussions. Since Sweden is ahead of most EU countries on nicotine pouches and remains a determined defender of harm reduction, we believe the trends emerging here offer an early indication of where the wider European debate may be heading.
Own-goal concessions by advocates for better low-risk tobacco/nicotine product policy
Carl V Phillips, PhD, Carl V Phillips’s epistemic musings
I interrupt my glacial progress through my almost-done drafts to bat out something new. I recently read a couple of scholarly summaries of scientific papers that were challenging some claims that are used to justify draconian tobacco control regulation of vapes and other low-risk tobacco/nicotine products. I was frustrated by the implicit, and even explicit, acceptance of some of the premises of the tobacco controllers.
“Gateway” is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence
A common premise of the war on low-risk products is that they are a gateway to smoking. That is, the claim is that the existence or availability of those products will cause some people who never would have smoked to start consuming the low-risk products and then switch to smoking.
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