Vapers Digest 1st October
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
ETHRA Responds to Evidence Call ~ Government High Street Vape Attack ~ Authors Conflate Vape With Harm ~ Let’s talk e-cigarettes, September 2025, episode 45 ~ “Nicotine control” and the WHO ~ WHO’s COP11 Will Threaten Tobacco Harm Reduction Behind Closed Doors ~ Smoke Free Sweden’s New Report ~ EU budget under threat – 14 countries side with Sweden on nicotine tax ~ Experts warn Spain against blocking escape route for smokers ~ Harm Reduction: The Next Step for Trinidad and Tobago’s Tobacco Fight ~ Vape ban likely to fuel black market, warn groups ~ Public Health Has Turned Into Public Harassment ~ Banning Safer Nicotine Products Fuels Smoking Crisis In Asia Pacific, Experts Warn ~ What’s at stake for Malaysia as it eyes total ban on vapes by mid-2026? ~ Bar owners, retailers petition Senate to halt debate on Tobacco Control Bill, 2024 ~Mel Gibson spotted with nicotine pouches at AS Roma match ~ Dark money at WHO raises fresh concerns for vaping policy ~ Licensing shake-up could block access to vapes, warn retailers ~ The WHO’s Tobacco Control Conference is Once More Silencing the Very People It Claims to Protect ~ UK: Vapes ~ Australia’s Vape Prohibition Backfire | #GFN25 Commentary Team hosted by Fiona Patten
Three from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
ETHRA Responds to Evidence Call
The European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) organisation has made a submission as part of the European Union’s cardiovascular health plan call for evidence. One of the aims of the consultation to help Member States reduce the number of people falling ill with cardiovascular diseases. ETHRA urged the Commission to focus on policy decisions that will reduce smoking.
Government High Street Vape Attack
Local communities will be handed new powers to revitalise their high streets and restore pride in their towns, says the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – but this pledge to give people control over high streets also includes a direct attack on vaping and vape shops.
Authors Conflate Vape With Harm
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced that local authorities will be granted greater powers to regulate high street outlets such as betting shops and vape shops. The move marks a significant policy shift, and it directly reflects recommendations made in a recent report by a group of University of Manchester academics. The authors completely ignore the role vaping is playing in reducing smoking and tobacco related disease and death.
Let’s talk e-cigarettes, September 2025, episode 45
Oxford Podcasts, University of Oxford
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Ryan Courtney from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Associate Professor Ryan Courtney from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
“Nicotine control” and the WHO
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
I wrote about the WHO for the Telegraph over the weekend. One of its Regional Directors has said that he wants to “erase” alcohol. In the article I discuss the malign influence of “Movendi” – the temperance group formerly known as the International Order of Good Templars – who are official partners of the WHO (fun fact: they are funded by the Swedish lottery).
WHO’s COP11 Will Threaten Tobacco Harm Reduction Behind Closed Doors
Kiran Sidhu, Filter
In November, COP11—the World Health Organization’s 11th Conference of the Parties to itsFramework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) treaty—will be held in Geneva. National delegations will discuss tobacco control policies, with profound implications for global public health. Amid the WHO’s longstanding hostility to tobacco harm reduction (THR), advocates fear the best result might just be avoiding further policy damage.
Smoke Free Sweden’s New Report
Richard Crosby, The Daily Pouch
On the 18th of September, Smoke Free Sweden published a new report titled The Safer Nicotine Revolution: Global Lessons, Healthier Futures. Now usually I take advocacy reports like this with a pinch of salt – they can sometimes lean more towards campaigning than balanced analysis – but in this case, the substance lines up with arguments I’ve often made myself.
EU budget under threat – 14 countries side with Sweden on nicotine tax
Stefan Mathisson, Vejpkollen
The European Commission’s record budget is at risk of collapse. There is strong opposition to plans to finance part of the budget through new nicotine and corporate taxes – with 14 member states siding with Sweden.
Experts warn Spain against blocking escape route for smokers
Smoke Free Sweden
Leading international health experts have issued a strong warning to the Spanish government over its draft tobacco bill, cautioning that equating safer nicotine alternatives with cigarettes will condemn millions of smokers to continue with their deadly habit.
In a formal submission to Spain’s Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Sanidad), the experts urged policymakers to adopt a risk-proportionate approach that distinguishes between combustible tobacco and safer alternatives such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products and Swedish snus.
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