Vapers Digest 1st September

Friday’s News at a glance:

ETHRA August News roundup – Government must amplify its vaping plan messaging – Harry’s blog 120: Bent as a boomerang: – Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry into vaping: – Another Engineered Study on Teen Vaping – Say Goodbye to the American Lung Association – Israel Plan Threatens Public Health – Barnet Council Supports Vaping – USA Study Proves the Value of Vapes – Cessation Experts Warns Against Bans – Dr Kayat: Back With More Nonsense – The Bigger Picture – Eyes on the Ball – A Captivating Compound – It’s time Britain stopped funding the incompetent, nannying WHO – Science foundational to India‘s COP 10 approach – How short-sighted nicotine legislation boosts the black market – FDA’s Tobacco Policy is in Disarray – Patent Fight Between NJOY and Juul Labs – Media statement from the UKVIA – Top Misconceptions in THR – Bangladesh Poised – Transforming the Tobacco Industry: – Adopt harm reduction strategy

ETHRA August News roundup

European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates

ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: ETHRA letter to SANT – CAPHRA Shadow Report – ASH Mythbuster – Norwegian vape flavour ban consultation – Flavours under threat in nicotine pouch regulation – German tobacco control anti-THR report – Large-scale study finds #THRworks. Read on for more…

Government must amplify its vaping plan

Martin Cullip

When it comes to smoking, one of the greatest pressures the NHS faces, the government has admirably embraced e-cigarette use to prevent smoking-related diseases, rather than waiting to treat the cause. However, e-cigarettes are being undermined by an Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) report published at the start of the month.

ASH found that more than one in four smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as or more harmful as smoking and the perception is getting worse, not better. Despite there being clear evidence that e-cigarettes are far less harmful than combustible tobacco and a very effective way of quitting, the data shows that “among the 2.9 million smokers who have tried vaping but stopped, 44 per cent believe vaping is as harmful or more than smoking up from 25 per cent in 2019.”

Harry’s blog 120: Bent as a boomerang:

Vaping politics in Australia – Harry Shapiro

Dr Colin Mendelsohn is a well-respected tobacco harm reduction expert who wrote an article for the Australian website Education HQ advising schools on strategies to deal with vaping among students.

The article was posted then withdrawn. Dr Mendelsohn received an email from the editor saying: “Unfortunately my managing editor has decided we need to unpublish your article for now, I’m terribly sorry. He is working through a concern that’s been raised around your relationship with the vape and tobacco industry.”

The editor refused to reveal where “a concern” came from, although in the context of Australian vaping politics, the source was probably the same group who drip poison into gullible ears whenever the chance arises.

Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry

Colin Mendelsohn

THE QUEENSLAND PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY into vaping has failed to provide a balanced and evidence-based report and is a huge missed opportunity for public health. The flawed outcomes and recommendations were foregone conclusions, as I predicted in an earlier blog.

An Inquiry is only as good as the evidence presented to it. Most of what the committee heard from Australian health and medical organisations was predicably false and so, inevitably, were its conclusions

The Inquiry drew heavily on the flawed reports of the NHMRC and Emily Banks from the Australian National University. There was no mention of the harsh peer-reviewed critiques of both these reports by leading Australian and international experts, here and here.

Hello, @LungAssociation!

Dr. Siegel has a message for you:

“This is about as damaging a recommendation as I have ever seen from a supposed public health organization. I must condemn it in the strongest terms.”

More here:https://t.co/HADzIYvuq4

— Jukka Kelovuori (@jkelovuori) September 1, 2023

Thread 👇 https://t.co/Z1hhJnQBoD

— Phil (@phil_w888) September 1, 2023

Two from Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth:

Another Engineered Study on Teen Vaping

Purdue, Ohio State and Penn State faculty, led by Brian C. Kelly, published an article in the April 2023 edition of Tobacco Control titled, “E-cigarette use among early adolescent tobacco cigarette smokers: testing the disruption and entrenchment hypotheses in two longitudinal cohorts.” They concluded, “there is evidence e-cigarette use among early adolescent smokers in the UK and USA leads to higher odds of any smoking and more frequent tobacco cigarette use later in adolescence.”

Lacking access to the U.K. data used by the authors, I focused on the findings from the U.S., which were based on the federal Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) survey. To clarify details of the authors’ methods, I reached out to them with some basic questions.

Goodbye to American Lung Association

While the American Lung Association bills itself as “the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease,” the group’s recent formal comment on the FDA Center for Tobacco Products’ Strategic Plan essentially endorses the greatest threat to lung health: cigarette manufacturers. Here is an excerpt from the group’s filing:

“Strategic Goal #4 – Improve Public Health by Enhancing Knowledge and Understanding of CTP Tobacco Product Regulation and the Risks Associated with Tobacco Product Use

“Remove language from the description for this goal that references informing adults about the relative risk of tobacco products” (emphasis in original)

Five from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

Israel Plan Threatens Public Health

The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) is actively voicing concerns regarding Israel’s recently announced Smoking Action Plan. While applauding efforts to curb smoking rates, the WVA emphasises the need for a balanced and evidence-based approach that distinguishes vaping from traditional smoking.

The plan includes raising the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21 and introducing graphic warning images on cigarette packs. However, the approach towards vaping within the plan has raised eyebrows among harm reduction advocates, because it includes measures such as flavour bans, nicotine limits, disposable vape bans, and equalised taxation.

The Battle for Vaping in Israel: Final Call to Action – WVA

Barnet Council Supports Vaping

Barnet Council has announced its support for adult vaping as “an effective aid to reduce tobacco smoking”. The assertion came following statements released by Action on Smoking and Health and the London Tobacco Alliance, addressing the rampant misinformation regarding vaping and vape products. The charities called for responsible media coverage and to share clinically proven and accurate information in media articles.

Dr Tamara Djuretic, the Joint Director of Public Health at Barnet Council, and Councillor Alison Moore, the Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board at the Council, issued a joint statement, saying: “We support the use of nicotine vapes that meet UK regulatory standards as an aid for adults to stop smoking. For a smoker, smoking tobacco is clinically proven to be far more harmful than switching to vaping. The inaccurate reporting about adult vaping in the media is a cause for concern …”

USA Study Proves the Value of Vapes

The largest ever American vape study, conducted by a team at the MUSC Hollings Cancer Centre, has demonstrated the value of ecigs as a smoking cessation aid. The study was conducted due to the debate raging on that side of the Atlantic as to whether vapes should be considered for use as part of smoking cessation programmes.

“E-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals, which has led many public health advocates to shun them. But they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, which can cause a dozen types of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” says the MUSC Hollings Cancer Centre.

Cessation Experts Warns Against Bans

Ailsa Rutter, Director of Newcastle-based Fresh, the UK’s first dedicated tobacco control programme, has cautioned the government against responding to the calls to ban disposable vapes. She also played down fears of teen vaping suggesting that the majority of use being seen is nothing more than experimentation.

Ms Rutter spoke to local journalists in the North-East, telling them that any perceived vaping risks should be balanced out against the benefits accrued from the role they play in improving public health by helping smokers to quit their tobacco addiction.

Dr Kayat: Back With More Nonsense

Planet of the Vapes reported Dr Sara Kayat to the General Medical Council after she appeared on ITV’s This Morning claiming that vaping caused popcorn lung. The GMC failed to act and now she’s back on the ailing show telling viewers that vapes are “more addictive” than cigarettes.

Dr Sara Kayat misled viewers, saying: “Often, the nicotine found within vapes can be significantly higher than those in cigarettes.”

She continued by telling them vapes “can be even more addictive” than smoking tobacco.

Three from Tobacco Reporter:

Eyes on the Ball

Clive Bates

The tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will take place in Panama from Nov. 20–25, 2023. Hundreds of representatives of the 182 parties and further hundreds of observers will descend on Panama to advance the global accord on tobacco control.

But how should an official government delegate prepare for and approach the meeting? As a former U.K. senior civil servant, I would like to offer some humble advice.

The Bigger Picture

George Gay

Earlier this year, the secretary general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, warned that the era of global warming had ended and given way to the era of “global boiling.” In other words, our world is heading for hell in a handcart, a direction of travel partly determined by our failure to see the wood for the—burning—trees. Let me elucidate using an example close to home.

Also this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration turned down a marketing application for a menthol vaping product, in part on the grounds that the applicant company had failed to present “sufficient scientific evidence to show the menthol-flavored e-cigarette products provided an added benefit for adults who smoke relative to tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.”

A Captivating Compound

Grant Churchill

As a pharmacologist, I remain perplexed that most people, including scientists and doctors, are under the misconception that the harms of tobacco come from nicotine. Indeed, they believe that tobacco and nicotine are equivalent and that nicotine is carcinogenic. All not true. The thesis of this article is that the vast majority of the known harms of tobacco come from chemicals other than nicotine. Using the best current scientific evidence, I will first outline a few background concepts, including the scientific process, chemical terminology and a central concept of pharmacology. I will then cover the harms from tobacco and the harms from nicotine itself and compare them on a risk-benefit basis.

It’s time Britain stopped funding ….

The incompetent, nannying World Health Organisation

John O’Connell – TaxPayers’ Alliance

Every new set of healthcare data seems to be worse than the last. Today, it was suggested hospital waiting lists deaths may have doubled in five years. Despite the Prime Minister pledging to reduce the backlog, since the start of the year numbers have risen by 360,000.

There are problems everywhere you look, and little in the way of low hanging fruit. But perhaps this is one option: stop funding the World Health Organisation, and divert that money towards treating patients here. Last year, we handed over £140 million to the intergovernmental body in voluntary contributions, which could have paid the basic salary of 3,772 nurses. It could have funded 24,000 hip replacements, at a time when 800,000 people are on the waiting list for “trauma and orthopaedics”. Alternative link

Media statement from the UKVIA

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has today (1st September) announced that the membership of British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International has come to an end.

This means that the UKVIA will no longer include any tobacco companies within its membership. Following a member-wide consultation, the association will not be accepting any new applications for membership by vaping businesses wholly/part owned or acquired by tobacco companies in the future. As a result, it will not be accepting any tobacco company funding in the future.

How short-sighted nicotine legislation

Boosts the black market – Joseph Hart

In July this year, the Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet posted an excellent article about the illicit trade of Snus in Finland. The piece tells the story of Mikko, a 25-year-old resident of a university town called Vaasa who helps supply Finish snussers with the prohibited harm reduction product via a bustling WhatsApp group.

What I found remarkable about the story is how citizens like Mikko are forced into illegal actions because of EU legislation they have no control over. I never know whether to laugh or cry when I hear the EU crow about the importance of democracy and science-based governance. Typically, I settle on a hollow laugh.

Science foundational to India’s COP 10

Approach to tobacco control – CAPHRA

NEW DELHI, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — In line with the upcoming Tenth session of the Conference (COP10) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) delegation, later this year; The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has recently submitted a ‘Shadow Report’ to the Secretariat to provide alternate information and perspectives on the state of the implementation, particularly in the Asia Pacific and India.

A review of the biennial progress submissions, including the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, show the inattention to safer alternatives in remedying tobacco harm. A key reveal is that while countries like India are considered as ‘model countries’ for tobacco control, yet, despite dedicated efforts by the government…

FDA’s Tobacco Policy is in Disarray

Henry I. Miller, Jeff Stier

The Food and Drug Administration recently held an “Advancing Regulatory Science Through Innovation” forum to allow the public to “view the unique scientific research and collaborative efforts of FDA’s 11,000 scientists.” Intended to restore public trust in the agency, it was a bust in at least one important respect. It failed to address the broad public concerns that have arisen over the unscientific regulatory decisions of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products.

In December, the Office of Special Counsel alerted the president and Congress that the CTP “had relaxed its standards of review for certain tobacco products and stifled attempts by its scientists to raise concerns.” This came on the heels of a leading CTP toxicologist informing the OSC that CTP “directed scientists to stop using objective, quantitative data to evaluate applications and to instead use an approach which was more akin to ‘eyeballing it’, resulting in unclear review standards and less reliable decisions.”

Patent Fight Between NJOY and Juul Labs

Jim McDonald

Vape manufacturer NJOY has filed a patent complaint against rival Juul Labs, and is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the importation of some Juul products, including the company’s flagship JUUL device and pods. The ITC complaint was filed Aug. 22, along with a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The legal maneuvers follow identical actions taken by Juul regarding the NJOY Ace pod vape. In June, Juul filed an ITC complaint against NJOY (and a companion federal lawsuit), asking the trade regulator to block imported Ace devices and pods. The NJOY Ace is the only pod-based vaping device that has received marketing authorization by the FDA. The ITC announced on Aug. 1 it would investigate Juul’s claims.

Top Misconceptions in THR – 2023

Jeffrey S. Smith

On August 15, Brian King, Director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), acknowledged that there are opportunities for the CTP to educate consumers about the relative risks of tobacco products. By communicating that some tobacco products carry less risk with them than traditional cigarettes—such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), heated tobacco products and oral tobacco products—the burden of smoking-related death and disease could be significantly impacted. King acknowledged that the CTP saw opportunities to improve how the FDA communicates the tobacco harm continuum to the public, which is a positive step forward.

Bangladesh Poised…

To Be the Next Asian Country to Ban Vapes – Kiran Sidhu

Bangladesh is close to imposing a total ban on nicotine vapes, which have helped tens of millions of people around the world quit smoking. The planned ban reportedly also includes oral nicotine pouches, another important harm reduction alternative in South Asia.

If confirmed, it will be another major blow to harm reduction, when several Asian governments have enacted similar prohibitions.

With almost 170 million people, Bangladesh is the eighth most populous country in the world. And it’s a major tobacco consumer. A national smoking rate of over 20 percent—often traditional bidi, as well as cigarettes—contains a large gender split.

Transforming the Tobacco Industry:

Challenges and Opportunities in LMICs

“I do not think there is any doubt or debate that reduced risk products should be available and accessible to consumers of risky forms of tobacco products in LMICs.” – Joseph Magero

In the bustling halls of the recently concluded Global Forum on Nicotine, experts from various disciplines came together to accelerate the reach and impact of tobacco harm reduction. The forum aimed to spark actionable strategies that could be carried forward beyond the conference, bringing a ray of hope to millions of smokers.

The forum uncovered business facilitators, decision matrices, regulatory frameworks, and success stories that could be leveraged to drive the widespread transformation of the tobacco industry.

Adopt harm reduction strategy

Instead of GEG – Luqman Hakim

KUALA LUMPUR: International and local experts recently came together at the Harm Reduction Conference 2023 advocating for the adoption of harm reduction strategies to reduce smoking prevalence, rather than pursuing an outright prohibition of less harmful alternatives like vape.

They said tobacco harm reduction can play a huge role in helping the country become a “smoke-free country”, by reducing the number of smokers to five per cent of the adult population.

They added that this can be made possible if the government embeds the tobacco harm reduction approach in its policies and strategies to reduce smoking rates.

On this Day…2022

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

New report heralds 4.3mil British vapers

And a “vaping revolution” – New Nicotine Alliance

The latest annual report by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) on “Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among adults in Great Britain” has just been released and concludes that there are now around 4.3 million vapers in England, Scotland and Wales, a significant increase from 3.6 million in 2021.

The report follows a survey of over 13,000 people conducted by polling company, YouGov, earlier this year and contains detailed analysis of current trends in vaping in the country. It also finds that of those who say they vape, 2.4 million are now former smokers having quit smoking entirely.

‘Record’ public response

Ahead of EU tobacco law revisions – Snusforumet

The European Commission was flooded with more than 24,000 responses to its “call for evidence” as it considers possible updates to EU tobacco laws. The majority of respondents indicated support for tobacco harm reduction.

The 4-week window for EU citizens, NGOs, businesses, and other organisations to let policymakers in Brussels know their views about the shape of changes to the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) closed on June 17th.

According to the EU Political Report, the Commission’s “calls for evidence” elicit fewer than 400 responses on average. Only the call for evidence about the digital euro had numbers anywhere close to the TPD revisions response, generating just shy of 20,000 responses in 10 weeks.