Vapers Digest 20th February
Friday’s News at a glance:
EU Drifting From Its Purpose ~ Misguided Malaysia ~ ASA Rules Against Golden Vape ~ Who Really Benefits from Vaping? New Evidence on Inequality and Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ The True Cost of Foundation Funding ~ Could this anti-smoking sockpuppet be a victim of its own success? ~ “One Word: Inevitable”—Tobacco Harm Reduction’s Heavy Hitter ~ See Opportunities ~ What’s new in things to do? ~ A Coordinated Strategy to Bypass Meaningful Debate ~ The Endgame Illusion – When Moral Certainty Replaces Policy Reality ~ The Precautionary Principle vs. Proportionality ~ On the global intensification of “vapor-free” policies (Part 1) ~ EXCLUSIVE: EU puts huge vape tax increase back on the table ~ No significant link between exclusive vaping and heart disease, U.S. PATH study finds ~ Flawed “switching” label may skew vape health findings, new analysis shows ~ Taxing alternative nicotine is a health policy buzzkill for NY | Opinion ~ Austria to allow nicotine pouches ~ Are e-cigarettes a gateway to smoking? How I changed my mind with data (and left academia) ~ IS MEXICO GOING TOO FAR ON VAPING?
Three From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
EU Drifting From Its Purpose
The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) warns that the European Commission’s “Better Regulation” agenda is drifting away from its purpose by sidelining the very citizens it claims to serve and using consultations as rubber stamps instead of evidence to guide policymaking.
Misguided Malaysia
The Malaysian Ministry of Health has announced that it intends to introduce a complete and “non-negotiable” ban on all vape products – despite high smoking rates and a black-market threat. Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad claimed that vapes cause popcorn lung and are used to take illicit drugs.
ASA Rules Against Golden Vape
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled against Golden Vape UK Ltd following a complaint made by The UK Vaping Industry Association. The trade body challenged whether ads placed by Golden Vape on eBay breached the Advertising Code by promoting unlicensed nicotine-containing vapes.
A Coordinated Strategy to Bypass Meaningful Debate
Kevin Crowley, Substack
Vaping products, snus, and nicotine pouches have created an unprecedented opportunity for people who smoke to switch to lower-risk alternatives—while simultaneously triggering what increasingly resembles a “coordinated global strategy to bypass meaningful debate”.
Two from Alan Gore
The Endgame Illusion – When Moral Certainty Replaces Policy Reality
The Tobacco Endgame Report presents itself as bold, visionary and morally urgent. It begins with a statistic no one disputes: millions die each year from smoking. That devastation is real. But from that premise, the report makes a leap that deserves much more scrutiny than it receives. It shifts from reducing smoking to eliminating the entire tobacco and nicotine industry as an inevitability. That transition is not evidence-based policy analysis. It is moral framing presented as destiny.
