Vapers Digest 21st August
Monday’s News at a glance:
Vapes Better Than Patches – EU Flavour Restrictions Fails To Protect Youth – Mark Butler’s vaping nightmare only gets worse – Summer Reading: The War on Harm Reduction – A Public Health Initiative Gone Horribly Wrong – E-Cigarette Use on the Rise in US Adults With CVD – Largest US study of e-cigarettes shows their value – FDA’s Approaching Menthol Cigarette Ban – FDA Largely to Blame for Physicians’ Misperceptions – A blogger’s farewell
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
Vapes Better Than Patches
New National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded research from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) finds vapes are better than patches to help pregnant women quit smoking and reduce the risk of low birthweight.
It is universally accepted that smoking during pregnancy harms developing babies, especially leading their growth and being born underweight. Current NHS guidelines recommend that pregnant smokers who find quitting difficult should be provided with nicotine replacements products like patches, sprays or gum and stop-smoking services usually recommend nicotine replacement patches.
EU Restrictions Fails To Protect Youth
Proposed vaping flavour restrictions in the European Union (EU) constitutes a missed opportunity for effective youth protection, says the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA). Reports are coming in that indicate a regulation clampdown with tighter regulations on vaping flavours within the EU, with MEPs and industry figures supporting stricter rules on flavours to curb youth vaping according to media articles.
The WVA says, “this approach faces criticism from consumers who fear limitations on choice, endangering the significant progress achieved in reducing smoking rates.”
Mark Butler’s vaping nightmare …
Only gets worse – Colin Mendelsohn
MARK BUTLER’S CRACKDOWN ON VAPING is rapidly becoming a disaster. Recent reports of the firebombing of tobacconist and vape shops in Victoria are an inevitable result of handing the control of vapes and tobacco over to criminal networks and motorcycle gangs.
But things will only get worse. According to Deakin University criminologist Dr James Martin, it is creating a whole range of unintended consequences:
Since the Health Minister’s further crackdown was announced, the sale of illicit disposables in Australia has exploded and has taken over the vape market. Illegal, unregulated disposable vapes are sold openly at thousands of retail outlets across Australia, in convenience stores, tobacconists, hairdressers, petrol stations, cafes and vape shops.
“The good news—the news that should dominate headlines—is that increases in adult vaping correlate with significant decreases in smoking.”https://t.co/la0BwRxFIz
— European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (@europethra) August 20, 2023
Summer Reading:
The War on Harm Reduction Accelerates During This Year’s WHO Meeting
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
The taxpayer-funded World Health Organization (WHO) touts itself as a leader in tobacco control. But, their actions don’t match their words. The WHO’s 9th report on tobacco use congratulated countries on imposing regressive taxes and draconian prohibitions while largely ignoring novel tobacco harm reduction products.
Parties to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will meet in Panama in November for the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10). Given the alarmism prevalent in their most recent report (and the continued influx of funding from anti-vaping billionaire Michael Bloomberg), COP10 will likely largely ignore the science of alternatives to cigarettes, as well as consumers who rely on these products to quit smoking and remain smoke-free.
Manufacturing Harm:
A Public Health Initiative Gone Horribly Wrong – THR Blog
The harm of smoking cigarettes was, long ago, of concern to a grassroots group of medical professionals and others interested in seeing a reduction in the harms resulting from smoking cigarettes.
The concern over the health of people who smoke gradually morphed into a desire to control both the supply and (more importantly, given that had little effect) the demand for nicotine products. While the term ‘tobacco control’ had been appearing at a low and steady rate for decades, it began to rise in the 1980s and reached a peak between 2000 & 2005. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was established in 2003.
E-Cigarette Use on the Rise…
In US Adults With CVD – Caitlin E. Cox
Use of e-cigarettes by people with cardiovascular disease had been on the decline for a few years but then rebounded in 2020 with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, topping out at a prevalence of around 5%, according to an analysis of US survey data.
The findings were published online Tuesday as a research letter in JAMA Network Open.
“E-cigarettes have been considered a safe means of smoking cessation for combustible cigarettes.”
Largest US study of e-cigarettes…
Shows their value as smoking cessation aid – Leslie Cantu
E-cigarettes do have value as a smoking cessation aid, according to a new study just released by a team of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers.
Whether e-cigarettes should be considered for smoking cessation is a hotly debated topic, and different countries have taken different approaches. E-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals, which has led many public health advocates to shun them.
FDA’s Approaching Menthol Cigarette Ban
Would Expand the Drug War – Diane Goldstein
A national ban on menthol cigarettes is inching closer. This month, the United States Food and Drug Administration will publish final regulations on the matter, according to the agency’s Spring Regulatory Agenda. The FDA has been considering making the ban effective one-to-two years after publication.
A public comment period last year saw 175,000 comments submitted on the proposed menthol cigarette ban, with another 71,000 for a similar restriction on cigars. Based on my review, a majority appear to be against the ban. But there’s no indication the FDA will listen. The agency says it’s “committed to completing the rulemaking process as quickly as possible,” but has yet to publish an analysis of scientific data, expert opinions or comments.
FDA Largely to Blame
For Physicians’ Misperceptions on Nicotine – Roger Bate
Back in 2020, an academic paper suggested that over 80% of US physicians mistakenly thought that nicotine was a carcinogen. The implication of this finding was that perhaps physicians considered vaping (and even nicotine replacement therapy) almost as dangerous as smoking. But physicians are busy people, and I wondered if some, maybe most, might have misunderstood the question in the survey and assumed the researchers were asking about smoking.
To test this hypothesis, I surveyed physicians to learn more about their actual knowledge and opinion. As part of this survey, I reached out to both US and UK physicians.
A blogger’s farewell –
Who knows all the known unknowns on e-cigs and health?
It must have been around 35 years ago that I filled in a survey questionnaire, anonymously, on the subject of cannabis and health. After the obvious opening question, “Have you ever used cannabis?” came the follow-up: “Do you think it did you any harm?” To which my honest answer was: “Yes. It got me hooked on tobacco.”
Back in what then already seemed distant days, sprinkling small pieces of dried resin among the tobacco in a (usually super-sized) roll-up was the normal way to do what we generally referred to as “dope”. At least it was in my student circles.
On this Day…2022
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
Illegal Sales Raids
Dave Cross
Various Trading Standards departments have been busy across the United Kingdom during 2022. The enforcement action on illegal sales of vape products continued recently in Gloucestershire. Teams of officers supported by the police have raided a series of stores across the country.
Action in London typified the type of activity taking place across the country when Trading Standards swooped to clean up Oxford Street – and officers walked away with 43 large sacks containing over £100,000’s worth of disposable ecigs.
ASH brief for local authorities
On youth vaping
1. This short briefing is to help local authorities respond to growing concerns about youth vaping in their communities. Written by ASH, it has been endorsed by the organisations whose logos are included.
2. It is primarily for public health officials and trading standards officers, but also sets out important information for councillors, schools, parents and retailers. Links to further information are also provided
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