Home › Latest News › Vapers Digest 22nd December

Vapers Digest 22nd December

Kevin CrowleyPosted on Posted in Latest News

Monday’s News at a glance:

The move from ‘people must be helped’ to ‘people must be stopped’ in public health… ~ The challenge of accounting for the smoking history of current e-cigarette users renders the findings meaningless and the interpretation misleading ~ As the Debate on Dual Use Continues, New Evidence Suggests it Might Not be as Problematic as Thought so Far ~ FDA Authorizes 6 Nicotine Pouch Products, Completing Review in Record Time ~ Exclusive: Suspected ‘Backend Update Then Withdrawal’ Suggests Glas May Be Next FDA-Authorized E-Cigarette Brand After Juul ~ Jordan Cuts Taxes on Heated Tobacco and E-cigarettes ~ Pennsylvania Becomes 14th State to Pass a PMTA Registry Bill ~ Growing restrictions on vape sales making it harder for smokers to quit and driving others into hands of criminal dealers ~ Advancing THR in 2025 and TPA’s Priorities for 2026 ~ “Factually wrong”: experts destroy study used by EU Commission to justify nicotine clampdown ~ Vape crackdown risks sidelining older smokers trying to quit ~ Florida Court Continues Language Wars Against Pouches ~ When Evidence Is Ignored: Commissioner Várhelyi and the ‘As Harmful as Cigarettes’ Claim ~ FDA’s Pouch Test: Consumer Choice or Illicit Market

The move from ‘people must be helped’ to ‘people must be stopped’ in public health…

Richard, Substack

There seems to be a trend towards using legislation instead of education, and incentives towards healthy/safer choices.

I don’t know why this is happening. Bans on young people using social media, unreasonable restrictions on safer alternatives to cigerettes, and now talk of increasing tax on foods the government deems ‘unhealthy’…

The challenge of accounting for the smoking history of current e-cigarette users renders the findings meaningless and the interpretation misleading

Clive Bates, PubPeer

There are several problems with the study.

First, the critical challenge in all such studies is to account for the cigarette-smoking history of current e-cigarette users (“vapers”). Those suffering from MI or stroke are likely to be old enough to have smoked cigarettes for many years or decades before trying e-cigarettes. It is not even a matter of adjusting for smoking status (current, former, never smokers who now vape); it requires a measure of cumulative smoking exposure (for example, pack-years), date of quitting smoking. Equally, the e-cigarette exposure needs to be properly characterised: current or ever use is inadequate.

As the Debate on Dual Use Continues, New Evidence Suggests it Might Not be as Problematic as Thought so Far

Diane Caruana, Vaping Post

For decades, public health messaging around smoking cessation has revolved around a simple binary: quit completely or fail. Yet real-world data have consistently shown that many smokers struggle to stop abruptly, even with access to traditional nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) such as patches or gum. Against this backdrop, the growing body of evidence supporting safer nicotine alternatives—particularly vaping—has reshaped how harm reduction is understood. Today, the question is no longer whether these products reduce harm compared to smoking, but why policymakers and institutions are still reluctant to fully embrace what the science already shows.

NNA_Banner_Support_Trans

FDA Authorizes 6 Nicotine Pouch Products, Completing Review in Record Time

CPT Newsroom, U.S. Food And Drug Administration

Today, FDA authorized the marketing of 6 nicotine pouch products through the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway. These authorizations mark the first decisions from a pilot program launched in September to streamline the review process for nicotine pouch applications while maintaining the agency’s rigorous scientific standards. By implementing several changes to FDA’s review processes, including real-time communication with the applicant, the FDA was able to complete scientific review in record time.

Two From 2Firsts

Exclusive: Suspected ‘Backend Update Then Withdrawal’ Suggests Glas May Be Next FDA-Authorized E-Cigarette Brand After Juul

2Firsts observed in the early hours of December 21, 2025 (Beijing time) that X user Gregory Conley posted a screenshot indicating that one device and five e-cigarette pods produced by e-cigarette brand Glas had received Marketing Granted Orders (MGOs) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In subsequent verification efforts, 2Firsts identified a file on the FDA website labeled as an “e-cigarette authorization list” updated in December 2025, the contents of which appear highly consistent with the screenshot shared on X.

Jordan Cuts Taxes on Heated Tobacco and E-cigarettes

Jordan has amended its 2025 Special Tax Law, introducing a package of tax reductions on tobacco alternatives, according to the Official Gazette.

Under the amendments, Article 3 of the law was modified to reduce the special tax on heated tobacco devices from 20,000 fils (20 Jordanian dinars, approximately US$28.2) to 10,000 fils (10 dinars, approximately US$14.1) per device, representing a 50% reduction.

Pennsylvania Becomes 14th State to Pass a PMTA Registry Bill

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Pennsylvania bill HB 1425 is now on Governor Josh Shapiro’s desk, awaiting his signature or veto. The PMTA registry bill, if signed into law by the governor, will restrict access to many nicotine-containing vaping products in the state.

The bill mandates creation of a registry (here called a directory) of vape products that can be legally sold in Pennsylvania. While exact dates have not been set, it appears the directory will be published about six months after the governor signs the bill, and enforcement will begin about four months after that.

Growing restrictions on vape sales making it harder for smokers to quit and driving others into hands of criminal dealers

(PDF in case of paywall here)

Ken Heffernan, Irish Independent

The Government is due to publish legislation banning all flavoured vapes. I believe it shouldn’t, and I fear the ban would have a negative impact on almost 200,000 adults who have stopped smoking with the help of such vapes.

First we need to look at the impact such a ban has had in Denmark, Australia and Canada. All have seen a dramatic rise in the use of illicit flavoured vapes.

Florida Court Continues Language Wars Against Pouches

Joseph Hart, Daily Pouch

The language wars against tobacco continue, but this time the forum is not some WHO presentation, but an attempted class action lawsuit by plaintiff Kovadis Palmer against the makers of ZYN nicotine pouches.

The Palmer v. Philip Morris International Inc. and Swedish Match North America LLC is back in the news. As some of you might recall, it was first filed in April 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

When Evidence Is Ignored: Commissioner Várhelyi and the ‘As Harmful as Cigarettes’ Claim

Pouch Forum

In a recent interview, EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi stated that alternative tobacco products are “as harmful as traditional cigarettes.” [1]The claim was made categorically, without any nuance or hesitation, and in the context of the Commission’s planned tobacco reform in 2026.

As always, the devil lies in the details. Nicotine pouches are sometimes excluded from the category of “alternative tobacco products,” while other non-combustible products such as vaping and heated tobacco are more commonly targeted in current policy discussions, including in the Commission’s work on cardiovascular health and in the OECD’s assessment of cardiovascular risk in the EU.

FDA’s Pouch Test: Consumer Choice or Illicit Market

Timothy S. Donahue, Nicotine Insider

For nicotine pouches, “consumer choice” is not a conceptual policy debate. It is the dividing line between a regulated, lawful marketplace and the predictable expansion of black markets and illicit supply, according to Laura Leigh Oyler, Haypp Group’s vice president of Regulatory Affairs.

“As long as consumers have a validated choice of options,” Oyler told Nicotine Insider, “that illicit market doesn’t have to emerge to meet their needs.”

On this day…2023

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

Mr Butler, your pants are on fire

Colin Mendelsohn

SORRY TO BE BLUNT MR BUTLER, but your pants are on fire. The talking points you keep repeating about youth vaping are simply not evidence-based and are patently wrong.

This blog challenges seven of your most often repeated falsehoods. Previous fact checks on your past porkies are here, here and here.

Juul Submits PMTA for Next Gen Menthol

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Juul Labs has submitted a marketing application to the FDA for a menthol-flavored refill pod designed to be used in Juul’s “next generation” device. In July, Juul submitted a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) for the device and a tobacco-flavored pod.

Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World

NSP-DG

innco-02

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Skip to toolbar