Vapers Digest 23rd June

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

The WHO’s war on vapers ~ Global Forum on Nicotine Conveys Cautious Optimism for Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ UK breaks from ‘flawed’ EU science with vow of evidence-based snus ban review ~ Asian consumer group warns against Australia’s vaping ban in October ~ Register: Asia Harm Reduction Forum 2021 ~ New Research on E-Cigarette Use Reveals Positive Public Health Trends ~ Efforts to reduce tobacco harm in Africa up in smoke ~ Health Canada Proposes To Eliminate Flavoured Vapes ~ Canada Will Prohibit Most Vape Flavors Next Year ~ A New Tobacco Control Plan ~ Hunting Harm Reduction In Scotland ~ A Pathway Out of Cigarette Addiction ~ Regulator begins probe into Pfizer’s anti-nicotine therapy for impurities ~ Florida Protected Public Health by Rejecting Vaping Ban ~ Unfiltered | FDA may save vaping ~ How Should Flavored Vapes Be Regulated?

The WHO’s war on vapers

Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist

I had an article up at ConHome last week about the WHO’s forthcoming conference on tobacco and why vapers should care about it.

The World Health Organisation’s decision last month to give a special award to India for banning the sale of e-cigarettes was proof that the agency has no intention of taking an ethical and evidence-based approach to tobacco harm reduction. This puts it squarely at odds with countries such as the UK and New Zealand which have successfully embraced vaping as part of their tobacco control strategy.

Global Forum on Nicotine Conveys Cautious Optimism for Tobacco Harm Reduction

Alex Norcia, Filter Magazine

At the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN), hosted in Liverpool, England, and broadcast online on June 16 and 17, experts called for the public health and tobacco control fields to unite around a common goal: ending smoking.

Over the two days, 30 speakers—eminent in harm reduction, law, science, the stock market, consumer advocacy and other areas—reiterated to hundreds of international delegates that lifesaving technology like vapes and heat-not-burn products (HTPs) should be embraced to empower people to stop their combustible cigarette use.

UK breaks from ‘flawed’ EU science with vow of evidence-based snus ban review

SnusForumNet

UK health minister Jo Churchill’s promise of an evidence-based snus ban review marks a significant turning point in acknowledging the questionable science behind the impact assessment used by the EU to justify the ban.

“My hon. Friend Adam Afriyie will be interested to hear that, although snus is currently banned under the regulations, we are undertaking a review and will consider the evidence base,” Churchill said during a June 10th parliamentary debate about an updated UK tobacco control plan.

Asian consumer group warns against Australia’s vaping ban in October

24 Share Updates

“Australia is miles behind many others in the Asia Pacific region, and the UK, when it comes to acknowledging vaping’s key role in beating tobacco. Australia is sadly kowtowing to the World Health Organisation, rather than accepting compelling international evidence,” says Nancy Loucas, Coordinator for the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).

It is illegal to sell liquid nicotine in Australia. Its states and territories possess harsh penalties including very steep fines, in some cases, possible imprisonment for the sale of nicotine vapes without a valid doctor’s prescription.

Register: Asia Harm Reduction Forum 2021

Asia Harm Reduction

Accomplish the Registration Form

To sign up for the AHRF 2021, fill out our online registration form by providing your name, email, and other required details. Check the accuracy of all your personal information before submitting the accomplished form.

New Research on E-Cigarette Use Reveals Positive Public Health Trends

Guy Bentley, Reason Foundation

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy is revisiting the controversial issue of youth vaping.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most contentious issues in public health policy was e-cigarettes and their role in transitioning smokers away from cigarettes. While it’s widely accepted that e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than combustible cigarettes and have helped millions of smokers quit, the relationship between youth smoking and vaping products has always been a critical concern.

Efforts to reduce tobacco harm in Africa up in smoke

Lack of support, inadequate policies and misinformation have been identified as some of the obstacles standing in the way of the reduction of tobacco harm in Africa as discussed during the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) held in Liverpool, England last week.

Another disturbing finding about tobacco harm states that the continent has about 77 million smokers with at least 250 000 of them dying from smoking-related diseases every year.

Health Canada Proposes To Eliminate Flavoured Vapes

Saddlehorse Blues

On Friday, Health Canada released the Canada Gazette 1, Volume 155, No. 25. In it, they propose to ban all but 40 chemical compounds in e-liquids. This very narrow range of compounds can be used to create tobacco, mint, or menthol flavours in e-liquids. No sweeteners will be allowed.

This is a considerably more narrow range than many people had predicted. If implemented, it would wipe out the e-liquid category in Canada. Only a few of the bigger players will be able to absorb the financial blow of prohibition and dedicate the research to developing palate-friendly flavours from the 40 allowable compounds.

Canada Will Prohibit Most Vape Flavors Next Year

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

The Canadian government has initiated the process of banning most flavored vaping products. The flavor ban will be implemented as a regulation by Health Canada, and will prohibit flavors other than tobacco, menthol and mint.

Health Canada will also finalize a rule, proposed last December, to cap the nicotine strength of e-liquid and DIY nicotine at 20 mg/mL (or two percent). Despite opposition from vapers during the public comment period, the nicotine cap rule was completed in the promised six-month timeframe.

THREE from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes

A New Tobacco Control Plan

Following the production of a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, Parliament debated the Tobacco Control Plan, which was welcomed by the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).

Hunting Harm Reduction In Scotland

A motivated quitter might do research, they may hunt online and seek out forums, online community groups, or type into a search engine. But, for most smokers, it will be the day-to-day experiences that inform their future choices. Planet of the Vapes took a trip north to see how easy it is to access harm reduction products and made some basic errors which made the hunt more pressing.

A Pathway Out of Cigarette Addiction

A new study conducted by the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) and published in JAMA Pediatrics strongly cautions that a San Francisco ban on flavoured vaping liquids may have resulted in 18-24 year olds who would use vaping products instead taking up deadly combustible cigarettes.

Oops. Pfizer has a contamination problem with its smoking cessation medication, varenicline. It contains nitrosamines (carcinogens). South Korean govt is investigating. Israeli govt has now banned it.https://t.co/9DZ9H7cKr8

— Charles A. Gardner, PhD (@ChaunceyGardner) June 22, 2021

Regulator begins probe into Pfizer’s anti-nicotine therapy for impurities

Lee Han-so, Korea Biomedical Review

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has launched an investigation into anti-nicotine therapies that use varenicline as its main compound due to concern over the treatments containing nitrosamine impurities, a possible carcinogen substance.

According to industry sources on Monday, the ministry recently instructed pharmaceutical companies to take follow-up measures of nitrosamine impurities in drugs containing varenicline.

Florida Protected Public Health by Rejecting Vaping Ban

Guy Bentley, Adrian Moore, Reason Foundation

It’s hard to believe that before the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most contentious issues in public health was how to regulate electronic cigarettes. In 2019, an outbreak of lung illnesses and deaths was attributed to e-cigarettes. Confusion abounded because e-cigarettes had never been linked to such illnesses and are promoted by many public health experts as a safer alternative to smoking. E-cigarettes don’t contain or burn tobacco, so they are a dramatically safer way for smokers to consume nicotine.

Unfiltered | FDA may save vaping

Brent Staffort, RegWatch

With an extraordinary amount of misinformation and vitriol swirling around vaping, it’s hard to believe public perception could change any time soon. Yet, there could be an occasion for hope, and surprisingly, the optimism is grounded in FDA’s premarket tobacco application process.

In this episode of RegWatch, we are joined by Alex Norcia, staff writer at Filter and former vaping beat reporter at VICE. Hear why he thinks many could be in for a shock this September when FDA grants marketing approval to certain vaping products.

How Should Flavored Vapes Be Regulated?

The Federalist Society

On this Day…2017

The Chinese Vape Problem

Mawsley, Planet of the Vapes

Jidong Huang is an associate professor of Health Management and Policy at Georgia State University. He recently spoke to China Global Television Network about the problems and challenges of smoking in China. Oddly, for a country that is fuelling the global vape boom, the answer isn’t currently electronic cigarettes.

Huang has been involved in many vape-related pieces of research, but it tends to the statistical analysis of previously collected data in an effort to find patterns of behaviour. His most recent work was one such study, where regression analysis was used to look at vaping among “priority populations”.

San Francisco Passes Flavor Ban

Condemns Smokers to Status Quo – CASAA

The ink is barely dry on amendments accepted during San Francisco’s Public Safety and Neighborhoods Committee hearing and the full Board of Supervisors has passed the ordinance that bans the sale of flavored vapor products, tobacco products, and menthol cigarettes. The new law takes effect in April 2018.

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

The WHO’s war on vapers

Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist