Parliament Matters ~ Vape Shops Are Vital ~ Sustainable Vaping Week ~ Exporting Tobacco Control Failure ~ Before the Next Victory Lap ~ Nicotine Dose Is Not a Proxy for Risk, But We Keep Hearing That It Is ~ Smoke-free Europe One goal. Many paths. ~ I Talked to a Bridge Builder Today ~ Protecting Young People Without Leaving Adult Smokers Behind ~ expert reaction to study of vascular function and cardiorespiratory fitness in young adults who vape ~ Pennsylvania’s Heavy-Handed Nicotine Rules Should be Eliminated to Help Smokers Quit ~ Connecticut Youth Vaping Declines as Adult Smoking Reaches Historic Low ~ Pennsylvania Enforces Vape Directory Despite Declining Youth Vaping and Historically Low Smoking Rates ~ Don’t shut off smokers’ escape route, Labour MPs warn ministers ~ Canadian campaigners want lifetime sales ban on vapes for next generation ~ German tax blunder leaves vape duty missing in action ~ EU Advances Tobacco, Nicotine Tax Overhaul ~ Armenia Highlights The Futility and Myopia of Tobacco Control ~ From Sweden to the UAE: A successful public health model ~ Swedish Match Faces Broader Labeling Order After ZYN Inspection, Documents Obtained by 2Firsts Show ~ Why Are Nicotine Pouches Sold Through Pharmacies in Canada?
Joy of joys, we are back at Parliament. In this week’s thrilling coverage of MPs discussing vaping and tobacco harm reduction we see Danny Chambers talking about his love for the Tobacco and Vapes Act, Bob Blackman introduces some facts only Bob seems to know about, Andrew Snowden wants to introduce some very un-Conservative restrictions on the freedom to vape, Jack Rankin discovers the government isn’t basing legislation on evidence, and Cat Eccles thinks more legislation can eradicate the sale of illicit vapes.
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has urged MPs not to tar responsible specialist vape retailers with the same brush as rogue traders, warning that legitimate businesses must not become casualties of efforts to clean up Britain’s high streets. The trade body told MPs that what the UK needs is tougher licensing and enforcement to drive out the rogue traders.
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is putting the recycling of vapes in the spotlight as part of Sustainable Vaping Week 2026. Sustainable Vaping Week returns for its fourth year, coinciding with International E-Waste Day and mobilising consumers and businesses selling vaping products to ensure used devices are disposed of responsibly.
The international health experts at Smoke Free Sweden have condemned a move by the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain to impose an EU-wide freeze on new nicotine alternatives as “a dangerous and misinformed attempt to export their own failures” at tobacco control.
The government has become too comfortable treating falling smoking rates as proof that its tobacco and vaping policies are working. The new Wesfarmers Health Index should prompt scrutiny, not another victory lap.
The 2026 Index estimates daily smoking among Australians aged 15 and over at 10.1%, compared with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 5.6% estimate.
We know nicotine is not benign. It is addictive, can produce dependence, and presents particular concerns for young people and during pregnancy. None of that is in dispute.
We also know nicotine does not cause the cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and severe cardiovascular harm resulting from smoking. Those risks arise overwhelmingly from inhaling the toxic products of combustion.
Europe’s tobacco rules are being rewritten right now, and the products that helped millions of Europeans quit smoking are in the crosshairs. If these bans go through, ex-smokers will be pushed back to cigarettes or onto the black market, and the smokers still trying to quit will lose their best way out.
I may be aging faster than I’d like, but I am living proof that you’re never too old to love and appreciate the animated classics some of us grew up with and never stopped loving.
Last month, my attention was drawn to a beloved classic, Peanuts. As I read a news article, my mind filled with questions, and I ended up asking: Would Charles Schulz Have Done It This Way?
A response to Belgium’s proposed e-cigarette flavour restrictions
Writing in theEuropean Respiratory Journal, Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke and his co-authors argue that restricting e-cigarettes to tobacco and unflavoured varieties would reduce their appeal to young people while keeping options open for adults. However, research argues that flavours are a key element of helping smokers switch to alternative nicotine products. This significantly reduces the harm they face. Belgium’s draft decree is now under European Commission review, and the standstill period ends on 26 November.
Scientists comment on a study of vascular function and cardiorespiratory fitness in young adults who vape, as published in JAMA Cardiology.
Dr Harry Tattan-Birch, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London (UCL), said: “This small study draws conclusions that its design cannot support. It compares just 17 vapers, 19 smokers and 22 people who use neither at a single point in time, without adequately accounting for other differences between these groups that could explain the findings. Therefore, we cannot know whether the findings reflect effects of vaping itself or other differences between participants.
Pennsylvania officials are on the verge of denying more than one million smokers in Pennsylvania an opportunity to quit smoking deadly combustible cigarettes. Under Act 57, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General is set to enforce a burdensome state-managed registry that will effectively ban the sale of thousands of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products, like vapes and nicotine pouches, starting today. Out of the vast array of alternatives available to adult consumers, only 159 products from a select few manufacturers have been approved.
Two From Lindsey Stroud, Tobacco Harm Reduction 101
The Connecticut Department of Public Health has quietly released the 2025 results of the state’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Conducted biennially in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the survey examines a variety of health risk behaviors among high school students in the Constitution State, including dietary and physical habits, mental health, and substance use.
As Pennsylvania begins enforcing sweeping new regulations on the retail sale of electronic cigarettes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released the 2025 results of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), revealing significant declines in youth vapor product use and continued historically low rates of combustible cigarette smoking.
The Lung Health Foundation wants vaping included in a generational sales ban, according to a Canadian Press report published by CityNews. People covered by such a policy would remain unable to buy the products legally as they grew older.
An embarrassing drafting blunder brought the country’s new tobacco tax law into force on Wednesday, 21 October – more than two months ahead of schedule. But its replacement rates for e-liquids don’t begin until January 2027.
The EU’s tobacco tax overhaul is moving forward, even if Sweden isn’t ready to come along.
The Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union has circulated revised proposals to raise minimum cigarette excise duties and to introduce EU-wide taxes on nicotine pouches, vaping liquids, and other products as negotiators prepare for another round of talks next week.
October 12th is No Tobacco Day in Armenia. The small, landlocked country in the South Caucasus is marking the day with the usual public awareness campaigns, but some health groups can’t see the forest for the trees.
Armenian No Tobacco Day
Panorama posted a recent article on Armenia’s tobacco control challenges. Not to be confused with the BBC documentary series, Panorama.am is an Armenian online news outlet that covers local politics, society and international affairs.
What can we learn from a country that has reduced daily smoking to just 3.7 per cent?
Sweden is the only country in Europe to reach smoke-free status, 16 years ahead of the EU’s 2040 target. That success was the focus of Innovation in Public Health: The Swedish Experience, held by Quit Like Sweden (QLS) at Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah on 12 October.
Documents obtained by 2Firsts show that Sweden’s Public Health Agency ordered Swedish Match to revise ingredient labels beyond the five ZYN products inspected. The dispute centers on whether flavoring ingredients must be individually disclosed, with Swedish Match citing trade-secret protection and the regulator insisting on full ingredient disclosure. The company faces a conditional penalty of SEK 2 million per month for noncompliance. As of October 22, the agency had received no appeal, despite the company’s stated intention to challenge the decision.
Canada’s approach to nicotine pouch regulation has created a system that puts pharmacists at the centre of access to authorised products — while unauthorised pouches remain widely available. Has the policy achieved its intended goals, or has it created new problems?
In this GFN Science Lab presentation from GFN 2026 in Warsaw, pharmacist Todd Prochnau examines Canada’s pharmacy-centric regulatory model and its implications for public health, smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction.
E-cig vendors in the UK have reported a major boost in sales following the launch of the NHS’s first vape-friendly Stoptober campaign. One retailer reported that sales of starter kits are up by more than a third over the same period last year.
Has created undue fears about alternatives – David Sweanor
DEATH, MOST OF us can agree, is best delayed. But cigarette smoking is a major impediment to achieving such a delay. Indeed, cigarettes kill over 100 people in Ireland on a weekly basis, or about 30 times the still horrendous toll of Irish road deaths.
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