Vapers Digest 24th October

Friday’s News at a glance:

Harm Reduction: A Pillar of Public Health – SCOHRE Calls for Evidence-Based Policy – xperts Wants Misperceptions Addressed – Parliament Matters – Cardiovascular Risk Declines with Heated Tobacco Uptake – Pouch market trends towards lower levels of nicotine? – Brussels’ Heart Problem: The EU’s Cardiovascular Plan Misses the Point – FDA’s War on Commonsense Nicotine Regulation – The Global Case for Nicotine Pouches [Position Paper] – FCTC COP-11 – a survival guide for delegates – The expert group with little expertise – B.C.’s ‘Cost Recovery’ Act on Vaping, Could Become a Costly Mistake – WHO faces questions on donor-linked funding – Global anti-smoking association SCOHRE calls for science-based tobacco policy – What’s new in things to do? – Ready or Not FDLI, Here I Come! – The Emergent Epidermal Auditory Phenomenon: A Startling Correlation Between Vaping and Tertiary Ear Formation – SCOOP: Italian Government scathing opposition to EU nicotine tax – 100,000 + sign French petition against crushing vape tax – Anti-tobacco fanatics need to lighten up – Roaring black market trade undermines disposable vape ban – Why Is the FDA Easier on Cigarettes Than Smoking Cessation Tools? – Juul is waging a comeback with high-tech safeguards meant to keep vapes away from teens – Opinion: Denver voters need to ditch flavored nicotine ban – Africa’s Voice in Tobacco Control – Imported solutions and policies don’t fit Africa’s needs -Eight vape shops across city forced to close for months – Youth tobacco use declines, vaping remains common: N.Y. report – The Ask | Vapers Demand Freedom from FDA Control | RegWatch (Live) – GFN.TV Interviews | EMINENCE-BASED | How Misinformation About Nicotine Took Hold

Four From Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Harm Reduction: A Pillar of Public Health

Two hundred experts from 51 countries convened in Athens and online to discuss evidence-based strategies, stressing that science, not ideology, must guide global tobacco control. A key outcome from the 8th Summit on THR was that tobacco harm reduction must become a pillar of public health policy.

SCOHRE Calls for Evidence-Based Policy

The International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE) is urging European policymakers and World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Parties to prioritise science over ideology ahead of the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to FCTC, taking place in Geneva next month.

Experts Wants Misperceptions Addressed

In response to a research paper stating that one in 20 adults in England now smoke cigarettes and vape, experts demand that misperceptions about vapes must be addressed. In their rapid response, they state that there exists “substantial evidence” that vaping is safer than than smoking, yet most British adult smokers believe vaping is equally or more harmful.

Parliament Matters

How can a weekly newsletter exist without finding out about the ongoing spiral of decline in how our elected politicians are now talking about vaping? This week, LibDem Lisa Smart is worrying about children, Labour’s Natalie Fleet wonders about illicit sales, and the Leader of the House of Commons referred to legitimate retailers as “dodgy vape shops”.

Cardiovascular Risk Declines with Heated Tobacco Uptake

Katrina Thornber, European Medical Journal

A NEW trend in tobacco-linked cardiovascular risk has emerged from Japan, showing fewer hospitalisations for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) among younger adults as heated tobacco products (HTPs) gain popularity. Researchers found these declines mainly in areas with higher HTP use.

Pouch market trends towards lower levels of nicotine?

Pouch Forum

A maturing nicotine pouch market is increasingly leaving extreme-strength products behind. At InterTabac 2025 most of the products we observed clustered in the 6–12 mg range reflecting a natural market adjustment and a factor that should be taken into consideration when defining a scientifically based nicotine cap that enables smokers to switch while preventing unnecessary extremes.

Brussels’ Heart Problem: The EU’s Cardiovascular Plan Misses the Point

Considerate Pouchers

The European Commission says it wants to “improve cardiovascular health across Europe.”

That sounds great, until you read the fine print.

Behind the lofty language and glossy public health slides, the Commission is quietly drafting a plan that could classify pouches, yes, tobacco-free, smoke-free products that help people quit smoking, as cardiovascular risk factors.

That’s not science. That’s ideology with a Brussels accent.

FDA’s War on Commonsense Nicotine Regulation

Roger Bate, Brownstone Institute

Cigarettes kill nearly half a million Americans each year. Everyone knows it, including the Food and Drug Administration. Yet while the most lethal nicotine product remains on sale in every gas station, the FDA continues to block or delay far safer alternatives.

Nicotine pouches—small, smokeless packets tucked under the lip—deliver nicotine without burning tobacco. They eliminate the tar, carbon monoxide, and carcinogens that make cigarettes so deadly. The logic of harm reduction couldn’t be clearer: if smokers can get nicotine without smoke, millions of lives could be saved.

The Global Case for Nicotine Pouches [Position Paper]

We Are Innovation

We are pleased to share our latest position paper examining how nicotine pouches represent a unique convergence of public health, environmental, and social benefits in the pursuit of smoke-free societies.

Drawing on Sweden’s remarkable success—on track to become the first smoke-free nation in the EU—this comprehensive analysis explores why nicotine pouches have emerged as a critical harm reduction tool, particularly for women who previously struggled to quit smoking.

FCTC COP-11 – a survival guide for delegates

Clive Bates, The Counterfactual

This is a guide to the COP-11 meeting of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Geneva 17-22 November, 2025.

Much of the meeting will be boring or irritating
Access this survival guide for inspiration

Are you attending the 11th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, 17-22 November 2025 – otherwise known as COP-11 of the FCTC? This survival guide will help you navigate the policy and strategy issues facing the COP.

The expert group with little expertise

LOREMIPSUMDOLOR, COPWatch

How your taxes fund jobs for the WHO’s chums

Our attention was drawn to a rather unusual expert group convened to provide recommendations for COP agenda item 4.3 concerning “Protection of the environment and the health of persons.”

We were eager to learn more about the personnel involved in this expert group. They are named in the supplementary “Regulatory options” report which is located in the Supplementary documents area on the COP11 website. We found that 25 individuals were involved in producing the document, either as authors, contributors or external reviewers.

B.C.’s ‘Cost Recovery’ Act on Vaping, Could Become a Costly Mistake

The Canadian Vaping Association, GlobeNewswire

British Columbia’s proposed Bill 24, aka the Vaping Products Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act seeks to make the regulated vaping industry financially liable for alleged and future public health costs, sets a dangerous precedent for the most effective harm reduction tool for smokers. The legislation has already drawn mounting criticism from industry leaders, harm reduction advocates, academic and medical professionals, who warn that it could penalize adult harm reduction, impose disproportionate burdens on small businesses, and expose taxpayers to years of costly legal challenges.

WHO faces questions on donor-linked funding

Philstar.com

The growing financial influence of Bloomberg Philanthropies and a lack of transparency around “dark money” donations to the World Health Organization (WHO) are raising serious concerns over the independence of the global health body and the erosion of national sovereignty in global health policy, according to a recent report.

Global anti-smoking association SCOHRE calls for science-based tobacco policy

Cyprus Business News

The International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction (SCOHRE) has urged European policymakers and WHO FCTC Parties to prioritise science over ideology ahead of the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), taking place in Geneva next month.

The objective of the FCTC, established two decades ago, was to address the global problem of smoking. While this goal remains paramount, the emerging EU draft position for COP11 risks conflating tobacco harm reduction with industry interference, disregarding robust scientific evidence and the lived experiences of millions of European consumers, SCOHRE said.

Kevin Crowley, Vaping Links

In the spirit of sensationalism, satirical precision, and along the lines of “brain worms“, we often see “journalists” turned stenographers parroting “the science™” like obedient parrots with every opportunity.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

I proudly present:

The Journal of Preventive Alarmism, Vol. 1, Issue 3 (2025)

Two From Alastair Cohen, Clearing The Air

SCOOP: Italian Government scathing opposition to EU nicotine tax

The Italian Government fears a significant shift to the black market if the EU tax is approved, according to a “Reasoned Opinion” published by the Italian Government and reproduced here by Clearing the Air.

Rome is concerned with the significant potential for the proposal to divert more sales to the black market, fuelling criminal activity.

100,000 + sign French petition against crushing vape tax

Over 100.000 people have signed a French petition calling for the government to rethink its proposed vape tax in just three days. The petition has over 127.000 signatures at the time of writing.

The proposed budget legislation would redefine vaping products as “tobacco”, impose hefty taxes (30 €/litre for low-nicotine liquids; 50 €/litre for higher doses) plus 20 % VAT, ban online sales and force specialised stores to become “authorised establishments” under customs supervision.

Anti-tobacco fanatics need to lighten up

Christopher Snowdon, The Critic

Every two years, the world’s most authoritarian anti-smoking fanatics gather in a darkened room away from the prying eyes of the media and dream up new ways of making life difficult for the 1.2 billion people who enjoy consuming tobacco. In the age of the internet, social misfits who have strange obsessions are often able to find each other and occasionally organise conventions so they can meet in real life. The biennial gathering of anti-nicotine zealots is different insofar as it is lavishly funded by governments, attended by senior government officials and hosted by the World Health Organisation.

Roaring black market trade undermines disposable vape ban

Andrew Ellson, The Times

Research has found that a majority of vapers still have the illegal single-use devices, and more than half are buying them at corner shops.

Doubts have emerged about the effectiveness of the government’s ban on disposable vapes after research found that nearly a quarter of users were still buying them on the black market.

In a survey of more than a thousand vapers, 63 per cent were still using single-use vapes despite the products having become illegal to sell at the beginning of June. Among those aged 25 to 34 the figure was 82 per cent.

Also here in PDF form: Roaring black market trade undermines disposable vape ban

Why Is the FDA Easier on Cigarettes Than Smoking Cessation Tools?

Justin Leventhal, Real Clear Health

The FDA says it wants to reduce tobacco harm, but its docket tells a different story: it has greenlit hundreds of new cigarettes while bottlenecking lower-risk alternatives. For the 480,000 Americans whom smoking kills each year, that’s failure. If protecting public health is the mandate, the FDA must expand approvals for lower-risk alternatives to smokers that give them a way to quit.

Juul is waging a comeback with high-tech safeguards meant to keep vapes away from teens

Will Zimmerman, New York Post

After being heavily implicated in the teen vaping crisis — including years of legal battles and agreeing to pay out $1.7 billion over claims of misleading advertising — many assumed Juul Labs was a relic of the past.

Now, the company is trying to rise from the ashes of controversy and get back to its original mission —creating smoking cessation devices for adults trying to quit cigarettes — while keeping its product out of the hands of teenagers.

Opinion: Denver voters need to ditch flavored nicotine ban

Jared Whitley, The Colorado Sun

Denverites should say “no” to Referendum 310 to permanent ban for the sake of individual liberty and public health. A challenge in government policy is avoiding unintended consequences, policies intended to create a solution that actually make the problem worse.

Prohibition increased alcohol consumption while empowering organized crime. Mandatory minimums intended to “get tough” on sex offenders actually result in lower conviction rates. Policies protecting endangered owls resulted in owls getting slaughtered, as made famous by the Freakonomics guys.

Africa’s Voice in Tobacco Control – Imported solutions and policies don’t fit Africa’s needs

Dr Tendai Mhizha, All Africa

Across the world, countries are racing to become “smoke-free”, and some have already made remarkable progress. Sweden, for example, recently announced that only around 4.5% of its population still smoke cigarettes — the lowest reported rate in Europe.

Their success has been celebrated as a model for others to follow. However, beneath the applause lies a crucial question that we all need to think about: can African nations truly copy Sweden’s playbook and expect the same results?

Eight vape shops across city forced to close for months

Conor Gogarty, Wales Online

Eight vape shops have been ordered to close for months following raids by trading standards officers. The Swansea businesses are suspected of selling illegal nicotine products.

Earlier this month officers from Swansea council and South Wales Police raided 14 premises and issued 48-hour closure orders against nine of them as part of a crackdown on black market cigarettes and vapes.

Youth tobacco use declines, vaping remains common: N.Y. report

Reagan Hillman, Rochester First

According to a report from the New York State Department of Health, the decline in youth tobacco use has continued to reach new lows.

They say tobacco use among high school students has decreased to 17%, the lowest level recorded since tracking began in 2000.

The Ask | Vapers Demand Freedom from FDA Control | RegWatch (Live)

Brent Stafford, Regulator Watch

Déjà vu in Washington. With Donald J. Trump back in the White House, public health officials, regulators, and anti-vaping activists have renewed their war on vaping — and this time, they may succeed.

The FDA’s crackdown on nicotine vapes is intensifying, thousands of vape shops have closed, and vaping advocacy is struggling to survive.

But déjà vu cuts both ways. The movement that once shook Washington with the “We Vape, We Vote” uprising is surging back with one mission: freedom from FDA control.

At the center of this renewed fight is a familiar warrior: Tristan Thompson, Board President of the United Vapers Alliance and Head of The Vaping Legion.

GFN.TV Interviews | EMINENCE-BASED | How Misinformation About Nicotine Took Hold

Global Forum on Nicotine

Public health’s war on nicotine has spiraled into hysteria—untethered from science and reason. In this hard-hitting GFN Interviews, addiction specialist Dr. Garrett McGovern exposes how ideology, fear, and institutional ego are driving the misinformation crisis around vaping and safer nicotine products—and why it’s time to bring smoking harms back to the center of the debate.

On this day…2022!

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

The benefits of vaping

Letters – The Guardian

Your editorial about vaping does not match the science (“Before we embrace vaping, we need to know more about its long-term risks”). No credible scientist says vaping is “completely safe” – few things are. The point is that vapes are far, far less harmful than smoking. Moreover, the public health consensus that vaping is a “much less harmful” alternative to smoking is based on robust independent reviews of the scientific evidence, not “assumptions”.

Observer Danger

Last week, The Observer carried an editorial titled “The Observer view on the dangers of assuming vaping is a safe alternative to smoking”. The ignorant piece pushed forward a position that “e-cigarettes can carry serious risks”, regurgitating commentary more typical of a Bloomberg funded hit piece.

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