Vapers Digest 25th April
Tuesday’s News at a glance:
Vape Research Increases – USA continues push for tough vaping laws despite mounting evidence – What E-Cigarettes can Teach Us About Fake News – Time to act on the UK election opportunity – New Article on Graphic Warning Labels is Wrong on the Law – Two Doctors on A Mission to Set the Record Straight about Smokeless Tobacco – Hartland hearing will question FDA’s e-cigarette rules – Global vaping market to reach $47 Billion by 2025 – NZ Health Ministry to release consultation on e-cigarettes
Vape Research Increases
Mawsley, Planet of the Vapes
Commentators used to say that it was difficult to make an assessment about vaping because there were not many studies. Not so now, research is being conducted at such a pace it’s difficult to keep up. Twenty ecig-related papers were published on Pubmed in the first week of March alone. A few recent ones are covered in brief below.
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine carries a piece of work claiming that young vapers begin using vaping devices later than young smokers initiate smoking. It reports that uptake patterns mirror those for alcohol and cannabis rather than traditional tobacco products. The median age for vape initiation is 17-18 years old whereas smoking peaks at 14-15 years old. Non-Hispanic whites and multiracial adolescents were most likely to begin vaping, but the study carries a similar flaw to many previous ones in that it relies on teens being honest in their self-completed questionnaires.
USA continues push for tough vaping laws despite mounting evidence
Fergus Mason, VapingPost
The United States Navy has announced a complete ban on possessing or using e-cigarettes on any of its vessels or aircraft, citing the risk of battery explosions as justification. Meanwhile the town of Aspen, Colorado is the latest place to consider raising the minimum vaping age to 21. This flies in the face of a new study which confirms that tough rules on teen vaping just lead to more smoking.
The United States Navy has launched a ferocious crackdown on vaping among its personnel, citing safety concerns to justify the harsh restrictions. As of the 14th of May it will be prohibited under service regulations to use, possess, store or charge any electronic vapour product on Navy ships, submarines or aircraft. The rule is wide-ranging and doesn’t just apply to Navy personnel – Marines, Military Sealift Command and civilian staff and visitors are included.
What E-Cigarettes can Teach Us About Fake News
Ozy
“Fake news” is a two-word combination that’s been more popular in 2016 and 2017 than “Beyoncé’s baby.” The criticisms of duplicity swing both ways, right and left. President Trump leveled the critique at CNN in his early days in office. Then again, former national security adviser Michael Flynn was accused of populating his feeds with alternative facts. And nonpartisan companies like Google and Facebook are planning to call fake news when they see it on their sites to dispel confusion.
The latest topic in the fake-news whirlwind is a surprising one: e-cigarettes, with both libertarians and staunch conservatives weighing in. In February, the Washington Examiner, a conservative-leaning source, blasted the headline: “Why fake news plagues the e-cigarette debate.” According to the article, the cause for concern was twofold — studies that claim e-cigarettes are harmful, and journalists who bait readers with preposterous headlines that vilify e-cigarettes.
The inclusion of the Cole-Bishop Amendment, will provide significant regulatory certainty to tens of thousands of small businesses in the US https://t.co/WtH39kldaX
— INNCOorg (@INNCOorg) April 25, 2017
Time to act on the UK election opportunity
New Nicotine Alliance
Brexit removes the excuse for political parties to avoid reforming the worst elements of current anti-smoking policies many of which come into force on Saturday 20 May.
Particular anger among the 2.8 million UK e-cigarette users has been caused by the EU’s arbitrary restrictions on their devices which have no benefit but which make them less convenient to use. These include maximum tank and refill sizes and a much reduced limit on the maximum concentration of nicotine in e-liquid consumers can purchase. Disproportionate restrictions on e-cigarette advertising were introduced in May 2016.
Also of deep concern is the ban on the Swedish smoking substitute snus. As the New Scientist reported in March this product is the key to Sweden’s huge lead in the EU in reducing smoking. The Spectator wrote that “if we want to benefit from Brexit the first thing that we should do is make snus legal”.
New Article on Graphic Warning Labels is Wrong on the Law
Michael Siegel, TobaccoAnalysis
In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulations that required graphic warning labels on cigarette packages. The FDA chose nine graphic images, such as a picture of a man with a chest scar from cardiac surgery, along with a telephone number for smokers to call for help with smoking cessation (1-800-QUIT-NOW). The tobacco companies subsequently challenged the rule, arguing that it violated their First Amendment rights by compelling them to commercial speech which is against their economic interests (i.e., speech which strongly encourages consumers to stop using the product). The D.C. district court overturned the regulations on this basis, a decision that was affirmed by the appellate court.
One of the issues in the case was whether the required warning labels represent merely factual and uncontroversial information or whether they are intended to elicit an emotional response that goes beyond merely the provision of factual information. In an apparent attempt to defend the regulations, new research published in the journal Tobacco Control reports the results of a study showing that graphic images can be informative and textual messages can evoke emotion, thus (supposedly) invalidating the court’s reasoning in rejecting the rule.
Two Doctors on A Mission to Set the Record Straight about Smokeless Tobacco
HuffPo
The historical roots of tobacco go way back to almost the beginning of time. Some date it as early as 1 B.C. when the American Indians used it for religious and medicinal practices. Given what we know about tobacco today it’s almost impossible to believe tobacco was ever thought of as a cure-all for everything from dressing wounds to the standard go-to painkiller.
By the 1600’s tobacco was so popular that it was even used almost as frequently as money. Some even referred to it “as good as gold”.
But some of the dangerous effects of smoking tobacco was starting to become apparent during this time, too. Sir Francis Bacon, the 1st Viscount St Alban, an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author, who served both as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England, admitted to having a very hard time quitting his tobacco use and found it to be an impossible “bad” habit to break.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=605-HZOedd8]
Hartland hearing will question FDA’s e-cigarette rules
Lake Country Now
Village officials are taking their first steps in combating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new regulations on e-cigarettes, which they see as federal overreach.
Beginning Thursday, April 27, the village will host three days of hearings in the village board room to gather information about FDA regulations enacted in August that, among other things, require a costly approval process for every tobacco product introduced after February 2007, including e-cigarettes and the liquid for e-cigarettes.
Village officials are concerned because Hartland-based e-liquid manufacturer Johnson Creek Enterprises has said the rules could severely limit its business growth.
Global vaping market to reach $47 Billion by 2025
Diane Caruana, VapingPost
The latest vape market report illustrates that while the e-cigarette market was predicted to be worth $8 billion by 2015, it is expected to continue expanding at an annual growth rate of 19.34% for the forecast period.
Bis Research( Business Intelligence and Strategy Research), is a global market intelligence and advisory firm whose main area of interest are any emerging technological advances that may influence the dynamics of the global market. They have recently published a market intelligence report, “Global E cigarette and Vape market 2017-2025”, which offers some interesting predictions about the future of the vaping industry.
“The global e-cigarette market was estimated to be worth $8 billion in 2015, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.34% throughout the forecast period to become a $46.9 billion industry by 2025.” predicts the report.
NZ Health Ministry to release consultation on e-cigarettes
Diane Caruana, VapingPost
As New Zealand starts preparing to legalize and regulate vaping products, the Ministry of Health submits a list of recommendations pertaining to how the matter should be handled.
Last month, Associate Health Minister Nicky Wagner announced that e-cigarettes would be legalized, saying that in doing so New Zealand is adopting a low risk approach while scientific evidence about the the safety of e-cigarettes is still being developed.
“Around the world we can’t get clear research about this. But what we’re thinking is they are about 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes,” she concluded clearly referring to the study published by Public Health England last year.
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