Vapers Digest 27th January
Friday’s News at a glance:
Swedish study sheds new light on nicotine – Is Juul for Sale? – FDA Authorizes More Heated Tobacco Products – Youth Tobacco and Vapor Use Continues to Decline in South Carolina – The Importance of Professor Hartmann-Boyce – Cancer Risk Paper Retracted – ACSH Debunks “Lousy” Study – UKVIA Responds to Ban Pressure – Threat Could Kill The Industry – Parliament – GFN.TV Interviews – W.H.O.-Backed Policy Change – Court Grants Stay of Reynolds Menthol MDOs – Prohibition does not work – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest
Swedish study sheds new light on nicotine
Snusforumet
Nicotine from tobacco does not protect against Covid-19, a new Swedish study has found. However, the study also adds to the body of evidence suggesting that smokers are somehow protected from Covid-19 infection. It remains unclear why.
The study, carried out by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and published in Scientific Reports, examines data from 424,386 residents living in and around the Swedish capital.
The aim was to evaluate whether smoking had an impact on Covid-19 risks and explore whether those risks were tied to nicotine, specifically, by comparing health outcomes for snus users, smokers, and non-tobacco users.
Is Juul for Sale?
The Troubled Vape Company Looks for Help – Jim McDonald
Juul Labs has engaged in discussions with at least three major tobacco companies in an attempt to work out an arrangement that would revitalize the cash-strapped vape manufacturer. The talks are still in early stages.
Juul has spoken with Philip Morris International (PMI), Japan Tobacco Group and Altria Group, seeking a possible sale of the company, a major investment, or a licensing or distribution arrangement, according to the Wall Street Journal.
FDA Authorizes More HTPs
Alex Norcia
On January 26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized three heated tobacco products manufactured by Philip Morris International. The agency issued marketing granted orders (MGOs) for three tobacco-flavored heat sticks—Marlboro Sienna, Marlboro Bronze and Marlboro Amber, all of which can be used with PMI’s IQOS device.
In 2019, the FDA had authorized IQOS and handful of other Marlboro HeatSticks through its premarket tobacco product application process (PMTA), in which PMI had to demonstrate that these products would be “appropriate for the protection of public health”—meaning, in short, that they’d be more likely to help adults who smoke switch to the safer alternative than to introduce a new generation to nicotine. The agency also granted the company the ability to make some modified risk claims in 2020.
FDA Authorizes Three New Heated Tobacco Products – FDA
[DE] Bundesregierung an Tabakschadensminimierung nicht interessiert https://t.co/HPYRtQWbsG via @DampfFreiheit
— European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (@europethra) January 27, 2023
Youth Tobacco and Vapor Use
Continues to Decline in South Carolina – Lindsey Stroud
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control recently published the results of the 2021 South Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey for high school students in the Palmetto State. There is welcome news for those who may be concerned about a supposed youth vaping epidemic as e-cigarette use seems to have peaked in 2019 and declined in the years since. Moreover, youth use of traditional tobacco products, including cigars, cigarettes, and smokeless products, is at record lows.
Among South Carolina high school students, in 2021, 36% reported having ever tried an e-cigarette, and 16.5% reported current e-cigarette use, “defined as having used the product on one or more days in the past 30 days prior to the survey.” Between 2019 and 2021, ever-use of e-cigarettes declined by 8.9% while current use declined by 25.3%.
Six from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
The Importance of Prof Hartmann-Boyce
Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce works with the UK Government and the Action on Smoking and Health charity to investigate the effectiveness of e-cigarettes as a stop-smoking aid, and whether they have lower negative health impacts than smoking. Martin Dockrell and Hazel Cheeseman explain why her work is so important and why she is the ideal person to carry it out.
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce leads a team conducting the Cochrane systematic living review looking at electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation.
“For me, the thing that really gets me out of bed in the morning when it comes to my research is knowing that it might have an impact and improve health and wellbeing,” says Professor Hartmann-Boyce.
Cancer Risk Paper Retracted
A team led by Anusha Chidharla at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine, claimed in a published paper that vaping is linked with a number of different cancers. The World Journal of Oncology has now retracted their paper due to concerns about how the investigation was conducted, how the data were analysed, and the lack of evidence to support their claims.
The team consisted of researchers from the United States, Nepal and India. They conducted a cross sectional study looking at data held in a database covering 154,856 individuals.
ACSH Debunks “Lousy” Study
The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) has debunked a research paper claiming that “vapes don’t help people quit smoking normal cigarettes”. The organisation called the paper “lousy” and “awful” but it was still used by many media outlets as justification to publish another round of articles attacking tobacco harm reduction and instilling fear about switching into smokers.
Independent observers have noted that the evidence supporting the use of electronic cigarettes as a quit smoking tool has continued to gain in strength over the last ten years.
UKVIA Responds to Ban Pressure
Pressure is mounting to ban single use disposable devices, says the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA). It believes the industry is working to address its environmental responsibilities as focus on sustainability issues gathers momentum. Elsewhere, Planet of the Vapes is reporting that Scotland could ban disposables following pressure from a Green MSP.
“The UKVIA and our members are in discussions with a number of waste companies to create a recycling solution that is fit for purpose for the vaping sector,” the organisation said. “If the first two weeks of 2023 are anything to go by, the debate over disposables and their impact on the environment is set to be a hot topic which will dominate the news schedules for some time to come.”
Threat Could Kill The Industry
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has issued a warning that ‘irresponsible’ vape brands producing and marketing child-friendly products could ‘kill the industry’. It added that the vape sector must not ‘hand ammunition to anti-vaping groups’ by flouting the law and targeting children.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne has warned that vape brands who fail to act responsibly are in danger of killing the industry. He was speaking to an audience of more than 1,000 vape company executives in Shenzhen, China, during the ECCC Annual Work Conference.
Parliament
With the industry finally waking up to the problems posed by disposable vape products, some may wonder if they are now behind the curve. Parliament has cottoned on to the issues and the mood music is that legislation will be enacted due to the industry dragging its heels. The Conservative’s Ben Everitt wants Trading Standards to crack down harder, while Labour’s Ruth Jones is concerned about recycling, costs, and what contribution the vape industry makes towards clean-up costs resulting from disposable use.
Ben Everitt, the Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care whether steps are being taken to ensure that local Trading Standards are investigating e-liquid capacity in notified e-cigarette devices and removing from the market any products above the 2ml e-liquid volume limit.
GFN.TV Interviews
ALL IN | Big Tobacco Pivot to Safer Nicotine Products
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN), which has taken place every year since 2014, is the only international conference to focus on how vapes, nicotine pouches, Swedish snus and heated tobacco can help people switch away from smoking. Building on the success of an event that attracts hundreds of in-person participants and thousands of online delegates, GFN•TV, a broadcast arm of the GFN stable, is now offering year round coverage of the issues that matter in tobacco harm reduction.
W.H.O.-Backed Policy Change
Supporting Harm Reduction Interventions Needed – Joseph Magero
Nearly 18 years since the W.H.O F.C.T.C. treaty came into force, it hasn’t proven to be a stellar success on its own terms, especially in low and middle-income countries. The current smoking prevalence in Africa calls for a major paradigm shift in policy.
By leveraging the best available evidence on current interventions, we can improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of tobacco control policies, enhance the effective use of scarce public resources, and increase the transparency and accountability of policies and interventions.
Court Grants Stay of Menthol MDOs
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has granted an administrative stay of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing denial order (MDO) for two R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. menthol flavored refill pods, sources have shared with Vapor Voice.
The order was granted as a temporary stay pending a motion to file a stay with the court by Feb. 1, 2023.
On Jan. 24, the FDA denied marketing applications for two menthol refills used in Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro vaporizers, which are sold in the U.S. by BAT subsidiary R.J. Reynolds. According to the agency, Reynolds’ applications presented insufficient evidence to show that the potential benefit to adult smokers outweighs the risks of youth initiation and use.
Prohibition does not work
So many States in the US call for…more of it?
In a recent article by Tobacco Business it lays out the newest 30 bills aimed at vaping and tobacco. From full on bans to raised taxes and limits on nicotine levels this year is shaping up to be more of the same.
Prohibition has already been proven time and time again to only make matters worse. Yet these states are setting their sights on more prohibition, ignoring the data that shows these bills have only created a dangerous and unregulated black market and pushed more vapers back to smoking cigarettes.
On this Day…2022
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….
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