Vapers Digest 28th April

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

Achieving a Smoke-Free 2030 ~ European policymakers are starting to see the light ~ Federal Bill Aims to Tax Vapes as Much as Cigarettes ~ PMTA Confusion: Vape Companies Misled by FDA ~ Tripling The E-liquid Tax ~ High Nic E-liquids Help ~ UKVIA Vaping Industry Logistics Survey ~ Positioning Smokeless Tobacco ~ A practical solution to the Asian smoking scourge ~ UK’s early investment in alternative nicotine technologies is earning country £800m windfall every year, new report shows ~ Rhode Island Should Focus on Tobacco Harm Reduction, Not E-Cigarette Flavor Bans

Achieving a Smoke-Free 2030

All Party Parliamentary Group For Vaping, APPG

Purpose of the Inquiry

This APPG inquiry will consider the opportunities the UK’s exit from the EU presents for devising new UK legislation for vaping products and other reduced risk nicotine delivery systems post-Brexit.

The intention is to propose regulatory divergence from the EU to ensure that UK legislation aligns with the Government’s position on tobacco harm reduction, improves public health, and strengthens the UK’s standing as the world’s most progressive nation on tobacco harm reduction.

European policymakers are starting to see the light

World Vapers Alliance

Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, a Member of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer and former oncologist, agrees that vaping is less harmful than tobacco. This is excellent news.

It is very encouraging to see that European policymakers who have a say in how vaping is regulated are beginning to listen to the scientific community and to consumers. It is proof that vapers’ voices are starting to be heard.

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Federal Bill Aims to Tax Vapes as Much as Cigarettes

Alex Norcia, Filter Magazine

On April 22, high-ranking Democratic legislators introduced a bicameral bill that would create the country’s first federal vaping tax.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin—perhaps the most prominent longtime anti-smoking advocate in Congress—joined forces with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who over the past few years has become one of the vaping industry’s fiercest opponents.

PMTA Confusion: Vape Companies Misled by FDA

Jim McDonald, Vaping 360

Some small vaping manufacturers are being misled by FDA employees regarding the final date on which they can sell products legally. The misunderstanding doesn’t seem to involve outright deception, but may nevertheless lead to unwelcome surprises for many when the current one-year grace period ends in September.

Many small business owners believe they’ve been told by the FDA that they have an additional year to sell their products, according to a lawyer who represents many vaping industry clients. But that isn’t true.

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THREE from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes

Tripling The E-liquid Tax

The German Government plans to triple the price of vaping liquids and the World Vapers’ Alliance says this will have a “catastrophic effect”. Introspective policies such as this ignore the experience of other nations such as Italy where ex-smokers were forced back to tobacco use until the politicians saw sense.

High Nic E-liquids Help

Europe placed an evidence-free, arbitrary cap on the volume of nicotine in e-liquid. Latest evidence shows higher nic levels work and reduce carcinogen exposure. The findings come as the UK government is considering what changes need to be made to vape legislation and brings to mind the sage words of the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) in 2016.

UKVIA Vaping Industry Logistics Survey

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) launched an online logistics survey for the vaping industry on Monday 26 April. The Association is concerned about a growing number of reports from different distribution companies who have stopped carrying shipments of vaping products for various reasons.

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Positioning Smokeless Tobacco

Thomas Mulloy, CStore Decisions

Smokeless sales, driven by the spitless segment, are trending up at convenience stores with help from ongoing innovation in the segment.

Dollar sales in the convenience channel rose 8.9% for the 52 weeks ending Feb. 27, 2021, totaling $7.37 billion, up from $6.77 billion for the previous year, according to data from NielsenIQ. Unit sales for the same period rolled in flat (0.8%), a dip of 0.1% over the previous year.

A practical solution to the Asian smoking scourge

24 Share Updates

Asia accounts for the majority of the world’s smokers and also for the most deaths related to the smoking epidemic which remains unabated. Asian smokers, bereft of options, are sprinting—into the abyss.

The region is home to 4.1 billion people, representing two-thirds of the global population, according to the United Nations estimates

UK’s early investment in alternative nicotine technologies

is earning country £800m windfall every year, new report shows

Fiona Briggs, Retail Times

The vaping sector supports nearly 18,000 jobs in the retail supply chain and is contributing £805 million per annum to UK GDP, as the UK reaps the benefits of its far-sighted investment in vaping and other alternative nicotine products, according to a new report.

Alternative nicotine products – including vaping products (i.e. e-cigarettes), tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches and tobacco heating products – deliver nicotine without the need to burn tobacco, making them potentially less risky than traditional combustible tobacco products.

Rhode Island Should Focus on Tobacco Harm Reduction, Not E-Cigarette Flavor Bans

Guy Bentley, Reason Foundation

For a time in 2019, the U.S. media was flooded with reports suggesting people were suffering vaping-related lung injuries. But there were reasons to doubt these claims. Although e-cigarettes had already been on the market for over a decade, never before had there been an outbreak of injuries and deaths resulting from the use of these devices. Additionally, there weren’t claims of similar outbreaks in other countries where e-cigarettes were also widely used, such as the United Kingdom.

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On this Day…2017

Deception through omission

Or lying while staying accurate – RaithTech

Or, how to lie like a tobacco controller.

So, something I’ve noticed recently is an uptick in the number of ‘accurate’ but highly misleading claims being made by those who purport to be against tobacco harm. This normally takes the turn of stating an fact, but utterly removing the context.

Here are some examples….

Small-town America

Takes on FDA over e-cigarette regulations

Kathy Hoekstra – Washington Examiner

Lou Ritter wants to see people stop dying from smoking cigarettes.

“I want to see people have the same opportunities to get away from tobacco that I had. And see if we can advance harm reduction,” he told the Hartland, Wis., Board of Trustees Thursday night.

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