Vapers Digest 2nd October
Monday’s News at a glance:
ETHRA September News roundup – Restricting Vape Flavours Increases Cigarette Sales! – American Lung Association – With Over 20 Million Adult U.S. Vapers – Disposables Paper Welcomed – Parliament – Disposable vapes ban ‘will hamper efforts to cut cigarette smoking’ – Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice – Do respiratory physicians not care? – Dramatic Reductions in Cigarette Smoking Prevalence – Useful Idiots | Misguided Assumptions Leave Vapers Ignored – GFN.TV Interviews | Top Researcher Says E-Cigs Are Game Changer
ETHRA September News roundup
European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates
ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: EU COP10 position & ETHRA letter – Alternative reading list for #COP10 delegates – Gateway myth busted – Flavour bans increase smoking – Expert advice for COP10 delegates – Belgium bans pouches – Country updates. Read on for more
Restricting Vape Flavours ….
Increases Cigarette Sales! – Michelle, ECigClick
A new research paper has been published titled “E-cigarette Flavor Restrictions’ Effects on Tobacco Product Sales“. You can view the full paper here.
In the US over 375 localities and 7 States have permanent restrictions on flavoured Vapes (ENDS = Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems).
The study was proposed to investigate whether tobacco sales increased in areas where flavoured vapes were banned / restricted.
Data was collated by using the IRI (Information Resources Incorporated) retail sales figures on vapes and cigarettes. These figures cover 44 states from January 2018 up to March 2023.
American Lung Association
Seeks to Suppress Harm Reduction Information
Kim “Skip” Murray – FilterMag
The American Lung Association, as you would expect, is eager to point out the dangers of cigarettes. It wants to create a “tobacco-free future.” It also constantly reminds regulators, journalists and the public of how Big Tobacco lied about smoking.
It’s ironic, then, that this public health nonprofit appears to be comfortable with committing the very same sin: lying to people about information that could be critical to their health.
Its hypocrisy concerns—as many of us, unfortunately, have also come to expect—tobacco harm reduction. The website of the American Lung Association (ALA) is peppered with false and debunked information designed to exaggerate or invent risks of vaping.
A secret report that will be presented to EU’s member states this week, there are two notable writings : ( 1) praise for how successful the snus ban has been and (2) a recommendation that the EU should extend the snus ban to the tobacco-free white snus (nicotine portions) https://t.co/LJ74RDCnBc
— European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (@europethra) October 2, 2023
Confidential document distributed by…
Commission’s consultant recommends a ban on nicotine pouches.
According to a post by MEP Charlie Weimers on X, there is a proposal to extend the ban on snus to nicotine pouches in a leaked version of a document sent out to member states by the European Commission’s consultant on the TPD. This document was circulated to member states in anticipation of a workshop evaluating the effectiveness of EU tobacco legislation, known as the tobacco control acquis.
The paper proposes to extend the existing ban on snus to encompass nicotine pouches, marking a pivotal development in the ongoing discussion around tobacco regulation within the EU and completely preempting the discussion on nicotine pouches that is presently being regulated in a far more balanced way in most member states that have chosen to act in absence of EU rules.
With Over 20 Million Adult U.S. Vapers
Now Is Time for Federal Agencies to Recognize Harm Reduction
Lindsey Stroud
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Systems (BRFSS) survey. The annual survey measures various lifestyle indicators among adults aged 18 and over including demographics (including age and race), dietary and physical activities, substance use, combustible cigarette, and vapor product use.
In 2022 (according to the BRFSS), 7.7 percent of U.S. adults were currently using e-cigarettes amounting to nearly 20.1 million adults vaping that year. This is a 15 percent increase from 2021 when 6.7 percent of adults vaped and amounts to more than 2.7 million additional adult vapers in 2022 than in 2021
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
Disposables Paper Welcomed
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has welcomed a new briefing paper from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) which warns that a disposable vape ban could deter adult smokers from quitting while doing little to stop underage vaping.
The paper, A Vapid Solution: Why banning disposable e-cigarettes would be a failure of law-enforcement says the government should instead enforce existing laws against underage vaping.
It says vaping has helped millions of people quit smoking and a ban on disposable e-cigarettes would take away that safer choice.
Parliament
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil O’Brien fields questions from Labour’s Margaret Greenwood and the Conservative’s Mark Pawsey in the House of Commons. Questions focussed on who is vaping, the impact of e-cigarette use, what financial burden is imposed on the NHS and whether increasing the fines on illegal sales is in the pipeline.
Wirral West’s Margaret Greenwood asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what recent estimate has been made of the number of people under and over the age of 18 who vape in the Wirral and across England.
Disposable vapes ban
‘will hamper efforts to cut cigarette smoking’- Will Hazell
Efforts to cut cigarette smoking will be hampered by a ban on disposal vapes that is expected to be announced imminently, the Government has been warned.
The vaping industry is braced for an announcement at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester that single-use vapes will be outlawed as part of a drive to stop children from becoming addicted to the devices.
In May, Rishi Sunak voiced concerns concerns that products were being marketed at young children using bright colours and novelty flavours. (Alternative Link)
Petition: Don’t implement a ban on disposable vapes
Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice
Accepts unconstitutionality lawsuit – World Vapers’ Alliance
Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice accepts the unconstitutionality lawsuit against Law 315 of 2022 that banned the use, importation and commercialisation of electronic nicotine delivery systems, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, in Panama. The lawsuit was filed by the Panamanian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ARDTP) and joined by the Association of Smokers and Family Members for a Smoke-Free Panama (AFFP) and the Medical Cannabis Association of Panama (ACAPAN). Through the lawsuit, the associations requested the declaration of Law 315 as unconstitutional for violating the right to health of smokers in the country.
Do respiratory physicians not care…
About people who smoke?
At a recent debate in Swansea, delegates at the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research did not vote in support of the motion that ‘Vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking and should be promoted as a useful public health strategy’. The majority vote appeared to suggest that concern for adults who smoke was outweighed by the unknown risks of vaping and the increase in the rates of young people trying vaping.1 Between 8 May and 17 May, 2023, we undertook a rapid survey of respiratory consultants and specialist registrars across Wales to explore whether the debate outcome was either a reflection of the particular audience or a clinical view shared more widely.
Dramatic Reductions in Cigarette Smoking
Prevalence among High School Youth from 1991 to 2022 Unlikely to Have Been Undermined by E-Cigarettes
Cristine D. Delnevo, Andrea C. Villanti
There is concern that youth e-cigarette use could lead youth to initiate cigarette smoking. This study identifies epochs of cigarette smoking among U.S. high school students in three commonly utilized national school-based surveys over three decades without a priori assumptions. We examined trends in ever and current cigarette smoking among high school youth from 1991 to 2022 in three datasets: Monitoring the Future (MTF), the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (NYRBS) and the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) via Joinpoint regression
Useful Idiots
Misguided Assumptions Leave Vapers Ignored | RegWatch
Reporting from the Global Forum on Nicotine 2023 in Warsaw, Poland, RegWatch takes a deep dive into the machinations of tobacco control and its global effort to eradicate nicotine vapes and other safer nicotine products.
Featuring part two* of our interview with journalist and global THR consumer activist Samrat Chowdhery, we unpack the misguided assumption that nicotine vaping advocates are pawns of big tobacco, and we discuss how the United States and other western countries have a responsibility to correct the record on vaping.
GFN.TV Interviews | DISPARATE SCIENCE
Top Researcher Says E-Cigs Are Game Changer
There is too much emotion driving public policy on e-cigarettes, says leading tobacco control researcher Dr. Jasjit Ahluwalia. A physician, public health scientist, and professor at Brown University’s Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Dr. Ahluwalia has deep experience researching health disparities and smoking cessation and nicotine addiction in African-American smokers. He has been continuously funded by the NIH for 25 years and has published over 400 manuscripts. Hear his assessment on the efficacy and relative safety of e-cigarettes and other safer nicotine products.
On this Day…2022
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
Rethinking U.S. tobacco and nicotine…
Regulation (Part 1) – Clive Bates
A fundamental rethink of U.S. regulation of reduced-risk products is now essential and urgent. This introductory post looks at a set of 11 possible principles that could guide a revised regulatory framework. Readers’ views are solicited.
Here is a proposal to reshape U.S. regulation of reduced-risk tobacco products:
A science-based regulatory framework for implementing tobacco harm reduction should conform to the following 11 principles:
ETHRA September News Roundup
European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates
ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: ETHRA & partners respond to NL flavour ban – Vaping in England evidence update – Policy paper supports tobacco harm reduction – Australia’s prescription only vapes is a spectacular policy failure – Country updates. Read on for more.
EU NEWS – GLOBAL CONSUMER ADVOCACY NEWS – COUNTRY UPDATES – ETHRA NEWS – MUST READ
Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World
