Vapers Digest 30th December

Monday’s News at a glance:

1 – Winter 2024 Round-up – 2 – Spring 2024 Round-up – Top Ten Ridiculous E-Cigarettes Cause Popcorn Lung Claims of 2024 – Economists Document the Harms of Vapor Bans – “Quit Our Way or Die” – Thinking ’bout THR Awareness Days – Thinking ’bout THR Opportunities – Thinking ’bout THR News & Views – FDA’s Latest Attempt to Ban Flavored Vapes – Could the FDA’s Approach to Vaping Cause an Increase in Smoking? – Tobacco Report Prioritizes Stubborn Ideology Over Public Health – Surgeon General Report Misses Opportunity for Much-Needed FDA Reform – 2024: A Year of Progress and Challenges in THR – Bangladesh at a Crossroads:

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

1 – Winter 2024 Round-up

Every year we look back at the year gone by over the Christmas and New Year period – and, well, “hasn’t it been eventful?” is probably the politest way of referring to 2024. The first quarter picked up where 2023 left off and promised a pretty awful year for vapers, the industry and added to smokers’ fears that vaping was something to worry about more than smoking.

2 – Spring 2024 Round-up

In any regular year, Part 1 of our round-up would have finished at the end of March, but we were so inundated with major news it barely covers to the end of February. This article begins in the period where the Conservatives thought it would be a great idea to hit vapers and dissuade smokers switching by placing a ludicrous tax on eliquids.

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The Rest of the Story: Michael Siegel

Top Ten Ridiculous E-Cigarettes Cause Popcorn Lung Claims of 2024

Perhaps the most misleading and damaging claim that is still being made about e-cigarette use in 2024 is the contention that vaping e-cigarettes causes bronchiolitis obliterans, or “popcorn lung,” which is a severe lung disease characterized by inflammation and scarring in the deepest airways of the lung. The most recent iteration of this fallacious claim appears to have originated, at least in part, from a widely-cited 2016 American Lung Association article entitled “Popcorn Lung: A Dangerous Risk of Flavored E-Cigarettes.”

The Top 12 Most Irresponsible Statements About Vaping by Health Groups in 2024

Of all the false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes being made by health groups, there are two types of claims that I find inexcusable and severely damaging because they obscure public knowledge at a very basic level: understanding the difference between smoking and vaping. Both of these claims inform the public that electronic cigarettes are simply another form of smoking or another form of tobacco use. Both claims incorrectly assert that e-cigarettes contain tobacco.

“Quit Our Way or Die”: Lifestyle Control in the Modern-Day Tobacco Control Movement

There is strong evidence that smokers who switch to e-cigarettes completely are more likely to succeed in quitting than smokers who use nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). There is similar evidence that smokers who try to quit using e-cigarettes are more successful than those who utilize smoking cessation counseling. In fact, the difference in effectiveness between the use of daily e-cigarettes and the use of nicotine replacement therapy is large: there is about a 2-fold difference. In other words, smokers who try to quit by switching completely to vaping are twice as likely to succeed than those who try to quit by using nicotine replacement therapy.

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Economists Document the Harms of Bans

Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth

Throughout my tobacco research career I have found conventional public health professionals inflexibly intolerant of tobacco harm reduction. So I have worked with talented economists who are doctrinal agnostics. That is, they are driven by data and evidence.

And the evidence increasingly shows the damage of vapor bans. In this guest post, Clive Bates highlights the findings of recent studies by economists.

UK TAKES A STEP BACK IN 2024

Michelle Jones gives us her New Year’s Wishes

Has the UK lost some of its THR credibility in 2024? Michelle Jones joins us to recap a year of massive change in the UK, and gives us her New Year’s Wishes for 2025!

Charles A. Gardner, PhD’s Post

End of 2024 thoughts: After 25 years in global health I had over 2,000 LinkedIn followers. Five years ago, I switched to tobacco control and began to share evidence supporting harm reduction. Within months, I had only 1,000 followers. If you have read my posts you will see this: All I do is say (a) here is what CDC or NIH surveys actually show, but (b) here is what the public is being told, and these are two very different things. As the year ends, I pause and reflect on that. I do NOT wear a tin foil hat.

Three from Kim Murray:

Thinking ’bout THR Awareness Days

Below is a list of awareness days for January. Many of these might be specific to the US, as that is where I am located and the direction Google seems to point me in.

Awareness events provide an important reminder that our work is not done. While it is crucial to continue our efforts to prevent youth initiation of adult substances, it is also vital to continue helping people stop smoking or switch to safer alternatives.

Thinking ’bout THR Opportunities

You can quickly find updates since the last edition by looking for “*NEW*.

I create these newsletters as a personal project. They are not affiliated with any current or past employers or groups I do volunteer work with. I receive no financial compensation for my efforts to create these newsletters.

Thinking ’bout THR News & Views

Some people think because I’m AuDHD (Autistic +ADHD) that I have some magical superpowers. I don’t. I am like all people. I have strengths and weaknesses. There’s nothing magical about using what we’re good at to the best of our abilities and working on gaining skills in areas we feel are a weakness.

But let’s say for a minute I did, and I could do amazing things in the nicotine space with them. What would I do?

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Response to the FDA’s Latest Attempt

To Ban Flavored Vapes Via Import “Red List” – VTA

Over the past few days, the Biden Administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, specifically, Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), put their dire and total incompetence on display by quietly releasing a series of unclear and contradictory import red lists (Import Alert 96-06 and 96-07). These “alerts,” released just days before Christmas to hide their scheme, are a clear last ditch effort by CTP Director Brian King and the Biden Administration to use their waning days of power to ban flavored vaping products, effectively shutting down tens of thousands of small businesses and sabotaging President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to save flavored vaping.

Is the War on Flavored Vapes in Its Final Stretch? – CATO

Could the FDA’s Approach to Vaping

Cause an Increase in Smoking? – Jonathan H. Adler

In early December, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Food and Drug Administration v. Wages and White Lion Investments, a challenge to the FDA’s denial of marketing approval for flavored vaping products. The specific question before the Court is whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit correctly concluded that the FDA’s denial of specific vaping product applications was arbitrary and capricious. Among other things, the FDA is accused of a bait-and-switch in evaluating vaping product applications, applying different standards to product applications than it had said it would apply.

Report Prioritizes Stubborn Ideology

Over Public Health – Martin Cullip

As the introduction to its recently released report rightfully and proudly states, “the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health (in 1964) was a landmark first step to diminish the impact of tobacco use on the health of the American people.” Sadly, its latest update (the 35th) is extraordinarily poor by comparison and driven by ignorance and dogma rather than a care for American public health.

The surgeon general’s report, supposedly on health disparities related to tobacco use, is a troubling example of ideology overtaking evidence-based public health policy.

Surgeon General Misses Opportunity

For Much-Needed FDA Reform – Matt Holman

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently released a report entitled “Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities” on the disproportionate impact cigarette smoking has on certain communities and the associated public health implications. The report noted the laudable decreases in smoking rates, but also found that some 36 million adults continue to smoke combustible tobacco products – including cigarettes, cigars, and other smoked products – and that smoking and secondhand smoke combined cause nearly half a million American deaths every year. This reinforces two facts – we have made tremendous progress, but work remains to be done.

2024: A Year of Progress and Challenges

In Tobacco Harm Reduction

2024 saw positive trends in smoking reduction, with vaping continuing to play a significant role in helping individuals quit smoking. Ongoing technological advancements in vaping products, coupled with evidence-based regulatory measures in some countries, aim to maximise the benefits of vaping as a harm-reduction tool while addressing associated risks. However, global progress remains hindered by misinformation and resistance from organisations like the World Health Organisation, which continue to oppose harm-reduction strategies. Despite these challenges, countries with progressive policies, such as Sweden, Japan, and New Zealand, provide hope for a future where effective tobacco control embraces innovation and reduces smoking-related harm on a global scale.

Bangladesh at a Crossroads:

The Case Against Banning Vaping and Nicotine Pouches

As the Director of the World Vapers’ Alliance, I recently addressed an urgent letter to the Ministry of Health in Bangladesh regarding their proposed Tobacco Control Act. This act, which includes a full ban on vaping and nicotine pouches, could have severe implications for public health in the country. Here’s why this proposal is concerning and what Bangladesh should consider instead.

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On this Day…2023

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

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

The Great POTV 2023 Round-up Part 1

2023 has been a monumental one for the world of vape as big business tightened its grip, science supporting vaping became stronger than ever, and disposable companies worked to mess it all up. Advocates have spent most of the year fighting a rear guard action but, as Planet of the Vapes predicted in 2022, this year was going to be one where a war was going to be waged on disposable single-use vapes.

In the beginning: The first story of the year covered how the supermarket Waitrose had delisted all disposable vape products from its stores. Despite having had a miserable financial time of it, executives chose to “do the right thing” over gaining income from selling the fast-moving consumer products.

The Great POTV 2023 Round-up Part 2

Oh yes, January to March was a pretty thrilling ride, but wait, it has nothing on the second quarter. April to June on Planet of the Vapes was a period that experts are now calling late spring to early summer. Our coverage literally had people sitting on the edge of their seats. Maybe they should increase the font size on their screens so they can sit more comfortably? Anyway, let’s look at what happened in the world of vape…

Bad Ads: Elfbar is on a mission. Fresh from embarrassing the industry by supplying illegal vapes to major national supermarket chains, it then got publicly rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for breaching the advertising code on TikTok – for the second (yet not last) time this year.

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