Vapers Digest 3rd January
Friday’s News at a glance:
3 – Summer 2024 Round-up – 4 – Autumn 2024 Round-up – UK Tobacco & Vapes Bill Explained – Most Egregious Statement About Electronic Cigarettes for 2024 – New Study Recommends that FDA Require E-Cigarette Warnings that Mislead People – Will it be a happy new year for people who smoke? – The Ghost of New Year’s Past – Thinking ’bout THR News & Views – DC Attorney General’s Pouch Attack is Built on the Shakiest Foundations – Why nicotine pouches are trending in Africa – THR is the way forward – Trump, Tobacco, and the FDA – Lessons Australia Can Learn from New Zealand – IA Holds Off Enforcement Of Anti-Vaping Legislation – New Survey Reveals Shock New Data About Australian Vapers – Vaping kits to be made free for smokers
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:
3 – Summer 2024 Round-up
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, as Labour takes over from the Conservatives and absolutely nothing changes for vaping. Around the world, things continue to be dominated by negative voices and lies. As if occupying a separate dimension, research news from the UK continues to support vapes as a smoking harm reduction tool.
4 – Autumn 2024 Round-up
Phew! The year to date has seen daft legislation, firebombings, unjustified attacks on vaping and tobacco harm reduction approaches. But Christmas is coming and Father Christmas wants to visit all the good little boys and girls of tobacco control – we must be able to find some to recommend to him, surely? Plus, if you’re keeping track, we reveal the hidden song titles that have peppered our annual review articles.
UK Tobacco & Vapes Bill Explained
Martin Cullip joins for part 1 of our UK special
The UK has announced a mammoth effort to combat tobacco use with its The Tobacco and Vape Bill including the eye-catching generational tobacco ban, which will prevent anyone born after 2009 from ever being able to purchase harmful combustible tobacco products. But with safer nicotine products such as heated tobacco products and snus included in this ban, will tobacco harm reduction efforts be caught in the crossfire? And can this ban even be realistically enforced? Martin Cullip joins us to discuss the generational ban on tobacco products in the UK and many more proposed regulations announced in Part One of our UK special on GFN TV!
According to Wikipedia, Tobacco control “is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes”
How are governments and public health failing?— VapingIT, SPE, EEI (@Vapingit) January 2, 2025
Two from Michael Siegel:
Most Egregious Statements ECigs 2024
Although there was plentiful competition, I have selected as the most egregious statement about electronic cigarettes in 2024 the following communication from the World Health Organization:
“Q: What looks cute, smells good, but is designed to kill? A: A vape!”
This is an award winner because it is the exact opposite of the truth. It could not be more wrong. Electronic cigarettes were not designed to kill people.
New Study Recommends that FDA Require
Warnings that Mislead People into Believing Smoking is Less Harmful than Vaping
A study published in the new issue of the journal Tobacco Control tested a series of new potential warning labels for electronic cigarettes. Currently, the FDA requires that e-cigarettes carry a single warning about the addiction potential of these products. The investigators in this study tested additional types of warnings on 1,629 adult vapers and smokers. The themes of these warnings included: metals exposure, DNA mutation, cardiovascular problems, chemical exposure, lung damage, impaired immunity, and addiction, in addition to the current FDA warning.
Three from Kim “Skip” Murray:
Will it be a happy new year …
For people who smoke?
Today is December 25th. As with most newsletter editions, I’ll work on this for a few days until there’s enough content to publish. In the last newsletter, I hinted that my topic for this one would be New Year’s Resolutions. I will spend the next few days researching to write this and jotting down thoughts. I will wait to publish this until New Year’s Eve day. Due to its length, I plan to publish it as a stand-alone piece.
It’s now December 30th and I have a pile of research notes that I intended to use to write this. They include statistics on how many people make and don’t keep resolutions (most of them), as well as on how many smoke and struggle to maintain a smoke-free life.
The Ghost of New Year’s Past
This is the 2nd day in a row that I want to share my thoughts with you about New Year’s. That will be your first clue that it’s a big deal to me. It is an opportunity for reflection, a fresh start, and a good time to choose what we want to do in the coming months.
I want to share what happened on New Year’s Eve 2021 and what I’ve heard and learned since that fateful night. Some people’s words have not been kind, and some of my thoughts have lacked generosity in considering the intentions of others.
Thinking ’bout THR News & Views
Can the messaging people are exposed to help them stop smoking? Do certain types of messaging encourage quit attempts? Do some result in more or less smoking cessation?
Do some messages have unintended consequences? Does the timing of messaging matter? The SNW team is proud to announce the creation of a new page focusing on the positive outcomes and unintended consequences of messaging.
DC Attorney General’s Pouch Attack
Is Built on the Shakiest Foundations – Joseph Hart
The Attorney General of the District of Columbia is probably a reasonable guy. Sure, his political ideas remind me of women I dated in my early 20s. But I made that work, so I can at least sympathise with Brian Schwalb.
However, as part of the recent ZYN case — where the Philip Morris International brand was fined $1.2 million after allegedly violating the flavoured tobacco and nicotine products ban — he took a giant swing and a miss at nicotine pouches.
The business of smoke-free living:
Why nicotine pouches are trending in Africa
Over the past 20 years, Africa as a whole has witnessed a steady decline in smokers. By 2025, according to Statista, the percentage of African adults smoking cigarettes (and using tobacco through other methods) is expected to decrease to approximately 9%. Much of the decline is believed to be down to better education on the dangers of smoking, rising taxes on tobacco as well as warnings on cigarette packaging. Also, 44 African countries subscribe to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
THR is the way forward
Dr. Mariam Anwar
As a neurosurgeon, I’ve spent years studying the brain’s complexities and treating the detrimental effects of conditions that could have been prevented. One of the most concerning culprits I’ve encountered is smoking, a habit that wreaks havoc on the brain in ways many might not realize.
Beyond its well-documented effects on the lungs and heart, smoking has a profound impact on brain health, accelerating cognitive decline, increasing stroke risk, and contributing to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Trump, Tobacco, and the FDA
Sofia Hamilton
The nation waits with bated breath to see what policies President-elect Donald Trump will champion during his nonsequential second term. Many people will find themselves asking if a second Trump presidency will find more success than the first, and if it will be able to pass the many regulatory and political hurdles set by the Biden administration. When it comes to tobacco policy, the bar is low. Thankfully, there’s only room for this iteration of the Trump administration to improve.
IA Holds Off Enforcement
Of Anti-Vaping Legislation
Iowa has decided to hold off on enforcing new vaping regulations in the state. The decision comes after a group of distributors and retailers filed a lawsuit against the state over House Bill 2677, which requires e-cigarette products to have a “marketing authorization” from the FDA. The lawsuit claims the regulations violate clauses in both the U.S. and Iowa constitutions. The state was supposed to issue a response by Thursday but has asked for an extension. The Department of Revenue will now wait to enforce the law until a judge rules on an injunction request by the plaintiffs.
Vaping and Harm Reduction:
Lessons Australia Can Learn from New Zealand
Smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable deaths worldwide, with millions of lives lost each year to smoking-related illnesses. In Australia, 2.2 million people still smoke despite decades of public health efforts. The urgency to find effective solutions has never been greater.
Meanwhile, New Zealand is emerging as a global leader in tobacco harm reduction, demonstrating that innovative, evidence-based policies can drastically reduce smoking rates. Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s statement
New Survey Reveals Shock New Data
About Australian Vapers – Pippa Starr
The Alive Advocacy Movement recently conducted a detailed survey exploring vaping behaviors, key statistics, and policy implications. This complements existing evidence on vaping as a harm reduction tool for smoking cessation.
Reading between the lines of the survey, it appears that Australian vapers have not only been ignored in regards to the Australian Govt creating poor policy on these products, they have made it without understanding the real demographics of Australian vaping consumers.
Vaping kits to be made free for smokers
A smokefree campaigner is backing the government’s plan to use vaping starter kits to help adults quit smoking.
From next week, the government will supply vaping starter kits to stop-smoking services around the country to help adults quit.
Action for Smokefree 2025 director Ben Youdan said research showed vaping was an effective tool to help people get off cigerettes.
On this Day…2023
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise….
Dr. Colin Mendelsohn, colinmendelsohn.com.au
AFTER TEN YEARS OF ADVOCATING FOR VAPING for tobacco harm reduction, I am stepping away from the field and retiring. This is my last blog.
As a tobacco treatment expert, I was excited when vapes first arrived in Australia. Here at last was a quitting aid that not only delivered nicotine, but also replicated the behavioural and sensory aspects of smoking. And it worked. Many of my patients who had been unable to quit finally succeeded with vaping.
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