Vapers Digest 4th August
Monday’s News at a glance:
Experts Respond to Mental Health Claims – expert reaction to observational study looking at rates of depression and anxiety in teens who smoke and vape – How easily we forget about cigarette deaths. – A full guide to vape aerosols: Post 8, environmental aerosols (part 1) – Japan’s shift to heated tobacco linked to drop in smoking — studies – New Tobacco Bill is a death sentence, lobby warns – The ABC Is Not Asking Questions — It’s Taking Sides on Vaping – No smokes without fire in Australia – Does Trump Intend to Keep His Promise to Save Vaping? – Debate over vape and smoke shops sparks Aurora ‘unsavory’ zoning debate – Portugal opposes EU proposals on tobacco taxes – What’s So Bad About Nicotine? – Evaluating WHO tobacco harm reduction science – Panel Discussion | #GFN25
Experts Respond to Mental Health Claims
Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Young people who use vapes or tobacco products are “significantly” more likely to say they suffer from depression and anxiety according to researchers at West Virginia University. The study, published in the journal PLOS Mental Health, claims that teen vapers have a higher risk of depression and anxiety, while dual users had the highest chance of reporting mental health problems. Experts at British institutions have responded to the claims.
expert reaction to observational study looking at rates of depression and anxiety in teens who smoke and vape
Prof Peter Hajek, Prof Stella Chan, Dr Jasmine Khouja, Dr Johnathan Livingstone-Banks, Dr Lion Shahab, Science Media Centre
An observational study published in PLOS Mental Health looks at mental health outcomes in teens who smoke or use e-cigarettes.
How easily we forget about cigarette deaths.
Richard, Substack
Humans do not understand risk, not on an intuitive level, nor for most people, even on a logical level. A risk that causes deaths every day is often underestimated, becoming ‘normal’ and thus uninteresting. However, a small risk that is unlikely, but just about possible, is ‘interesting’ and people naturally want to avoid being eaten by a tiger. Overreacting to a shadow is not a huge cost, and being eaten by a tiger is the end. That could explain the issue: being blind to everyday risks, but overly sensitive to unknowns. Maybe that helps you be eaten less?
A full guide to vape aerosols: Post 8, environmental aerosols (part 1)
Roberto Sussman, Roberto’s Substack
This is the 8th Substack post, the first of a series of 3 posts describing the environmental vaping aerosols that users release to the surrounding air when they exhale. Since exhaled vape aerosols expose bystanders and non-users, it is important to understand and analyze their properties, to compare with inhaled aerosol, environmental tobacco smoke and other pollutants. Al this is needed to provide knowledge to asses objectively risks to bystanders. Without being “experts” this knowledge reassures our confidence on the role of vapes in harm reduction and serves us to counter ignorant and malicious disinformation.
Japan’s shift to heated tobacco linked to drop in smoking — studies
Jan Escosio, Inquirer
A growing body of evidence from Japan suggests that heated tobacco products (HTPs) are playing a significant role in the dramatic decline in cigarette use across the country.
A peer-reviewed study published in Tobacco Control in October 2024, titled “Transformation of the Tobacco Product Market in Japan, 2011–2023,” reported that per capita and total cigarette sales in Japan dropped by more than 50 percent between 2011 and 2023.
New Tobacco Bill is a death sentence, lobby warns
Star
Although the Senate Health Committee is yet to table its report on the bill, it is said to support capping nicotine levels and restricting flavours in nicotine products.
CASA warns that such restrictions contradict international evidence and real-world success stories from countries such as the UK and Sweden, where safer alternatives have helped drastically cut smoking rates.
The ABC Is Not Asking Questions — It’s Taking Sides on Vaping
Alan Gor, Australia Let’s Improve Vaping Education (A.L.I.V.E.)
As Australia suffers the predictable fallout of its aggressive anti-vaping policies from skyrocketing youth smoking to flourishing black markets, one voice is conspicuously absent from the conversation: the national broadcaster. The ABC, supposedly an independent pillar of journalism funded by the Australian people, has abandoned neutrality and joined the prohibitionist camp.
Instead of holding the government to account, the ABC appears committed to reinforcing a single, unchallenged narrative, one that aligns closely with the ideological views of the Department of Health and its favoured academics. It’s a dangerous dereliction of journalistic duty.
No smokes without fire in Australia
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
Australia saw another two murders in its ongoing nicotine wars last week and the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has finally had enough.
Australia’s illegal tobacco problem has made the proverbial transition from tragedy to farce.
Illicit, excise-evading cigarettes now comprise half of the cancer-inducing products sold to Australia’s 2.7 million smokers. …
In the past couple of years, there have been 125 firebombings of tobacco shops in Victoria, and another 50 or so in other states — the most recent last week in Corrimal, NSW.
Does Trump Intend to Keep His Promise to Save Vaping?
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
Recent comments from Trump administration health officials have added to confusion over President Trump’s policy on vaping and nicotine. While Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week promised “fast-tracked approvals” of vaping products, his subordinate leading the FDA has shown no apparent interest in carrying out such a plan, and urged that the FDA’s war against “illegal products” be expanded to vape shops.
At this point, many in the independent vaping industry who believed in and supported Trump are quietly questioning whether the President intends to keep his campaign promise to “save vaping.”
Debate over vape and smoke shops sparks Aurora ‘unsavory’ zoning debate
Cassandra Ballard, Sentinel
A proposal to ban the opening of new vape and smoke shops for six months was narrowly defeated at the most recent city council meeting, but the debate it sparked revealed the challenges that council members might face in defining and enforcing zoning strategies aimed at reducing crime and urban decay.
Councilmember Alison Coombs sponsored the moratorium to put a six-month halt on new vape and smoke shops in order to allow the city time to assess a response to the growing concerns about the public health, safety and crime implications of these retailers.
Portugal opposes EU proposals on tobacco taxes
Sarantis Michalopoulos, Euractiv
The Portuguese government has issued a statement expressing reservations about both the European Commission’s proposal to revise EU tobacco legislation and its plan to impose an additional tax to generate revenue for the next long-term budget.
Earlier this month, the Commission unveiled a €2 trillion budget proposal for the 2028–2034 period and introduced five new “own resources” revenue streams intended to fund the EU budget directly. One of these is a 15% levy called the Tobacco Excise Duty Own Resource (TEDOR).
Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic
For the better part of the past century, the case against nicotine was simple: Smoking a cigarette might feel nice, but it will eventually kill you. Nearly one in five deaths in the United States is caused by complications from cigarette smoke. Chewing tobacco is less dangerous, but still deadly: It has long been associated with head and neck cancers.
But in 2025, nicotine isn’t so straightforward. Smoking is so deadly not because of nicotine, per se, but because of tobacco: Lighting a cigarette burns tobacco, releasing nicotine into the body. Chewing tobacco entails gnawing on actual tobacco leaves. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to get a nicotine buzz without any tobacco at all: Just puff on a vape or pop a tiny nicotine pouch between your teeth and upper lip.
Evaluating WHO tobacco harm reduction science – Panel Discussion | #GFN25
Global Forum on Nicotine
In social media posts, official speeches, press releases and memorandums, WHO has repeatedly made claims which appear to contradict the evidence available, and which conflict with statements made by reputable public health institutions. Simply condemning the WHO’s science on tobacco harm reduction is not going to shift the dial. The panel will investigate the WHO’s science on THR, and address the organisation’s concerns, bringing objectivity and evidence to bear.
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
The WHO’s COP10 Takedown…
Of Tobacco Harm Reduction Takes Shape – Martin Cullip
Storm clouds continue to gather over the global future of tobacco harm reduction. New harbingers are constantly emerging as the World Health Organization prepares for the 10th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This is a treaty signed and ratified by 182 countries, originally drafted to tackle the harms of tobacco smoke.
The WHO releases new report on….
The ‘tobacco epidemic’ and how to maintain it – COPWatch
The World Health Organization released the 9th edition of its Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic on the last day of July. The 8th edition, published in 2021, did not mention tobacco until page 9, instead beginning with “Electronic N
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