Vapers Digest 4th November

Monday’s News at a glance:

UKVIA Speaks To The Media – Vaper Wellness Survey – A calculated risk – Does vaping do more harm than good?  – How We Practice Tobacco Harm Reduction in Prison – Italy bans online sales of nicotine-containing vapes – France Has Decided to Ban Nicotine Pouches – Emmanuel Macron’s private life doesn’t match his politics – New smoking and vaping cessation guidelines – MLB considers new rules on nicotine pouches – Tobacco/nicotine use falls to 25-year low

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

UKVIA Speaks To The Media

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has been doing a tour of media outlets to tell them about how the forthcoming disposables ban looks from an industry perspective. Director General John Dunne has spoken to BBC Radio Scotland, Times Radio, BBC Three Counties Radio, BBC Radio 5 Live and GB News.

“Bans don’t work; this is going to be a huge burden on Trading Standards, who are already under resourced,” John Dunne told BBC Radio Scotland, continuing by telling listeners that he is concerned the move would sooner benefit organised crime than help reduce youth vaping and the impact on the environment.

Vaper Wellness Survey

Despite notions that e-cigarette users are careless about their mental and physical health, the NHS recommends e-cigarettes as a tool to stop smoking, due to the harmful toxins in traditional cigarettes. Looking at how vapers approach wellness and ‘self-care’, a survey by retailer Vape Superstore finds that most vapers are health-conscious and drink little alcohol.

The NHS states that cigarettes increase anxiety and that adults with depression are much more likely to smoke than adults without depression.

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Does vaping do more harm than good?

Christopher Snowdon

Has vaping backfired? That is the question asked by Sunday Times journalist Tom Calver yesterday. He claims that rising e-cigarette use has left Britain with more nicotine users than it did when the smoking ban was introduced in 2007 and that nearly 40 per cent of 16-24 year olds are “hooked” on nicotine. This, he says, “might just about be tolerable if cigarette smoking rates were quickly falling. But they are not.” He even claims that there are “some signs that the number of young cigarette smokers is ticking back up again”.

Setting aside the question of whether Mr Calver’s view of what is “tolerable” is of any importance, the statistics he cites are striking, but it is difficult to reconcile them with official figures from the Office for National Statistics. The most recent set of ONS figures were published last month and they show that the smoking rate in Great Britain fell last year for the eleventh time in a row.

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A calculated risk

thatgotmethinkingblog

With an election approaching and all the talk of over priced children’s hospitals and bike shelter I though I would take a quick look at how the current gov calculate expenses and income. Just to see how they ‘do the sums’. As an example I am using the proposed 100% excise tax on e-liquid.

Yes, you read that right, 100% in some cases 333%, in others 200%, as this is an excise tax it’s a set amount regardless of the sale price of the product. In this case €500 per litre or €5 per 10 ml. Our clever clogs in the Dep. of finance think this will earn the exchequer an extra €17,000,000 . They claim this is primarily driven by the need to raise finance for the exchequer but my back of a cigarette box calculations raise some questions.

How We Practice THR in Prison…

With No Vapes – Jonathan Kirkpatrick

Harm reduction can always be practiced, regardless of whether you have government approval and specially designed products. I know this is true because I live in a place without either, yet I do it every day.

I’ve been doing it for years here in prison, around drugs and HIV, though it took me a while to internalize that harm reduction was what it was.

Here, there is nothing legal about sexual contact between prisoners, and condoms are considered contraband. People still have sex.

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France Has Banned Nicotine Pouches

Despite Their Known Effectivity For Smoking Cessation

Diane Caruana – Vaping Post

France has announced its intention to ban nicotine pouches, citing concerns over their appeal and potential risks to young people. Health Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq stated in an interview with Le Parisien that the products contain “high doses of nicotine” and are marketed in ways that attract youth. She described the pouches as “dangerous,” especially when used by non-smokers, arguing that they may foster nicotine addiction and serve as a potential entry into smoking. The official announcement of the ban is expected within weeks.

Emmanuel Macron’s private life

Doesn’t match his politics – Jason Reed

At the top of politics, there is an under-discussed link between politicians’ public positions and their private lifestyles. For example, when former British prime minister Boris Johnson became ill with Covid-19, he subsequently blamed being overweight for the fact that his condition had gotten so bad.

“My friends, I was too fat,” he said at the time.1 He then lost weight. It wasn’t long before his government unveiled a raft of new anti-obesity policies.2

Italy bans online sales of …

Nicotine-containing vapes – Ali Anderson

Italy is to ban online sales of nicotine-containing products including vapes from January 2025. The decree, announced by Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti, means consumers will only be able to legally buy vapes from retail outlets and tobacconists.

It comes after three major tobacco associations in Italy requested the ban at a financial committee hearing in September.

New smoking and vaping guidelines

Lynnette Hoffman

An updated January 2024 Cochrane Review found high certainty evidence that quit rates are significantly higher with nicotine E-cigarettes or vapes, compared with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

The RACGP expert advisory group on smoking cessation reanalysed the Cochrane review’s evidence with the help of an external group, and subsequently changed its rating of the certainty of the evidence from ‘low’ to ‘moderate.’ The RACGP attributed the discrepancy between its rating and the Cochrane’s rating to “a different assessment of the risk of bias.”

MLB considers new rules on pouches

Christopher Oldcorn

Major League Baseball (MLB) is considering introducing new restrictions on nicotine pouches, a popular product among players, for the upcoming 2025 season.

Nicotine pouches, small white sachets similar to snuff and often sold by brands like Zyn, contain only nicotine and come in various flavours.

Unlike traditional tobacco products, including chewing tobacco, nicotine pouches are not banned in MLB.

Tobacco/nicotine use falls to 25-year low

Hans Bader

Only 8% of U.S. teens report using tobacco or nicotine products — the lowest rate since 1999, according to data released on October 17 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This debunks fears that tobacco/nicotine use would rise due to the popularity of products like flavored e-cigarettes among kids.

Rates of use are similar for both male and female students, but males are more likely to use multiple kinds of tobacco products. As Axios reports,

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On this Day…2023

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

Knives out for nicotine pouches

Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist

Swedish MEP Charlie Weimars has blown the whistle on the EU’s plan to ban nicotine pouches. In a tweet (translated below), he provides a screenshot from a leaked report that crossed his desk.

The EU just can’t help itself. Nicotine pouches contain no tobacco and are surely the safest recreational delivery devices ever invented. The European Commission claims that the “growing popularity of nicotine pouches raises serious public health concerns and represents an increasing challenge for the internal market”. This is nonsense. The public health impact of these products is positive and the internal market is irrelevant, as the snus carve out for Sweden shows.

Harry’s blog 122:

Tobacco harm reduction is a human rights issue

A guiding principle of the World Health Organization (WHO) established in 1948, was the universal right to health. Although not expressed in these terms, the implication is that nobody gets left behind even if behaviours which potentially threaten health like illegal drug use and unprotected sex meet with societal disapproval.

This is the principle of harm reduction and has been accepted by the WHO for example, in designating methadone as an essential medicine to treat heroin addiction and in encouraging the use of condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS especially between men. Tobacco harm reduction using safer nicotine products is an equally valid approach in helping to protect the health of these and other vulnerable and marginalised groups.

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