Vapers Digest 4th November
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
New Rules In Effect ~ UKVIA Issues Budget Warning ~ IBVTA Responds to the Budget ~ Experts Respond to Vape-Heart Study ~ The Twelve Truths of Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ When Harm Reduction Is Treated as an Incomplete Success ~ Time for a research priorities reset ~ Christian Heiss: Can Switching to E-Cigarettes Improve Vascular Health? ~ FDA Authorises 24 More Nicotine Pouches: What Does It Mean for Smokers? ~ US pouch decision prompts CAPHRA call for regional review ~ Spain is wasting chance to save lives, new smoking survey warns ~ Nicotine pouch bans leave multimillion-pound illegal markets thriving, report finds ~ Beyond Smoking ~ Special Report | Vape bans and tougher rules: the South Caucasus takes different paths
Four From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
New Rules In Effect
New rules governing the sale and supply of vape products came into force at the end of October. The restrictions make it an offence to give away vape and nicotine products through free samples or promotional giveaways where the purpose or effect is to promote the product. Restrictions will also apply to coupons and substantial discounts offered for promotional purposes. These changes will affect how vaping and nicotine products can be sold and promoted in store, with fixed penalty notices applying to these and other offences.
UKVIA Issues Budget Warning
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has warned that the Government risks creating a two-tier vaping retail landscape following last week’s Budget announcement that vape shops in England will be stripped of key business rates reliefs from April 2027.
IBVTA Responds to the Budget
The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) says that, first announced in the summer and confirmed in last week’s budget, the Chancellor has confirmed that business rates supports for pubs and clubs would be funded by removing support for vape shops. The IBVTA says it has “serious concerns” and that “vape stores have become a political punching bag”.
A new research paper published in JAMA Cardiology claims that regular daily nicotine vape use in young adults, who have never smoked combustible tobacco, was associated with lower vascular function and cardiorespiratory fitness. They say the findings highlight the need for longitudinal studies to determine long-term clinical implications. Expert scientists have responded the study’s findings.
Two From Alan Gorley
The Twelve Truths of Tobacco Harm Reduction
A person buys a packet of cigarettes after six weeks without smoking. At their next appointment, they’re asked whether they’re ready to quit.
They were ready six weeks ago. I’d like to know what happened in week seven.
The answer might tell us something about dependence, the cost of an alternative or the support they could get when they needed it. Instead, the encounter may leave us with a single fact on a form. They’re smoking again.
When Harm Reduction Is Treated as an Incomplete Success
This paper has an important idea at its centre, but I think the authors take it one step too far. Smoking cessation and nicotine cessation are not the same thing, and that distinction is correct, useful and worth making. A person can stop smoking while continuing to use nicotine through vaping, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products or medicinal nicotine, and modern cessation research should be precise about which outcome it is measuring. Where I part company with the authors is what follows from that distinction. The paper argues that complete freedom from nicotine dependence, described as “Total Quit”, should be restored as the optimal long-term endpoint where achievable, while non-combustible nicotine use is framed as something that may reduce smoking-related harm but continue dependence.
Time for a research priorities reset
Charles A. Gardner, PhD, Medium
When I served as the Health Attache at the US Embassy in New Delhi, I organized 9–10 research priority-setting meetings every year among Indian and US academic researchers. Today, I believe our tobacco control research priorities are on the wrong track.
Why? I am aware of an unpublished white paper written by a senior expert who I respect, who works in the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). He analyzed all NIH Tobacco Control grants and found that 50% of them focused on children or teens.
Christian Heiss: Can Switching to E-Cigarettes Improve Vascular Health?
Christian Heiss, Hemostasis Today
“Stating the obvious – but worth reinforcing: stopping smoking benefits vascular health.
This systematic review of 23 prospective studies examines two distinct approaches: quitting smoking without switching to e-cigarettes, and replacing combustible cigarettes completely with e-cigarettes.
Quitting was associated with improvements in endothelial function and arterial stiffness.
FDA Authorises 24 More Nicotine Pouches: What Does It Mean for Smokers?
Quit Like Sweden
The latest US decision expands access to alternatives to cigarettes, while raising important questions about how nicotine products should be regulated.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised the marketing of 24 additional nicotine pouches, a welcome development for adults who smoke and are looking for alternatives to cigarettes.
Announced on 30 October, the decision covers VELO nicotine pouches, bringing the total number of FDA authorised nicotine pouches to 67. The new authorisations cover eight product varieties across three packaging configurations, in flavours such as lime, cinnamon and passion fruit and all contain 4 mg of nicotine.
US pouch decision prompts CAPHRA call for regional review
Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA)
CAPHRA is urging Asia-Pacific regulators to assess whether controlled adult access to nicotine pouches could improve health outcomes, following a US decision that weighed adult switching benefits against risks to youth and non-users.
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates wants those assessments and their supporting evidence published.
Spain is wasting chance to save lives, new smoking survey warns
Chaos, waste and failure:
What is wrong with FDA tobacco regulation, and how could it improve?
Clive Bates, The Counterfactual
This is my response to the operational review of the performance of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products by the Reagan-Udall foundation. The heart of the problem is the lack of a coherent regulatory strategy, grounded in real-world understanding
Vape Experts Release White Paper
On WHO ‘guidance’ – CAPHRA
Titled ‘The Subversion of Public Health: Consumer Perspectives’, a white paper presented at the recent Fifth Asia Harm Reduction Forum (AHRF 2022) has now been publicly released.
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