Vapers Digest 5th July
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Breaking Ground in Medical Vaping: UK vs USA ~ Health Experts Ignored as Health Minister Mark Butler’s Addiction to Tobacco Taxes Exposed ~ The desperation, rage and panic of being a vaper in Australia – one vaper’s story ~ ‘Not working’: Doctor questions vape ban ~ Vaping ban likely to fuel black market: emails reveal drug advisory group’s fears ~ Consumers Congregate at Conference ~ GFN23: Day 2 ~ Professor Gerry Stimson Receives Award ~ ETHRA June News roundup ~ Pod Wars! Juul Sues NJOY for Patent Infringement ~ Woman in disbelief after seeing squirrel vaping in tree
Breaking Ground in Medical Vaping: UK vs USA
Dr Colin Mendelsohn, ColinMendelsohn.com.au
VAPING IN AUSTRALIA has been a harrowing and unpredictable roller coaster ride in Australia. Bullied and terrorised by successive Health Ministers, many vapers feel like collateral damage in an ideological war. One vaper pulls no punches and tells her heart-wrenching story.
Born into a family of intergenerational cigarette smokers, I was always surrounded by adults smoking indoors throughout my childhood. Aged fourteen, I tried my first cigarette ‘behind the shelter shed’ at high school. I soon began buying my own cigarettes (I had a teenage job). I’d conceal my habit from adults, ignorantly thinking my family and teachers couldn’t smell smoke on my clothes.
"The ridiculous proposal to further strengthen an already failed ban on #vaping makes no sense — even among public health experts.
Cracks are appearing in the public health lobby’s support for new bans on vaping"Full article below ⤵️
Via @CroakeyNews https://t.co/bLdnetyTD1…— Dr Colin Mendelsohn (@ColinMendelsohn) July 5, 2023
‘Not working’: Doctor questions vape ban
Dr Colin Mendelsohn has challenged the existing vape ban, as he discusses the repercussions of a ban.
He argued that vaping helps smokers transition away from cigarettes, and a ban is simply contributing to a “thriving black market”.
Dr Mendelsohn strongly emphasised the ineffectiveness of the existing licensed regulated model.
Vaping ban likely to fuel black market: emails reveal drug advisory group’s fears
Natassia Chrysanthos, The Sydney Morning Herald
Australia’s world-first blanket ban on vaping without a prescription will make the problem worse, according to experts from the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, who debated how to warn the health minister about their misgivings in emails published under freedom of information.
Private correspondence among members of the government advisory body, which provides confidential advice to the health minister, shows some were alarmed when they learnt the Therapeutic Goods Administration was considering a harsher crackdown on vaping.
Related: Vape ban is contributing to ‘thriving black market’
Related: Vape ban has seductive simplicity, but life is not so simple
Related: ‘They’re not going to be able to prohibit it’: Expert says Labor’s blanket ban on vapes will increase clandestine activity
Related: ‘Out of control’: Concerns banning vapes will have unwanted consequences
Three From Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Consumers Congregate at Conference
Consumers and vape advocates from around the world came together at last week’s Global Forum on Nicotine in Poland to discuss how to respond to the thread posed by the forthcoming World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s (FCTC) Conference of Parties (COP) in Panama. The sense of a big showdown is palpable – and yet it is difficult to predict the outcome. One thing is certain, vapers have a massive part to play and the need to engage in advocacy with their political representatives is imperative.
GFN23: Day 2
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) took place in Warsaw, Poland. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the event opened up to four packed days of workshops and presentations, attended by experts in tobacco harm reduction, advocates and consumers. Day 2 continued with packed rooms and interesting conversations.
Professor Gerry Stimson Receives Award
Harm reduction advocate Professor Gerry Stimson received an award marking a lifetime’s dedication to evidence-based public health at the Global Forum on Nicotine, held in Warsaw. The Award honours the memory of UK psychiatrist and research scientist Michael Russell, a pioneer in the study of tobacco dependence and smoking cessation and was presented in recognition of a lifetime’s commitment to evidence-based public health interventions.
ETHRA June News roundup
European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA)
ETHRA’s monthly roundup of news: Prohibition failing: shock discovery – Conflict of interest in tobacco control – GFN23 recap – Tobacco-free campuses: a pipe dream? – Public health experts amicus brief – Uneducating Americans on Vaping – Country updates. Read on for more.
Pod Wars! Juul Sues NJOY for Patent Infringement
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
Last Friday, Juul Labs filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and a lawsuit in a federal district court, both alleging infringement of Juul patents by the NJOY Ace pod vape. The complaints name NJOY and its new corporate parent Altria Group.
Juul is asking the ITC to investigate the patent complaints and, according to a Juul press release, requesting that “the Commission block the continued importation and sale of the violative products in the United States.”
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