Vapers Digest 5th March
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Expert Addresses Academic Irresponsibility ~ Consumers Demand COP11 Inclusion ~ Nic Pouch Searches PR ~ Siegel Slates Mirror Piece ~ Environmental and individual exposure to secondhand aerosol of electronic cigarettes in confined spaces: Results from the TackSHS Project ~ Denmark’s excessive restriction on nicotine pouches – a major error ~ Science over Sensationalism: How Clickbait Reporting Fuels Public Misperceptions about Vaping and Sets Public Health Back ~ Media Horror! UK Tabloid Press and Hack Researcher Create Anti-Vaping Frenzy ~ Simon Chapman’s critique of Mendelsohn et al.’s paper ~ The Cost of Australia’s Tobacco Wars: Prohibitionist Vaping Policies and the World’s Highest Tobacco Prices ~ Vaping, Smoking, and the Urban Myth ~ Finland to ban nicotine pouch flavours ~ Dutch government call for EU-wide flavour ban and plain packaging for vapes and pouches ~ Bulgaria backsteps on blanket vape ban ~ Six Urban Myths About Smoke-Free Nicotine ~ 100,000 Europeans Reject EU’s Attack on Vaping and Pouches ~ An Interview With Citizen Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocate Skip Murray ~ FCTC Slammed for Self-Congratulatory Approach ~ Proposed vape regulation bill sparks debate; House committee vote delayed one week ~ Big Tobacco Is Pushing Anti-Vaping Narrative; Harming American Small Business ~ Conspiracy in Montana Gov. & The New Battle for Vaping ~ House lawmaker resigns after bruising battles on vape bills ~ ETHRA February news roundup ~ NEW ZEALAND’S ASTOUNDING THR SUCCESS
Four from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Lies in Expert Addresses Academic Irresponsibility
Last week, Planet of the Vapes published an article about fake claims made by Matt Roper, the Daily Mirror’s Senior Features Writer, and Dr Maxime Boidin, Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Rehabilitation at the prestigious Manchester Metropolitan University. The Mirror posted its shock horror tale online, and promoted it using multiple tweets, irresponsibly claiming that vaping could be as dangerous or even more dangerous than smoking.
Consumers Demand COP11 Inclusion
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has demanded the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) end its exclusion of consumer organisations and adopt evidence-based tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a vital public health strategy ahead of its COP11 meeting.
Nic Pouch Searches PR
Searches for nicotine pouches have increased by 33% in the past month, and with the disposable vape ban looming on 1st June 2025, many vapers might be looking to swap to alternative ways to get their nicotine hit. David Phillips at Alternix has answered the burning questions surrounding nicotine pouches so users can use them correctly and appropriately.
Siegel Slates Mirror Piece
The Daily Mirror has failed to correct its story and the researcher behind it has yet to produce any paper supporting the outlandish claim that vaping could be as or more dangerous than smoking. Voices criticising the publicity of the incomplete work continues to grow as Dr Michael Siegel, a renown harm reduction expert, adds his opinion into the mix.
Environmental and individual exposure to secondhand aerosol
of electronic cigarettes in confined spaces: Results from the TackSHS Project
Roberto A. Sussman Comment, Pubpeer
The authors conducted two experiments involving 30 minutes long sessions to assess bystander exposure to environmental e-cigarette aerosol exhaled by a single experienced user puffing a refillable tank model (Eleaf iStick TC puffed at 40W with 1 Ohm and 225 °C), PG/VG mixture 50/50 and e-liquid with nicotine at 3 mg/ml. The authors claim to have simulated a real-life scenario during working hours, considering two enclosed indoor micro-environments: a small office (35 m3) with windows and the door closed and a medium sized car (VW Touran ~10 m3). Separation between emitter (vaper) and receivers was in both cases around 1 meter (direction and position not specified).
Two from Australia, Let’s Improve Vaping Education, A.L.I.V.E.
09algor
Simon Chapman’s critique of Mendelsohn et al.’s paper appears to be a predictable attempt to dismiss inconvenient evidence supporting consumer access to vaping products. His response seems to contain misrepresentations, selective omissions, and contradictions that warrant scrutiny. Below is a point-by-point rebuttal of his main arguments.
The Cost of Australia’s Tobacco Wars: Prohibitionist Vaping Policies and the World’s Highest Tobacco Prices
Simon Wilson
Australia’s ongoing battle against tobacco has led to some of the strictest regulations in the world, particularly concerning vaping and cigarette pricing. While the government has framed these policies as necessary for public health, the unintended consequences have sparked a growing crisis.
NEW ZEALAND’S ASTOUNDING THR SUCCESS
Global Forum on Nicotine
New Zealand’s acceptance of safer nicotine products has spearheaded an unprecedented drop in smoking rates in its indigenous communities – can its neighbour Australia leaern a thing or two from New Zealand’s success? In this latest episode of GFN News Will Godfrey joins us to highlight a recent paper by Colin Mendelsohn exploring New Zealand’s plummeting smoking rates.
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