Vapers Digest 6th December

Friday’s News at a glance:

Black Market Town – UKVIA calls for strong penalties – ASH Welcomes “Historic” Bill – Public Health Officials Welcome Bill – Mongolia Needs Harm Reduction – THR Strategies Would Save Nigerian Lives – The Vacuous and Vapid Vaping Debate – A Short Lived Victory For THR in The EU – Difference in Vapers’ Respiratory Symptoms Vs. Non-Vapers Is Minimal – Labour accused of planting ‘fake’ examples of nine-year-olds vaping – Vietnam to ban vapes from 2025 – Nicotine pouches still widely available in Belgium – Thinking ’bout THR Events – Elections Have Consequences – Vaping’s Legal Battle With FDA to Shift – Vape stores sue RI over vape ban – Anti-tobacco use strategies than can save lives – The Global Burden of Smoking on Oral Health – Brazil has a lot of homework to do – Sweden’s Milestone Successes – Mexico Writes Vape Ban into its Constitution

Six from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

Black Market Town

As the government pushes forward with its decision to implement bans, one small town in Northamptonshire offers up why this is a misguided policy. Despite there being sufficient laws in place to restrict teen vape purchasing, enforcement has been the major problem because of a lack of funding. Meanwhile, the rewards are huge for gangs supplying illegal Chinese-made products. In Wellingborough, raids on just four shops revealed over £75,000 worth of illicit tobacco and vapes.

A joint operation executed by the Wellingborough Neighbourhood Policing Team, in partnership with Trading Standards, saw more than £75,000 worth of illegal tobacco and vapes seized.

UKVIA calls for strong penalties

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is calling on regulators to come down hard on vaping businesses who are not meeting their environmental obligations, after a Freedom of Information Request revealed none have been fined or prosecuted for failing to meet their Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) responsibilities.

In its FOI response, the Environment Agency explained there are no ‘civil sanction response options’, including monetary penalties, for the WEEE regulations, but said producers may be liable to an unlimited fine if they are found guilty of an offence. According to the agency, no EEE producers – which would include vape producers – have been fined or prosecuted between 2022 and May 2024.

ASH Welcomes “Historic” Bill

MPs voted in favour of a Smokefree Generation, said the increasingly anti-vape charity Action on Smoking and Health, advancing “the historic” Tobacco and Vapes Bill to the committee stage. MPs from all parties voted for the Bill, which also takes powers to implement robust regulations for vapes, to curb youth vaping. The final vote saw 415 MPs supporting the Bill, with only 47 voting against – a reduction of 20 opponents compared to the legislation’s second reading in the last Parliament.

Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: “Ending the harms from smoking is not a party-political issue; it is backed by voters of every political persuasion. This was clearly shown in tonight’s debate, where MPs from across the political spectrum voiced their support for phasing out the sale of tobacco to future generations.”

Public Health Officials Welcome Bill

The UK moves closer to being the first country in the world to phase out the sale of tobacco to the next generation and end youth smoking, as the Tobacco and Vapes Bill returns to Parliament for its Second Reading, says Action on Smoking and Health. The Bill will introduce the phased-out sale of tobacco for everyone born from 2009 onwards and give the Government “much-needed powers” to regulate vapes to curb youth vaping.

The Bill will also give the Government excessive powers to attack vaping, making it less appealing and removing popular products

Mongolia Needs Harm Reduction

The Coalition of Asia Pacific Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has called on the Mongolian government to reassess its stance on tobacco harm reduction products. The Coalition cites compelling evidence from Japan that demonstrates significant health and economic benefits from embracing safer alternatives to smoking.

A recent study published in the journal Healthcare indicates that if 50% of smokers in Japan switched from combustible cigarettes to heated tobacco products (HTPs), it could prevent 12 million patient cases and save JPY 454 billion in healthcare costs. This data underscores the immense potential of tobacco harm reduction strategies in countries with high smoking rates.

THR Strategies Would Save Nigerian Lives

According to landmark research by leading international health experts, more than 400,000 Nigerian lives could be saved if policymakers adopt a progressive approach to tobacco harm reduction (THR). Their ground-breaking report, released on the 19th of November, outlines how integrating alternative nicotine products such as vapes and nicotine pouches into Nigeria’s tobacco control framework could dramatically reduce the nation’s smoking-related death toll.

According to the report Saving 600,000 Lives in Nigeria and Kenya, 3.5 million Nigerians currently smoke, and each year 26,851 Nigerians die from smoking-related illnesses.

The Vacuous and Vapid Vaping Debate

Martin Cullip

“Vaping is a totally unregulated sector,” said Jim Allister MP last Tuesday during the debate on the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. He continued by saying “and I fear that it is a gateway to smoking for many young people.” In just 16 seconds he perfectly summed up his profound ignorance on the subject and why he should have taken no part in deciding vaping legislation.

Allister is obviously blissfully unaware of the comprehensive UK Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) arising out of the European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) which heavily regulates vaping products across Europe. One wonders if he has ever heard of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), let alone being aware that the MHRA must license products before they can be sold and that it has published advice and guidance on the process.

A Short Lived Victory For THR in The EU

Diane Caruana

Last week, the European Parliament rejected a resolution presented by the European Commission (EC), proposing restricting vaping alongside smoking in outdoor spaces. At the time, tobacco harm reduction (THR) experts commended the move, highlighting that by rejecting the resolution, policymakers have affirmed the distinction between vaping and smoking, and acknowledge vaping’s role as a harm reduction tool rather than equating it to smoking.

Sadly, the positive mood did not last long, as only a few days later it was announced that EU health ministers have endorsed the new EC recommendations to tighten restrictions on tobacco and aerosol products, despite the European Parliament rejecting the same proposal last week.

Difference in Vapers’ Respiratory …

Symptoms Vs. Non-Vapers Is Minimal – Kiran Sidhu

Vaping does not produce clinically important respiratory symptoms, indicates a new international study. Significantly, it’s among the first large-scale studies to look at people who vape but do not have histories of smoking—histories which have led to smoking-related harms being attributed to vaping in past research.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, has been heralded by tobacco harm reduction advocates, though its interpretation has also been the target of some pushback. It’s part of the VERITAS project, led by researchers from of the Center of Excellence for Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), at the University of Catania, Italy.

5 min survey. Are you interested in research on smoking &/or #vaping? We want to hear your opinion about future #research comparing the best interventions for quitting #smoking. Please answer our short survey: https://t.co/MfbCFqZYC4 pic.twitter.com/pAcDL5MTCx

— CochraneTAG (@CochraneTAG) December 5, 2024

Three from Ali Anderson, Clearing the Air:

Labour accused of planting ‘fake’ examples

Of nine-year-olds vaping to justify new UK law

Labour has been accused of planting made-up scenarios about nine-year-olds vaping in UK schools to help back up its new smoking and vapes crackdown.

A range of pre-scripted statements and questions were reportedly sent to the party’s MPs ahead of a crucial vote on the controversial Tobacco and Vapes Bill last week.

Labour’s backbenchers appear to have been pressed to say they have personal experience of the harm that vapes are causing children as young as nine – despite the examples having been drafted by party officials.

Vietnam to ban vapes from 2025

Vietnam is to introduce a blanket ban on vapes from the new year. Co-incidentally, the largest Tobacco company in Vietnam is state-owned.

The National Assembly has announced it will outlaw the production, sale, import, storage, transportation and usage of vapes starting in 2025 with the aim of ‘protecting people’s health’.

The assembly, which holds primary legislative authority in Vietnam, has requested the government introduce the ban alongside an awareness campaign on the “harmful impacts” of vapes.

Vietnam Bans Vapes, Protecting State-Owned Tobacco – Jim McDonald

Nicotine pouches still widely available

In Belgium – one year after ban

Government data shows that this year, 318 out of 1,781 retailers checked by the authorities did not comply with the ban. This resulted in 3,273 packets being seized.

“[Sellers] are very inventive in finding ways to bypass legislation,” Annelies Wynant, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, said. “They are very creative in hiding the products: in washing machines, chip boxes, ovens, etc.,”

Nicotine pouches are small bags that contain flavouring and a nicotine powder. They are placed between a person’s gum and lips, allowing the nicotine to be absorbed into the body.

Nicotine Pouch Bans are Getting More…

Creative, Sneaky, and Undemocratic – Joseph Hart

The UK will ban disposable vapes next year. While the environmental impact of disposable vapes wasn’t the sole cause, it was a significant driver in getting the ban through parliament.

In an era where eco-alarmism is prepared to savage whole economies to reach goals with a negligible global impact, it’s unsurprising that harm reduction will be sacrificed on the altar. Now, it looks as though something similar might happen in Denmark with pouches.

Cigarette Taxes and Regulations

Continue To Fuel a Thriving Black Market

If you want to create a black market in a perfectly legal product, just make regulations and taxes so onerous that many people prefer to buy from illegal vendors to escape being hassled and mugged by the powers that be. As a new study reveals, that’s certainly the case with cigarettes, which remain available for sale across the United States but with much of the trade continuing to involve smokes smuggled from one jurisdiction to another. Since busybody politicians refuse to learn from the ongoing trade, this is a tempting business opportunity for risk-tolerant entrepreneurs as well as low-tax jurisdictions.

Thinking ’bout THR Events

Kim “Skip” Murray

What’s new in things to do? Whew! It’s been a busy week in the newsletter universe. You can quickly find updates since the last edition by looking for “*NEW*.

Some of these events might not support reduced-risk products. Some have covered nicotine in the past but may not cover that topic every year.

Elections Have Consequences

For Unelected Public Health Bureaucrats – Tony Abboud

President Biden’s FDA and CTP bureaucrats have run roughshod over the law, misleading the public on the benefits of vaping and banning flavored e-cigarettes, all while ensuring 30 million Americans continue to suffer from the leading cause of chronic death and disease – smoking cigarettes.

President Trump is determined to reverse this course for the Forgotten 500,000 Americans who die each year from smoking-related diseases. He made this clear when I met with him in September, pledging on Truth Social to repeat his 2019 act of saving flavored vaping.

A Change in Administrations

Underlines the Stakes of an E-Cigarette Case SCOTUS Heard This Week

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved nicotine vaping products in flavors other than tobacco or menthol and probably never will unless it reconsiders the approach it has taken in recent years. But President-elect Donald Trump brags that he “saved flavored vaping” during his first term and promises he will “save vaping again.”

The change in administrations underlines the stakes of FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, a case that the U.S. Supreme Court considered this week. Triton Distribution, a Dallas-based e-liquid manufacturer, is challenging the FDA’s denial of its applications for “premarket” approval of its products, without which the company will be forced to shut down.

Mexico Writes Vape Ban into Constitution

#GFNTVInterviews

The Mexican government is moving to enshrine a ban on nicotine vaping products into its constitution—an extraordinary overreach aimed at bypassing Mexico’s Supreme Court, which has repeatedly overturned similar bans. Critics warn this move risks driving the market underground while undermining efforts to reduce tobacco-related harm.

Vaping’s Legal Battle With FDA to Shift

Under ‘Friendlier’ Trump – Bloomberg

The vaping industry is counting on President-elect Donald Trump to significantly overhaul how the FDA regulates flavored e-cigarettes, an agency action that came under the scrutiny of US Supreme Court justices this week.

The Trump administration is in line to take up the Food and Drug Administration’s powerful authority to regulate electronic nicotine products, overseeing an authorization process that vaping manufacturers must go through before their product can be legally marketed in the US.

Vape stores sue RI over vape ban

To take effect Jan. 1. What to know.

Two Rhode Island businesses that sell vape products are challenging the state’s ban on the sale of flavored electronic nicotine-delivery system products set to take effect Jan. 1, arguing the law is overly broad and would destroy them financially.

Vaporetti LLC, based in East Providence, and Sunshine Vape LLC, with three locations, are suing the state Department of Revenue; its director, Thomas Verdi; the Division of Taxation; Administrator Neena S. Savage; and the Department of Health and its director, Dr. Jerome Larkin, seeking to invalidate the law, which was included in the state budget that passed in June.

Anti-tobacco use strategies…

Than can save lives – Joseph Magero

Global progress in the fight to end smoking has stalled. Despite decades of tobacco control efforts, smoking rates remain stubbornly high in many parts of the world.

While some countries have made significant strides in reducing smoking numbers through progressive tobacco harm reduction (THR) strategies, many low- and middle-income nations, especially in Africa, are not embracing these life-saving approaches. As a result, their smoking rates are unnecessarily elevated, and the toll of tobacco-related diseases continues to rise.

Staytin Alive Podcast Ft. Dr James Martin

Global Burden of Smoking on Oral Health

The report “Transforming Oral Health for All: The Case for Tobacco Harm Reduction” shines a spotlight on the urgent need for innovative strategies to address this crisis. With smoking disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries, where access to oral healthcare is limited, the report advocates for integrating harm reduction approaches into tobacco control frameworks to reduce smoking-related oral disease and improve quality of life.

Sweden’s Milestone Successes

With Stefan Mathisson and Federico N. Fernández Ep. 69

Join us for an insightful episode of Vaping Unplugged hosted by Liza Katsiashvili, Director of operations of the World Vapers’ Alliance. This time, we explore Sweden’s groundbreaking success in achieving its smoke-free goal with two incredible guests:

Brazil has a lot of homework to do

Amanda Matos- WVA

As a Brazilian deeply passionate about harm reduction and individual freedom, I can’t help but feel frustrated when I look at the vaping situation in Brazil.

It’s a country that seems stuck in the past, clinging to outdated policies and fear-mongering campaigns, while people pay the price — literally — with their health. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a shining example we can look to: Sweden.

On this Day…2023

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

A Foundational Call to Action

Dr. Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth

Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW).

The organization was founded in 2017 through a charitable gift from PMI Global Services. Its mission is simple: “to end smoking in this generation.” Its founders envision “a world in which combustible tobacco, other toxic forms of tobacco, and smoking-related death and disease are eliminated.” Contrast that with the U.S. government’s vision of “a world free of tobacco use,” an incorrectly broader behavior blamed by the government for “cancer and suffering.”

Two From Reason

Repeal Day Lessons for Tobacco Prohibitionists

Jacob Grier

On this date in 1933, Americans ratified the Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution, officially repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that had ushered in Prohibition of alcohol just 14 years prior. Many of us will toast the occasion the same way Americans did in 1933: with a good drink. If you’re so inclined, you may also want to light up a smoke while you still can. Ninety years after the end of one era of Prohibition, we are gradually creeping into a new one forbidding the sale of tobacco and/or nicotine. And just as in that previous era, these laws are encouraging illicit markets, forcing consumers to buy more dangerous products, and leading to the arrest and prosecution of sellers.

With youth vaping hitting a 10-year low..

Policymakers should focus on harm-reduction

Michelle Minton

Youth vaping in the United States has hit a 10-year low, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The so-called youth vaping epidemic appears to be a thing of the past, with historical lows in youth smoking dispelling fears of a gateway effect. The focus of anti-tobacco advocates and policymakers, however, remains disproportionately fixated on youth vaping, diverting attention and resources away from those at the greatest and most immediate risk of tobacco-related disease and death: adult smokers.