Vapers Digest 7th February
Friday’s News at a glance:
The UN is Failing ~ Disposable Bans Spreading Across Europe ~ Exposure to Benzene, Toluene, and Xylenes from Electronic Cigarette Use Compared to Working Environment Permissible Exposure Limits: A Risk Assessment Analysis of a Recent Publication ~ Watchdog Report: Secretive User Fees Feed Special Interests ~ The Long Wait for a Safer Way to Quit Smoking ~ Tobacco age restrictions may not be working, new research shows ~ Good Things Take Time ~ A Tale of Two Approaches: Nicotine Pouch Policies in South Africa and New Zealand ~ Vaping Under Attack: How States Are Cracking Down on Harm Reduction ~ Chinese-Made Vapes Now Subject to 35% Tariff ~ Smokers who switch to vapes choose lower nicotine than dual users, study finds ~ South Australia’s nicotine pouch ban will “cost thousands of lives,” health experts warn ~ Rhode Island’s new flavored vape ban draws skepticism ~ Ep 10 – Smoking Kills, But So Does Misinformation, Dr. Yach Weighs In
Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
The UN is Failing
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) has strongly criticised the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its continued neglect of tobacco harm reduction strategies in its recent report on drug policies and health.
Disposable Bans Spreading Across Europe
The UK Vaping Industry Association and ECigIntelligence are warning that vape bans are spreading across Europe, highlighting a growing momentum towards stricter regulation. ECigIntelligence’s Antonia Di Lorenzo says that as 2025 unfolds, the European Union finds itself at the centre of an intensifying debate over the environmental and health impacts of disposable vapes.
A Tale of Two Approaches: Nicotine Pouch Policies in South Africa and New Zealand
Richard Crosby, The Daily Pouch
When it comes to tackling smoking, two nations—South Africa and New Zealand—have taken strikingly different paths. The comparative report Tale of Two Nations, published by Smoke Free Sweden, highlights these opposing strategies. New Zealand’s success with harm reduction stands in stark contrast to South Africa’s counterproductive regulatory trajectory.
Allison Boughner, World Vapers’ Alliance
In 2025, the fight to protect vaping as a harm reduction tool is intensifying across the United States. Lawmakers in multiple states are proposing flavor bans, excessive taxes, and restrictive regulations that threaten adult access to safer nicotine alternatives. These policies, while often framed as efforts to curb youth vaping, disproportionately harm adults who rely on vapor products to quit smoking.
Chinese-Made Vapes Now Subject to 35% Tariff
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
The first punitive tariffs on Chinese products imposed by the second Trump administration took effect Feb. 4. The new tariffs impose an across-the-board 10 percent levy on products from China, including the vast majority of vapes used by American consumers.
China reacted immediately, imposing a retaliatory 15 percent tariff on coal and natural gas, and 10 percent on crude oil, farm machinery and some automobiles. The U.S. tariffs include an anti-retaliation clause, according to law firm Sidley Austin, allowing President Trump to increase the 10 percent tariff, or add new tariffs, in response to any Chinese escalation.
A look back at how things have moved on or otherwise…
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control urged to adopt harm reduction strategies
Manila Bulletin
The World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) should explore science-based innovations, such as harm reduction strategies, to address the global smoking epidemic and prevent millions of deaths annually, public health experts said ahead of the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting in Panama.Dr. Lorenzo Mata, president of Quit For Good, a non-profit promoting harm reduction in the Philippines, said research suggests alternatives like electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and heated tobacco are “definitely less harmful” than traditional cigarettes. He advocates for their consideration as “a pragmatic middle ground” for adult smokers unable or unwilling to quit.
DISASTER IN THE MAKING? | UK disposable ban EXPLAINED with Clive Bates
Global Forum on Nicotine
The UK’s recent unveiling of a total ban on disposable vapes, and additional flavour restrictions, risks undoing the nation’s pioneering tobacco harm reduction approach to reducing smoking. Clive Bates joins us in today’s episode as we look at the potentially disasterous consequences of a disposable vape ban, as well as the convenient timing of this announcement to coincide with the start of the FCTC COP10 in Panama.
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