Vapers Digest 8th April

Monday’s News at a glance:

Turning Vapers into Criminals – VAPRIL hit by CAP Crackdown – The EU must take more action to regulate addictive harmful products – CDC, FDA Want Millions Of Taxpayer Dollars – Nicotine pouches: Salvation for smokers or temptation for teens? – Drugs Policy Iconoclast Slams Safer Nicotine Prohibitionists – WHO should embrace THR to save lives – Time to Consider THR Seriously – 4 billion Additional Cigarettes Expected to Hit Market

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes:

Turning Vapers into Criminals

In a bold stance against Australia’s stringent vaping regulations, the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today laid bare the reality of Australia’s appalling approach to regulating vaping – it will make vapers’ criminals. The group, led by Executive Coordinator Nancy Loucas, is urging for a more balanced and evidence-based approach to tobacco harm reduction.

CAPHRA wants the government to address the stark contrast between Australia’s prescriptive regulatory framework and New Zealand’s successful harm reduction strategies, which have significantly contributed to reducing smoking rates.

“Australia’s approach is a recipe for disaster and it’s overly prescriptive approach to regulating vaping products has sparked outrage among tobacco harm reduction experts worldwide,” said Ms Loucas.

VAPRIL hit by CAP Crackdown

VAPRIL is in full swing, but the event is muted compared to previous years due to a Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) prohibition on vape related social media posts. The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), has promoted its annual #VApril Vaping Awareness Month on social media for six years, to give smokers factual, evidence-based advice on switching from smoking to vaping.

The Committee of Advertising Practice is a British organisation responsible for the UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, which is the main code of practice for self-regulation of the non-broadcast advertising industry in the UK. The UKVIA says that this year CAP has announced that it will enforce a prohibition of vaping ads on social media.

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CDC, FDA Want Millions Of Dollars

To Keep Fomenting Nicotine Misinformation Campaigns

Lindsey Stroud

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently unveiled their proposed fiscal year (FY) 2025 budgets. Unsurprisingly, both agencies are requesting additional funding, through congressional appropriations and/or fees upon consumers, to address tobacco use — namely among youth.

The CDC and FDA are two of the worst agencies in the world when it comes to advancing the manufacturing of tobacco harm-reduction products. Even more appalling, they are the same agencies that, whether through inaction or campaigns, continue to drive misperceptions surrounding nicotine and the continuum of risk for various tobacco products, as well as driving forward prohibitionist policies that will lead to unintended consequences.

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The EU must take more action …

To regulate addictive harmful products – Helena Gherasim

Two years ago, Members of the European Parliament (MEP) adopted the Report on the Beating Cancer Plan.

They stated that “comprehensive preventive actions against cancer, through measures supporting the elimination or reduction of harm caused by modifiable risk factors should be implemented across all European policies and funding programmes”.

In particular, MEPs encouraged the Commission to “promote actions to reduce and prevent alcohol-related harm”. They also called the Commission to enact evidence-based policies, backed by the scientific community.

INCONVENIENT KNOWLEDGE

Drugs Policy Iconoclast Slams Safer Nicotine Prohibitionists

Actions by anti-tobacco harm reduction advocates and organizations are “outrageous” and “disgusting,” says Ethan Nadelmann, legendary drugs harm reduction campaigner. Why are the lessons learned in the fight to end the war on drugs ignored in the battle to end the war on vaping?

Nicotine pouches:

Salvation for smokers or temptation for teens?

Dr. John Oyston

One would expect that the Canadian Cancer Society, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Lung Association would welcome a new product that could reduce the cancer, heart attacks and lung disease caused by smoking. Instead, when such a product was first marketed in October 2023, these three major health charities worked with Action on Smoking and Health, Coalition québécoise pour le contrôle du tabac and Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada to urge Health Ministers to ban the product and establish a moratorium on the approval of any similar products.

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WHO should embrace THR to save lives

Ali Anderson

Writing in scientific journal The Lancet, Derek Yach – a former Executive Director at the WHO – accuses the organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of failing to adapt to “scientific and technological advances that can help smokers to quit”.

He says this has “destined more users of toxic tobacco products to live shorter, less healthy lives.”

Yach’s letter is in response to a Lancet article by Kelley Lee and colleagues describing the “hard won progress” of the FCTC over its 20 years, and calling for harder action to be taken against vapes and other nicotine alternatives.

Breaking the Cycle:

Time to Consider Tobacco Harm Reduction Seriously

Dr. Proyash Roy

Over the past decade, there has been considerable progress in public health regarding innovations in tobacco-related products, particularly with the introduction of reduced-risk alternatives such as e-cigarettes, which Public Health England considers 95% less harmful than regular cigarettes.

Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) is an approach focused on limiting tobacco-related health risks by advocating for less harmful nicotine products like e-cigarettes as substitutes for conventional cigarettes. Recently, THR has emerged as a viable and effective strategy, with solid evidence from countries adopting THR demonstrating its capability to save lives.

4 billion Additional Cigarettes Expected…

To Hit Market When Health Minister Mark Holland Forces Flavour Ban

Association des représentants de l’industrie du vapotage (ARIV)

The Vaping Industry Trade Association (VITA) denounces the federal government’s renewed intention to ban flavors in vaping products. As presented, Minister Holland’s proposal will not achieve the desired public health objectives and could, on the contrary, seriously harm a significant number of Canadian adult ex-smokers. The minister’s current proposal, resurrected since it’s abandonment in 2021, is not justified, even three years later. A quiet resurrection of a three-year-old proposed flavour ban

The industry was recently invited to meetings with Health Canada to “reaffirm and update positions” submitted to a 2021 proposed order and regulation that would do 4 things:

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On this Day…2023

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

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Visit Nicotine Science & Policy for more News from around the World

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