Vaping Digest 17th April

Friday’s News at a glance:

ETHRA writes to protest consumers being locked out of the TPD review – Voke seeks to exploit falsehoods about vaping – The IBVTA’s COVID-19 Advice For The UK Independent Vape Industry – FDA Finally Concedes There’s No Evidence Linking Vaping To COVID-19 – FDA Backtracks On Claim – FDA Admits There’s Actually No Evidence – Vaping benefits not a lot of hot air – The Damage to Vape Shops Deemed “Non-Essential”—And Their Customers – Govt Urged to Keep Vape Shops Open – Grey’s Anatomy-season 16 – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest

ETHRA writes to protest..

Consumers being locked out of the TPD review

The Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) is the European directive which places limits on the sale and merchandising of tobacco and tobacco related products in the EU. Many of us consumers remember the drama around the last TPD, when we mobilised ourselves and successfully prevented the most damaging proposals from being adopted.

That feels like such a short time ago but five years have already passed since TPD came into force, and the evaluation report is due in May 2021 (see Article 28 in the TPD).  The TPD may be reviewed or adapted, depending on the proposals in the report.

One of the aims of the TPD is to “ensure a high level of health protection” for EU citizens. Although the most damaging proposals for TPD2 were defeated, much of what was left is concerned with cumbersome regulations and arbitrary restrictions, resulting in less effective products and, ultimately, in more smoking.

Voke seeks to exploit falsehoods

New Nicotine Alliance

It has come to our attention that Kind Consumer – the company behind medicinally licensed smoking cessation device, Voke – is exploiting deaths attributable to black market THC liquids in the USA to promote its product.

A slide presentation to investors by the company made the claim that Voke is preferable to e-cigarettes because there have been “numerous recent cases of lung disease and death in individuals who use vape products”. This is completely untrue of legal vaping products and we unreservedly condemn their approach.

---

---

The IBVTA’s COVID-19 Advice

For The UK Independent Vape Industry – Diane Caruana

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) has issued advice, alongside some useful links on it’s website, in order to assist its members tackle this difficult time.

The IBVTA is the only trade association in the UK focused on the independent vape industry, which by definition (being independent of affiliations with the tobacco industry) prioritises the wellbeing and safety of customers and staff. To this effect, the association has made some advice and useful links available on its website for its members.

FDA Finally Concedes There’s No Evidence

Linking Vaping To COVID-19 Infections – Guy Bentley

In the last few weeks, numerous sources have suggested vaping could be a risk factor for either contracting or increasing the severity of COVID-19. These reports are almost entirely based on the speculation from anti-vaping advocates, who rarely receive significant pushback.

Appearing on NBC’s Today Show on March 23, Surgeon General Jerome Adams postulated, without evidence, that vaping could be the reason young people may be at higher risk from COVID-19 than previously thought. “There are theories that it could be because we know we have a higher proportion of people in the United States and also in Italy who vape,” said Adams.

---

---

FDA Backtracks On Claim:

“Vaping Puts Users At Higher Risk Of COVID-19” – Andrew Arnold

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has modified its stance on COVID-19 and vaping, saying it was not known whether e-cigarette use can increase the risk of infection. The regulator said last month vapers and smokers with underlying health conditions might be at a higher risk of coronavirus. It made the claim without data to support it.

“E-cigarette use can expose the lungs to toxic chemicals, but whether those exposures increase the risk of COVID-19 is not known,” the agency said Wednesday in an emailed response to a question from Bloomberg News.

FDA Shifts Its Covid-19 Stance on Vaping, Smoking Impact – Tiffany Kary

FDA Admits There’s Actually No Evidence..

Vaping Makes COVID-19 Worse – Alex Norcia

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has backtracked on its previous hardline position on vaping and the coronavirus, saying on Wednesday that there is no known evidence that vaping put an individual at higher risk of developing complications tied to COVID-19. However, the federal agency continued to warn that smoking cigarettes did pose a danger.

“E-cigarette use can expose the lungs to toxic chemicals, but whether those exposures increase the risk of COVID-19 is not known,” the FDA wrote in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News.

FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT

Vaping to COVID19, Has Public Health Lost Its Way?

---

---

Vaping benefits not a lot of hot air

Dr John Madden

I would like to make a couple of points in response to Dr Suranga Senanayake’s opinion piece entitled, “Vaping crisis: an unfolding public health disaster” (IMT, March 2020 p12). Vaping is a relatively new phenomenon; it has only been around for about 10 years.

In that time there have been up to 60,000 deaths due to cigarette smoking in this country and seven million deaths in Europe. There have been no deaths from vaping in Europe in that period. Dr Farsolino’s study in the US looked at over 69,000 vapers. Less than 1 per cent of those had been non-smokers before they started vaping, so it is safe to assume that most vapers are people trying to quit or lessen their smoking habit.

The Damage to Vape Shops

Deemed “Non-Essential”—And Their Customers – Michael McGrady

People who rely on vapes and other reduced-risk nicotine products—overwhelmingly former smokers, or those in the process of switching—face immediate worries over access during the coronavirus lockdown, as well as long-term fears for the survival of the small shops on which many rely.

Amanda Wheeler, the owner of Jvapes, which has locations in Colorado, Oklahoma and Arizona, said she had to lay off employees at two shops in Colorado. “I’ve never had to close a store before,” she told Filter. “It felt like a sad preview of what is to come.”

Living in Colorado, I’ve found for myself how Wheeler’s staff are welcoming, kind and full of knowledge about the various intricacies of using a mod system or selecting a flavored e-liquid. They offer the kind of personalized guidance that can make all the difference for people trying to quit cigarettes.

Govt Urged to Keep Vape Shops Open

So People Don’t Start Smoking Again

The UK government has been asked to keep vape shops across Britain open during the coronavirus lockdown, with a vaping association arguing they are an essential service people need at this time of public health crisis — so they don’t start smoking again.

Smoking cigarettes is believed to put people who contract the Covid-19 virus at particular risk because their lungs are weaker, doctors believe. Around 3.6 million people in the UK currently use e-cigarettes — most of them former smokers who have managed to quit by vaping instead, because they get the nicotine they want while avoiding the many harmful chemicals given off by burning tobacco.

Grey’s Anatomy-season 16:

Episode on the electronic cigarette has come close to being banned on TF1

While TF1 will not air the entirety of season 16 of Grey’s Anatomy to keep a little stock for the future, the channel might not broadcast its episode 11 on Wednesday 15 April, it is the fault of the manufacturers of electronic cigarettes.

The writers of Grey’s Anatomy come to make new enemies in France. No, nothing to do with their desire to kill a new main character, as revealed by Le Parisien, it is a different plot that ends up in the crosshairs of the manufacturers of electronic cigarettes.

---

On this Day…2019

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

Vaping is far safer than smoking and can help smokers quit

Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association

A recent evidence-based review by the leading UK charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) confirms what most vapers already know: vaping is far safer than smoking and can help smokers quit.

FDA Created the Youth Vaping Epidemic, Now It’s Doubling Down

Michelle Minton, Competitive Enterprise Institute

E-cigarettes pose less risk than smoking. The science is clear: while cigarettes kill about half their users, e-cigarettes have perhaps five percent of the risk. Therefore, e-cigarettes have the ability to save the lives of those smokers who switch to vaping. Yet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to eradicate e-cigarettes, a move that would sacrifice smoker lives and squander one of the greatest public health opportunities of our generation.

Bizarre FDA vaping retail restrictions more likely to do harm than good

Clive Bates, The Counterfactual

Caught in its auto-induced moral panic about the teen vaping epidemic, the FDA has decided that it would be better if certain vaping products were harder to get hold of than cigarettes, and the ones that were easiest to get hold of should be the ones most like cigarettes – tobacco and menthol flavour. This seems entirely mad to me and riddled with the potential for unintended consequences that would increase smoking in both adults and adolescents.

---

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

---