Vaping Digest April 3rd

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

GPs told to recommend vaping to smokers as it IS safer than cigarettes ~ Vaping saves lives. The nannies who want to ban it just love to disapprove ~ The “Moral Panic” of the Nicotine “Folk Devils” ~ FDA’s ongoing scientific investigation of potential safety issue related to seizures reported following e-cigarette use ~ Some FDA Claims About Teen Vaping Confirmed, Others Evaporate ~ No Teen Gateway From Growth In Vaping ~ Expert reaction to research on whether e-cigarettes have renormalised smoking among teenagers ~ Popularity of vaping not leading to more teen smokers – study ~ Rise of vaping ‘does not lead to more teenagers smoking cigarettes’ ~ Senate Committee Grapples With E-Cigarette Taxes ~ E-cigarette Ban Lifted In Seychelles ~ Threats and treats, NNA March newsletter ~ Vaping & Snus discussed in the House of Lords 02/04/19 ~ Misunderstanding is “a Good Thing” ~ Comical Canadian Crime Capers ~ Former Mass. AG Coakley Joins E-Cigarette Company JUUL

GPs told to recommend vaping to smokers as it IS safer than cigarettes

Hanna Geissler, Daily Express

MANY GPs and pharmacists are reluctant to recommend vaping to smokers due to confusion about safety, research suggests. For smokers attempting to quit, vaping can be a good alternative to cigarettes as it delivers the nicotine without other toxic substances like tar.

Matt Ridle, Free UK

Suppose that millions of Britons were driving a dangerous type of car that was killing 80,000 people a year. Suppose somebody invented a new car that was much, much safer, significantly cheaper, and emitted far fewer fumes, while performing just as well. Would you a) ban the new car, or b) encourage people to buy it?

Not that difficult a question, surely. Yet the reaction of many public health professionals and politicians has been to choose a) in an exactly analogous situation relating to nicotine. Why? Because they would rather you did not drive at all.

The “Moral Panic” of the Nicotine “Folk Devils”

Michael McGrady, Inside Sources

South African criminologist Stanley Cohen authored the study Folk Devils and Moral Panics in 1972. Cohen examines the media controversies around the clashes between “mods” and “rockers,” two separate British youth subculture groups formed in the early 1960s. The study comments on a violent confrontation between the two groups at a beach in a Southern England seaside town in 1964. While there were cases of property damage and some non-serious injuries, there was no significant case of violence. However, newspapers and broadcast media outlets released sensationalist reports about the incident claiming that the events were far worse.

FDA’s ongoing scientific investigation of potential safety issue related to seizures reported following e-cigarette use

Scott Gottlieb, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (Press Release)

Over the last nearly two years, we’ve spoken often about both the opportunity for e-cigarettes to be an off-ramp for currently addicted adult smokers to completely switch to a potentially less harmful form of nicotine delivery, as well as the tremendous concern for – and series of actions we’re taking to forcefully confront – the recent epidemic level rises of youth e-cigarette use that’s threatening the commitment we’ve made to reduce tobacco use among our nation’s children.

Some FDA Claims About Teen Vaping Confirmed, Others Evaporate

Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released the 2018 data for the National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). My analysis confirms the FDA claim of a substantial increase in vaping among high school students. However, I also discovered some information that challenges the FDA commissioner’s narrative (here) that this “threatens to hook an entire generation of kids into a lifetime of addiction.”

No Teen Gateway From Growth In Vaping

Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes

Research published in the journal Tobacco Control finds that there is scant evidence to support claims that vaping is ‘renormalising’ smoking among teens. Researchers at the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) led the study, and included experts from Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.

Unsure if Vaping Digest has included a suitable April ‘Fool’ joke – there’s usually at least one joker included 365 days of the year 😉

Thank you @Alan_Beard1 and all in the V.Digest team – we appreciate your indefatigable service. https://t.co/4K4S5vX4Rz

— INNCOorg (@INNCOorg) April 1, 2019

Senate Committee Grapples With E-Cigarette Taxes

Brandon Smith, Indiana Public Media

A Senate panel is grappling with how – and how much – to tax electronic cigarettes.

Health advocates say such a tax is important because of the growing use of e-cigs among young people – a 78 percent increase last year, says American Cancer Society’s Bryan Hannon.

“And I would say that this increase in youth use isn’t necessarily a glitch. I think this is really by design,” Hannon says. “These products – especially the bigger products on the market – are owned by tobacco companies and they’re using the same playbook that they used decades ago with cigarettes.”

E-cigarette Ban Lifted In Seychelles

Joseph Magero, Medium

Seychelles is set to introduce new regulations legalizing the sale, manufacture and distribution of vapor products. These regulations will classify alternative nicotine products under the tobacco control law, legalizing ecigs following a recent approval by the Cabinet Ministers. Seychelles’ 2009 Tobacco Control Act prohibited the sale, manufacture and importation of “lookalike” tobacco products , vapor products included.

Vaping & Snus discussed in the House of Lords 02/04/19

Two more from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes:

Misunderstanding is “a Good Thing”

Researchers in Georgia and Oregon have authored a paper that explains there is a growing level of misunderstanding about the relative risks of smoking and vaping, even among vapers. Amazingly, the University of California San Francisco’s Stanton Glantz has welcomed this development as a “good thing”.

Comical Canadian Crime Capers

Owners of The Flamingo Vape Store chain in Canada are appealing for assistance in identifying thieves. The business has posted a reward worth over £1000 for information leading to the arrest of the inept pair depicted in an entertaining video.

Former Mass. AG Coakley Joins E-Cigarette Company JUUL

Zeninjor Enwemeka, WBUR

Former state Attorney General Martha Coakley is becoming an official employee of the electronic cigarette company Juul.

Coakley has been a partner at the law firm Foley Hoag, where she consulted for Juul.

Now the company says the former AG will work on a government affairs team, focusing on educating people on what Juul is doing to fight underage usage.

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