Vaping Digest March 27th
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Harm Reduction as a Viable Public Policy Aim ~ Doctors urge PM to ban e-cigarettes ~ Dangers of disinformation ~Debate: should the use of e-cigarettes be encouraged among smokers? ~ Proposed FDA e-cigarette ban disproportionately impacts veterans and service members ~ Why A Vaping Flavor Ban Could Be Coming Sooner Than We Feared ~ San Francisco is the stupidest place in the world to think of the children ~ San Francisco Vapes Ban the Logical Next Step of a Harmful Campaign ~ Wham! Bam! San Fran Ban! ~ FDA Announcement Hits Altria Stock ~ 250K Call ~ Is vaping nicotine less harmful than smoking tobacco? ~ EU Health Commissioner wants med regs for e-cigarettes ~ Tobacco Sales to Kids Is a Problem For States, Not Retailers ~ Tobacco giant Reynolds just rolled out berry and cream nicotine lozenges ~ France: A Drop in Tobacco Sales but not in Smoking Rates ~ Legislature Considers Flavored Tobacco Ban In Effort To Curb Teen Vaping ~ Raising Florida’s smoking age from 18 to 21 gains support in Senate ~ Masked Thieves Pull Off Daring JUUL Heist [VIDEO]
Harm Reduction as a Viable Public Policy Aim
There is an old Platonic conceit that, since the advent of technocratic administration, has been blissfully forgotten: Prior to office, statesmen should develop an appreciation of the need for philosophic approaches to governance. The prescriptions we have grown so accustomed to, striking only in their formulaic sameness, as if our civil servants all graduated from the same GE training program, would have struck our ancient counterparts as insufficiently nuanced to deal with present social ills.
Doctors urge PM to ban e-cigarettes
Say they encourage nicotine addiction, lobby sharing misleading information
Doctors across the country have joined hands to push the government to ban Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices (ENDS) in India. As many as 1,061 doctors from across the country have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to stop ENDS in India before they become an epidemic.
The doctors in their letter stated that ENDS such as e-cigarettes, vaping devices, e-sheesha, e-nicotine-flavoured hookah, and heat-not-burn devices are being promoted as safer alternatives to smoking, and have expressed concern about the increasing interest of the youth in ENDS.
Dangers of disinformation
Mary Ann LL. Reyes, PhilStar Global
Just recently, Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo reiterated the health department’s warning that the use of electronic cigarettes is not a good alternative to cigarette smoking and that because e-cigarettes or “vapes” contain nicotine, the DOH is concerned that vapers will get addicted to nicotine and then become cigarette smokers.Dr. Domingo’s statement is hardly surprising. The DOH follows the World Health Organization (WHO) position that the only way to reduce smoking is for smokers to quit or die, and that anything less than an abstinence-only approach is unacceptable.
Wendy Preston , Jane Watson, Loiuse Ross, Nursing Times
Research looking at the benefits of electronic cigarettes often has conflicting outcomes. Two clinical experts debate the arguments for and against e-cigarettes
#kickbuttsday#vapingsaveslives
And I’ve just celebrated my 65th. pic.twitter.com/cnS5KHcFv4— Chris Baxter (@CloughaPike) March 20, 2019
Proposed FDA e-cigarette ban disproportionately impacts veterans and service members
Rory E. Riley-Topping, The Hill
In the politically-charged climate of 2019, there are very few things that our society can universally agree on. Some of the few things we can agree on, however, is that smoking cigarettes is bad for one’s health, and that even when we don’t support a war, we will support the troops. Therefore, it should logically follow that anything that aids active duty service members and military veterans to quit smoking in order to live longer, happier lives, should be encouraged.
Why A Vaping Flavor Ban Could Be Coming Sooner Than We Feared
Katie Bercham, Cocktail Nerd
With FDA Commissioner set to resign next month, he’s being pressured to force through the flavor ban before he leaves office.
Being a vaper these days means traversing the ever-changing landscape of vaping regulations. E-cigarettes didn’t get much of a chance to prove their worth before legislators around the world condemned them for being too similar to deadly cigarettes. This despite their intended purpose being to help smokers quit by offering them a satisfying alternative.
San Francisco is the stupidest place in the world to think of the children
Carl V Phillips, Anti-THR Lies and related topics
As anyone who follows the news about vaping policy in the U.S. knows, San Francisco is considering banning the sale of all vapes, on the heels of their ban on “flavored” vapes (which, of course, means flavors that are not identified as tobacco-ish or minty [Correction: I was reminded that this particular flavor ban, unlike most, also bans minty and allows only tobacco-ish]). Not at all surprising, the claim is that this ban is all about protecting the chiiiildren.
San Francisco Vapes Ban the Logical Next Step of a Harmful Campaign
Helen Redmond, Filter
The March 19 announcement by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera of steps to ban the sale of all e-cigarettes in the city is the logical culmination of an unrelenting nationwide campaign—one that hypes a so-called “epidemic” of teen vaping while ignoring the saved lives of adults who stop smoking combustible cigarettes and of teens who never start.
Three from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes
Wham! Bam! San Fran Ban!
San Francisco became the champion in backward thinking when it prohibited the sale of flavoured eliquids last year. Now legislators are proposing a blanket ban on the sale of all vaping equipment until the FDA has declared vaping to be “safe” and put in place new regulations.
FDA Announcement Hits Altria Stock
Altria, the large tobacco company, ploughed $12.8 billion into Juul Labs last year, as the company bought into a large stake of the vape market. Last week Juul attended a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which soon-to-be ex-commissioner Scott Gottlieb described as “Difficult”. Coupled with the announcement of Gottlieb’s temporary replacement, Altria’s stock tumbled.
250K Call
An educational video about vaping, made by the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT), has achieved 207,715 views. Public Health England’s Martin Dockrell has asked vapers if we can help get this figure to 250K.
Is vaping nicotine less harmful than smoking tobacco?
Frank Baeyens, MetaFact
There’s somewhat of a debate in Australia at the moment that is preventing the legalisation of nicotine in vaping as a smoking cessation. Despite international evidence and even some medical bodies endorsing the use of nicotine vaping as an effective method of quitting smoking, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has voiced it’s disapproval of any legalisation over concerns that it is no healthier than smoking.
EU Health Commissioner wants med regs for e-cigarettes
Christopher Snowdon, Velvet Glove Iron Fist
Some things never change. The EU Health Commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, who has previously claimed that vaping is ‘a danger for public health’, wants e-cigarettes regulated like medicines…
‘If one uses electronic cigarettes as a method to stop smoking, it has to be managed by medical doctors and specialists, to be sold in pharmacies and not in supermarkets.’
Tobacco Sales to Kids Is a Problem For States, Not Retailers
Brad Rodu, Tobacco Truth
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb recently threatened that “some flavored e-cigarette products will no longer be sold at all…other flavored e-cigarette products that continue to be sold will be sold only in a manner that prevents youth access…” (here)
Dr. Gottlieb blames the so-called youth vaping “epidemic” on illegal retail sales and “kid-friendly marketing.”
Tobacco giant Reynolds just rolled out berry and cream nicotine lozenges
as it faces new pressure from Juul for smokeless products
Erin Brodwin, Business Insider
Tobacco giant Reynolds wants to give smokers a more convenient way to use nicotine.
On Wednesday, the company rolled out nicotine lozenges that dissolve in the mouth and come in four flavors: berry, cream, and two kinds of mint. Sold under the brand Revel, the lozenges are the first new product the company has launched on a wide commercial scale since the Vuse e-cigarette in 2013.
France: A Drop in Tobacco Sales but not in Smoking Rates
Diane Caruana, Vaping Post
A new report by the French Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) on smoking, indicates a decline in tobacco sales, which unfortunately does not equate to a proportionate decrease in the number of smoking rates.
Legislature Considers Flavored Tobacco Ban In Effort To Curb Teen Vaping
Mal Leary, Maine Public
A bill that would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Maine went before the Legislature’s Human Services Committee on Monday.
Supporters of the measure argue that the use of e-cigarettes — or vaping — is behind a big spike in teen tobacco use. Studies show that 1 in 5 Maine high schoolers are using these flavored products, which often taste more like candy than tobacco.
Raising Florida’s smoking age from 18 to 21 gains support in Senate
, Tampa Bay Times
A Senate committee on Monday approved a bill that would increase the minimum smoking age in the state from 18 to 21.
The proposal (Senate Bill 1618), filed by Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, would increase the minimum age to legally possess tobacco products and would include electronic smoking devices in the definition of tobacco.
Masked Thieves Pull Off Daring JUUL Heist [VIDEO]
Jim McDonald, Vaping 360
It wasn’t exactly a brilliant caper, but these daring “jewel” thieves walked out with the loot they were looking for and disappeared without a trace. Now police are asking the public for help finding them.
Two masked men stole $2,000 worth of JUUL vapes from a Kentucky Circle K store in one of the most brazen and bizarre robberies you’ll ever see. The thieves walked past the oddly unconcerned employee and helped themselves to the vapes without saying a word.
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