Vaping Digest October 2nd

Wednesday’s News at a glance:

Is e-cigarette use associated with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction? ~ Online sales to South Australian vapers banned from today ~ Malaysia pushes for strict law to police vapes, e-cigarettes ~ Irish vapers should resist suggestions of a flavour ban ~ India defends e-cigarette ban in court with attack on Juul ~ Vape ban could undo gains in smoking cessation, expert warns ~ You’re wrong, Governor: Vape bans will only make things worse ~ Lung Disease Investigation ~ How the Trump Administration Can Best Address Vaping Concerns ~ The “Other” Youth Vaping Epidemic: Why Has It Been Ignored? ~ Juuling Is Fine, Actually (For Adults Who Want to Quit Smoking Cigarettes) ~ Ministry of Health reminder about vaping ~ Fighting Back Down Under ~ Witch Hunt ~ Vaping saves lives, we must ignore pressure to ban it ~

Is e-cigarette use associated with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction?

Insights from the 2016 and 2017 National Health Interview Surveys

Konstantinos E Farsalinos, Riccardo Polosa, Fabio Cibella, Raymond Niaura, Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease

AbstractBackground: This study analyzed the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) of 2016 (n = 33,028) and 2017 (n= 26,742) to examine whether e-cigarette use is consistently associated with myocardial infarction (MI) and coronary heart disease (CHD)

Online sales to South Australian vapers banned from today

Savvas Dimitriou, Australian Vaping Advocacy, Trade and Research, Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association

From today, 1 October 2019, online sales of vaping products are banned to South Australian vapers. Local and interstate vendors will face stiff fines for selling even a single strand of cotton to a customer in South Australia.

The negative impact of this regressive legislation is hard to overstate. Businesses will close or move, causing hundreds of job losses and millions of dollars of lost revenue for South Australia. Life-saving vaping products will be harder to access and many vapers will be condemned to returning to deadly tobacco smoking.

Malaysia pushes for strict law to police vapes, e-cigarettes

Kuala Lumpur, Reuters

Malaysia is planning to introduce strict regulations on the sale and use of electronic cigarettes and vaporisers, health officials said on Tuesday, as countries around the world move to ban devices that have been linked to deaths and youth addiction.

European Tobacco Harm Reduction Association

Several media outlets have reported on the suggestion this weekend from former Health Minister, James Reilly, that Ireland should ban flavours in e-cigarette liquids. He has been a long-time sceptic towards safer nicotine products and appears to be trying to conflate e-cigarettes – which are strictly regulated in Ireland under the EU Tobacco Products Directive – with illegal oil-based THC solutions which have been causing illness and deaths in the USA.

India defends e-cigarette ban in court with attack on Juul

Aditya Kalra, Subrata Nagchoudhury, Reuters

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – The impending introduction of Juul e-cigarettes in India was a factor in the government’s decision to ban the sale of vaping products, a top government lawyer said in court on Tuesday while defending the order.

“The poll said 82% of vapers agreed that people will purchase from the non-regulated black market if vaping is banned.”

Take note @OregonGovBrown @GovMurphy https://t.co/4jrLMHJEo1

— Matt From SMM (@SuckMyMod) October 2, 2019

Vape ban could undo gains in smoking cessation, expert warns

Elizebeth Payne, Ottowa Citizen

The growing moral panic around vaping could have disastrous consequences, warns a key figure in the global effort to reduce cigarette smoking.

David Sweanor, an adjunct professor in the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, said bans and restrictions on vaping could drive more people to smoke, undoing years of public health efforts to reduce the habit. Over the past 30 years, Sweanor has spearheaded the development of efforts to reduce cigarette smoking in Canada and around the world.

You’re wrong, Governor: Vape bans will only make things worse

Bruce Barcott, Leafly

Midway through his contentious press conference announcing a ban on flavored vape products on Friday, Gov. Jay Inslee blew the room’s hair back. “Look, when you addict a 12-year-old kid to nicotine, you’re just wrong,” he said, outraged, in response to an audience member who defended the nicotine vaping industry.

How the Trump Administration Can Best Address Vaping Concerns

Paul Blair, Town Hall

In the coming weeks, it is expected that the Trump administration may announce one of the most aggressive regulatory actions against small businesses in decades by removing most electronic cigarettes from the market. Misdirected hysteria over hundreds of reported vaping-related illnesses and a number of deaths has led to a full-blown moral panic. Not only would a flavored product ban potentially cost Trump re-election next year, but it would be inconsistent with the president’s entire deregulatory agenda and completely fail to address the true problem, an out-of-control illicit THC and marijuana market.

The “Other” Youth Vaping Epidemic: Why Has It Been Ignored?

Michael Siegel, The Rest of the Story

While the CDC and many health groups have been obsessed with youth e-cigarette use, an even more troubling epidemic has been spreading among our nation’s youth. In contrast to the e-cigarette use explosion, which has not caused any significant disease or deaths, this other, ignored epidemic has caused hundreds of youth to develop life-threatening respiratory failure and has been responsible for 13 deaths.

What is this “other” vaping epidemic?

It’s not vaping of e-cigarettes. It’s the vaping of marijuana.

Juuling Is Fine, Actually (For Adults Who Want to Quit Smoking Cigarettes)

Esther Wang, Jezebel

Lately, it seems all of America is in a panic over vaping. Hundreds of people have fallen ill, more than a dozen people have died, and then, of course, there’s the youth, who have taken to vaping, and Juuling in particular, in place of more old-fashioned vices.

Ministry of Health reminder about vaping

Ministry of Health, Manatu Hauora

Concerns have been expressed by school teachers and professional bodies about young people vaping and the Ministry of Health would like to reiterate its advice about vaping.

Children, young people and non-smokers should not vape (use e-cigarettes)

• people who do not smoke should not vape
• vaping products are not risk-free
• the long-term health effects of vaping are unknown
• vaping products contain nicotine which is highly addictive

TWO from Dave Cross, Planet Of The Vapes

Fighting Back Down Under

Vaping in Australia has never been under greater threat, according to the health charity Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA). In New Zealand, vapers are mobilising to fight following follow Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa’s announcement that the Government is keen to ban all flavours except tobacco, menthol and mint.

Witch Hunt

Doctor Konstantinos Farsalinos apologises for an article stretching to a mammoth 2351 words, but it remains a powerful denunciation of a public relations campaign that seeks to vilify vaping and vapers. He calls the fear being whipped up “an immoral ‘moral panic’ campaign based on fiction, intimidation, terror, confusion and misinformation.”

Vaping saves lives, we must ignore pressure to ban it

John Britton, The Times

Smoking is the UK’s biggest avoidable killer. The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit, saving up to a day of life for every four smoke-free days. Eradicating smoking would also be good for society, reducing pressure on the NHS, relieving poverty and increasing productivity.

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