Vaping Digest October 7th

Monday’s News at a glance:

WARNING: Oils and vitamin E present in some CBD and THC liquids on sale in Europe – A Surge Strategy for Smokefree New Zealand 2025 – Vaping In The News – October 5th – New Study Tackles 5 Key Myths – Awareness Failure – Dockrell Defends Vaping – Urgent European Warning – Utah Department of Health – KAC Global THR Scholarship Programme – Is there really an epidemic of youth vaping? – The snus ban in Finland can be removed after 24 years – Vaping advocates gear up to fight Trump – Vaping’s Black Market – Vapers Accuse Officials Of Overreach – Nicotine Science and Policy Daily Digest

WARNING: Oils and Vitamin E

Present in some CBD and THC liquids on sale in Europe – ETHRA

It has come to our attention that there are some THC or CBD liquids and cartridges being sold online which contain potentially harmful ingredients. Liquids comprising oils (from any source) or vitamin E acetate are potentially harmful with even short term use and may cause life-threatening or life-changing conditions.

CBD to be vaped is a growing market and not illegal in most jurisdictions. Responsible sellers will place toxicology reports on their website to show that no pesticides have been involved in production and that the liquids are not oil-based. The THC content should be as close to zero as possible and not exceed 0.02%. If a seller cannot or will not provide this information, do not buy from them.

Urgent European Warning – POTV

A Surge Strategy

For Smokefree New Zealand 2025 – Clive Bates

I have been pleased to collaborate with ASH (New Zealand) – Action for Smokefree 2025 – on a report on how vaping and other low-risk technologies could help get New Zealand back on track to meet its high profile target to have less than 5% smoking by 2025. The report is called: A Surge Strategy for Smokefree Aotearoa 2025.

Full report: A Surge Strategy for Smokefree Aotearoa 2025: The role and regulation of vaping and other low-risk smokefree nicotine products</a

2-page summary – A surge strategy for Smokefree Aotearoa 2025

Press release – Global anti-smoking experts highlight e-cigarette opportunities

…and these are all available here on the ASH Zealand web site.

Kevin Crowley, Vaping Links

FDA Warns Public to Stop Using Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-Containing Vaping Products ~ Vape Bans and Lung Disease: Picking Through the Feds’ Framing ~ Conservative groups urge Trump to back off ban on flavored vaping products ~ The War on Vaping ~ New study: Not one vaping illness linked to legal e-cigarette pods ~ You’re wrong, Governor: Vape bans will only make things worse ~ Vapor Technology Association Calls On Regulators & Legislators ~ Score One for the Good Guys! Motion to Intervene GRANTED! ~ #TwitterPoll ~ Doctors are prescribing off-label nicotine replacements for teens addicted to vaping ~ Here We Go Again ~ National Save Vaping Day is October 7th! ~ WE, The PEOPLE. ~ #WeVapeWeVote ~ Thomas J. Miller, Clive Bates, Lindsay M. Lewis ~ Vaping Lung illness patient speaks out

New Study Tackles 5 Key Myths

Of the Youth Vaping “Epidemic” – Lee Johnson

Even in the wake of the vapocalypse, with the lung illness still affecting people across America (likely due to illicit THC cartridges made using vitamin E acetate), the response from the government and public health bodies has still maintained its laser-like focus on teens and youths vaping. The story is the same as always: there is an “epidemic” of youth vaping, and we’re told that innocent, wide-eyed kids who’d never have smoked otherwise are lured into nicotine use and ultimately smoking by the “child-friendly flavors” many e-liquids and pods are available in.

Awareness Failure

Paul Barnes, Facts Do Matter

It’s been a while since I had a good look at some junk science. I kind of missed doing it. So, what better way to get back to it then with this steaming pile of festering dingo kidneys?

This study sought to assess: 1) pervasiveness of vaping or electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use, 2) General understanding of information on vaping or e-cigarette use, 3) Prevalence and respondent awareness of smoking/vaping prevention programs, and 4) Awareness of the harmful effects of e-cigarettes.

Kanyadan et al 2019

Oh boy. To be fair, those are reasonable goals to assess. So, let’s look at the method….

Imagine how angry Bonnie and Jackler are right now. https://t.co/yFPpRkHlEg

— Gregory Conley (@GregTHR) October 6, 2019

Two from Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes

Dockrell Defends Vaping

Martin Dockrell defended vaping on Radio 4’s Today show and responded to a number of tired, old objections to its use. Despite questions relating to renormalisation of smoking and a gateway effect, straight out of the prohibitionist’s playbook, The Public Health England (PHE) tobacco lead stuck to giving solid examples of vaping working and being far safer than cigarettes.

The interview began with the presenter claiming that “certain types of vaping are beginning to attract the attention of legislators.” She then played New York’s Governor Cuomo making (possibly) one of the stupidest ever comments about vaping: “Vaping is better than smoking. Technically yes – but so what? Smoking is terrible.”

Urgent European Warning

The newly launched European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) has issued a warning about liquids being launched across Europe. An American company is exporting CBD liquids containing vitamin E acetate and Coconut Oil to Poland for distribution to stockists across the continent. These constituents have been directly linked to the rash of lung issues in America.

Kannaway appears to be a company based in Poland but operates through “Brand Ambassadors”. In reality, it is an American operation that has not cloaked itself in glory since inception.

Utah Department of Health Concludes

That THC Vape Cartridges are Causing Respiratory Disease Outbreak

Michael Siegel, The Rest Of The Story

Utah Department of Health Concludes that THC Vape Cartridges are Causing Respiratory Disease Outbreak; Issues Specific Warning against Use of THC Oils

Unlike most other state health departments, which are conflating the respiratory disease outbreak associated with black market (and a few legal dispensary-sold) THC vaping products and the general problem of youth e-cigarette use, the Utah Department of Health has issued a report which unequivocally concludes that vaping marijuana is causing severe respiratory illness, which has now affected 71 residents in the state.

The snus ban in Finland can be removed

The Finnish tradition of snus use is as old as the use in Sweden, but when Finland joined the EU in 1995, the EU regulations banned the sale of snus in Finland. Historically, you would find Finnish snus users in the north of Finland. But in recent years the snus use has increased throughout the country and Finnish “snus tourists” are a common feature in Stockholm.

In a report by YLE, they estimate that the black-market snus trade in Finland has a low turnover value of at least €52 million each year.

KAC Global THR Scholarship Programme

Knowledge Action Change

We are looking for proposals that will inspire change! We have developed a scholarship package to ground scholars in the theory and practice of tobacco harm reduction (THR). Go to prospectus page
The scholarships will commence at the Global Forum on Nicotine Conference (GFN), which will be held in Warsaw, Poland, between 10th & 13th June 2020

Attendance at the GFN conference, alongside a bespoke programme for scholars, gives scholars a unique opportunity for learning & for implementing the knowledge and skills gained in their home countries. There are 20 entry level scholarships available annually, supporting agreed projects up to a value of $10,000.

Is there really an epidemic of youth vaping?

Colin Mendelsohn, ATHRA

The much discussed ‘epidemic’ of youth vaping in the US actually does not exist, according to leading UK researchers who re-analysed the evidence on which the claim was based.

In fact, there is a ‘gaping chasm between the vision of an epidemic of e-cigarette use threatening to engulf a new generation in nicotine addiction and the reality of the evidence’ they said

The review by Jarvis, West and Brown examined the data from the CDC’s National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) which found a 78% rise in vaping (at least one puff in the last 30 days) by US high schoolers (15-18 years old) between 2017 and 2018.

Say vapers in Malaysia

Journalist Mokhtar (not his real name) intends to continue vaping despite reports on the recent deaths in the United States that have been linked to e-cigarettes and vape use.

The 27-year-old, who has been vaping for about three years, said the benefit of vaping to him outweighed any risks that it might bring.

US lawmaker introduces bill

Cutting nicotine in e-cigarettes amid teen vaping epidemic – Angelica LaVito

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., is introducing a bill that would cap the amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes as lawmakers seek to stem epidemic use among underaged teens.

The Ending Nicotine Dependence from Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Act would limit e-cigarettes to no more than 20 milligrams per milliliter of nicotine, about a third of the 59 milligrams per milliliter contained in standard Juul pods. It would allow the Food and Drug Administration to lower the cap even more to make e-cigarettes minimally addictive or not addictive at all.

Vapers Accuse Officials Of Overreach

As Investigation Into Deadly Lung Illness Lags

On Sept. 16, Tulare County in California announced the nation’s seventh death from vaping-related illness. Its advisory warned about “the dangerous effects of using electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes.”

Like so many of the official warnings coming out around the country, it lacked details about the specific products involved in the vaping death. But by the time of the announcement, the family of the man who died had been in touch with Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, which advocates for vaping products.

Cassidy Morrison

Advocates for the rights to vape and sell flavored vaping products are preparing for a fight if the Trump administration moves forward with a ban on flavored vaping liquids, a measure the administration is poised to adopt in response to an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths.

President Trump’s proposed ban has not yet been finalized, but the Food and Drug Administration is expected to release guidelines for selling e-liquids as well as removing flavors from the market soon.

And When It’s Not – Faye Flam, Bloomberg News

New and scary diseases have always made good headlines, but if they are very rare, is it ever justified to tell people to be afraid? Exaggerators in public health fields or in the media may not think they can do any harm by issuing alarming warnings about things like mosquito-borne illnesses, vaping or eating meat. But there can be costs to such tunnel vision.

Vaping deaths backlash is in danger of doing more harm than good – Wired

Vaping’s Black Market

Complicates Efforts to Combat Crises – Jennifer Maloney and Daniela Hernandez

U.S. health officials are confronting a sprawling black market for vaping products as they seek to combat two health crises, a mysterious lung illness and a surge in teen vaping.

While the market-leading startup Juul Labs Inc. has become synonymous with vaping, it sells only nicotine liquids. There are hundreds of other vaping brands—containing nicotine, compounds derived from cannabis or other substances—sold online, in vape shops, convenience stores and marijuana dispensaries. Many of them are compatible with Juul vaporizers,…

Regulation of devices, rather than a ban could have been a better option

On this Day…2018

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

Mind-blowing Cheek Of The EU

Dick Puddlecote

I’ve trekked out to Geneva to catch the last knockings of the latest WHO anti-tobacco shit show that is COP8 (see COP6 and COP7 tags in the sidebar for previous tobacco control codswallop) but I just had to share this incredible hypocrisy from the EU….

…And attend she did. Bucher is new to the job and it showed, her very first contribution to stopping those 7 million deaths was to advocate a global ban on advertising of e-cigs and to classify them as tobacco products subject to the same restrictions as smoking.

Of Smoke and Mirrors – COP 8 in Geneva

INNCO

INNCO converged on Geneva to attend the COP8 this week. Our application for observer status was in limbo as we had not been advised of the decision hence we applied for entry via public gallery.

Despite the process for public access being changed the previous night at 11:30pm, the advocates were able to gain entry to the public gallery. In summary: