Germany is set to ban menthol and cooling additives in e-cigarettes to curb their appeal, especially to young users. The decision is based on the belief that these additives make vaping more attractive and potentially more addictive. Critics argue that evidence supporting increased nicotine uptake is lacking, but the government cites the precautionary principle. The ban would impact both e-cigarettes and refill containers, with estimated compliance costs for the industry.

Public health authorities are shifting focus to regulations on oral nicotine pouches as smoking rates decline worldwide. The debate centers on harm reduction benefits over past mistakes, such as youth vaping uptake. US FDA approvals for pouches aim to offer less harmful options to adult smokers. Usage remains low but is growing, particularly among younger adults. Concerns about youth uptake persist, prompting calls for stricter regulations. Sweden shows success in reducing smoking with pouch alternatives. Despite oral health risks, innovation in product design aims to minimize harm.

Azerbaijan's new tobacco legislation, approved by President Ilham Aliyev, bans electronic cigarettes and components, classifying them as tobacco products. The law prohibits their import, production, sale, and use, aiming for clearer regulation and enforcement. Heated tobacco products are not considered e-cigarettes under the law. Changes to the Tax Code and Advertising Law accompany the ban, with disposable e-cigarettes no longer subject to taxes. Effective April 1, 2026, the legislation addresses the import, export, manufacture, storage, distribution, and use of these products within the country.

Use of menthol-flavored (vs. tobacco-flavored) electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) may be associated with higher rates of complete switching among adults who smoke (AWS). This paper evaluates the association over 2 years, while considering robustness across different missing-data approaches. 22,905 US AWS and purchased JUUL ENDS were enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study and completed up to 10 follow-ups. To assess potential bias due to missingness, analyses: (a) compared participant characteristics by levels of missingness and (b) assessed whether tobacco or menthol JUUL was associated with missingness.

In theory, science should be self-correcting, but in practice, it often isn’t. In tobacco harm reduction (THR) research, several factors hinder this self-correction: funding that emphasizes harm rather than harm reduction, polarization in the field and ostracism of researchers with real or perceived industry ties, and confirmation bias in interpreting ambiguous results and peer review. These issues, however, are not unique to THR. Similar dynamics can affect objectivity and self-correction across science in general.