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- Category: January 2022
On December 14, Dr. Robert Califf, President Joe Biden’s pick to be the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), faced questions from senators about how he would lead the agency over the next three years.
There had been some expectation that legislators would dig into Califf—a cardiologist who previously served as the deputy commissioner of the FDA’s Office of Medical Products and Tobacco, [...] Anyone hoping for a clear indication of how Califf would position the FDA around tobacco harm reduction was disappointed, and observers were left to pick through limited past indications of his potential future impact in the field.
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- Category: January 2022
The HSE is considering a total ban on the sale of tobacco in a bid to bring an end to cigarette smoking in Ireland.
Another strategy under consideration is to reduce the number of shops licensed to sell tobacco products - which are defined as anything containing tobacco for inhaling but does not include e-cigarettes. These are both options being explored by an office of the HSE, according to an The Irish Times report on Thursday.
It reported that the group is looking into making major tobacco companies cover the State's health costs associated with nicotine addiction.
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- Category: January 2022
SEVERAL consumer and harm reduction advocacy groups urged President Rodrigo Duterte to sign a proposed legislation that aims to help at least 16 million Filipinos quit smoking and provide them less harmful alternatives. [...] "In passing the Vape Bill, the lives of 16 million Filipino smokers will be saved because legitimate alternative products will be allowed to be sold to smokers who want to stop smoking. The Vape Bill will also put an end to the sale of unregulated and illegal products that do not pay excise taxes to the government," the groups said in their letter to Duterte.
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- Category: February 2022
While the world is embracing science, innovation, and safety at the heart of policy making, India still lags far behind. India has a strange affinity to ban products and services cursorily, mostly on political or moral considerations rather than delving into available empirical evidence recognized globally. Resultantly, Indian consumers are denied the freedom to choose products and services which are available to consumers elsewhere in the world. Consumers mostly do not find representation in the decision-making process, which leads to framing and adoption of ineffective policies which may be doing more harm than good.
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- Category: January 2022
E-cigarette use grew from 0.6 percent in 2018 to 1.7% last year, said the study which gathered responses 25,000 people aged 18 or older. The age groups with the highest rates of use were men aged 26 to 30 AT 6.3% and women aged 21 to 25 (4.6%), revealed the HPA.
“To put this growth into perspective, use of traditional cigarettes grew only marginally over this period, from 13 percent in 2018 to 13.1 percent in 2020,” said HPA Tobacco Control Division official Lu Meng-ying. “The situation needs urgent attention, especially as new e-cigarette users are almost all young people.”
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- Category: February 2022
An Asia-Pacific advocacy group sent a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte, pleading him to sign the vape bill into law and help save about 100,000 Filipinos who die from smoking each year.
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) requested the President to urgently sign the Vaporized Nicotine Products Regulation Act into law which was earlier ratified by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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- Category: January 2022
On December 15, New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill introduced the Clarifying Authority Over Nicotine Act of 2021 — a bipartisan bill designed to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate synthetic nicotine products just as it regulates nicotine products made or derived from tobacco. In a press release, Rep. Sherrill stated, “This bill will ensure all tobacco products, including products made with synthetic nicotine, are regulated by the FDA in order to protect kids in our communities and those who may seek to use these products.”
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- Category: February 2022
Even with decades of memorable warnings and data, people are still taking up the deadly habit of smoking, still facing the same – and even new – health risks. February marks Children’s Dental Health Month, a perfect time to call out the prevalence of vaping (using e-cigarettes) among adolescents.
More than 2 million middle school- and high school-aged U.S. teens reported vaping in 2021. In Oregon, just over 25% of 11th graders and 13% of 8th graders said vaping was their entry into smoking. The most recent Oregon Healthy Teens Survey report also shows that roughly 60% of students believe that vaping every day poses only a moderate, slight, or no risk at all of general harm.
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- Category: January 2022
Dozens of vaping shops are urging customers to write to their local TDs to stop a proposed ban on flavoured vapes.
The campaign comes after the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society urged TDs to use an upcoming tobacco Bill to ban flavours they say are encouraging children to take up vaping.
A search by Extra.ie found Ireland’s largest vaping retailer, Hale, sells bubblegum, cola, rhubarb and custard, cherry bakewell tart, lime ice cream and chocolate mint among other flavours that campaigners say will encourage young people to start smoking.
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- Category: February 2022
The Canadian government announced last year it would introduce a new excise tax on nicotine vaping products in 2022.
The tax is based on e-liquid volume and not a measure of nicotine content, which is a relief for many. However, the tax could still prove punitive for many smokers seeking to quit.
Joining us today to talk about the troubles of this new tax is Ian Irvine, Professor of Economics at Concordia University and Research Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.
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- Category: January 2022
The National Treasury has published a discussion paper outlining a proposal on the taxation of electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
This follows signals from the government in its previous two budget speeches that it plans to start taxing these two products.
“ENDS are part of new generation products that have been introduced in the market either as harm reduction or reduced-risk products compared to traditional tobacco products,” the National Treasury said.
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- Category: February 2022
Smoking is a risk factor for most respiratory infections, but it may protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection. The objective was to assess whether smoking and e-cigarette use were associated with severe COVID-19. This cohort ran from 24 January 2020 until 30 April 2020 at the height of the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in England. It comprised 7 869 534 people representative of the population of England with smoking status, demographic factors and diseases recorded by general practitioners in the medical records, which were linked to hospital and death data. [...]
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- Category: January 2022
The Government is not doing enough to stem the number of teenagers vaping, despite growing evidence it can be harmful, school principals and health advocates say.
A recent survey of 19,000 high school students found more than a quarter had vaped in the last week, even though sale of vape products to under 18s was prohibited. Advocates say this shows dairies are flouting new rules around sales.
Seventy-five per cent of the students who vaped were doing it once or several times a day, most with high nicotine doses.
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- Category: February 2022
The smoking ban in prison has led to a rise in inmates using e-cigarettes to take hallucinogenic drugs, prison guards have said.
And it has led to wardens in jails unwittingly getting high.
Guards at five of Scotland’s 14 prisons were quizzed in a Stirling University study. They welcomed the ciggies ban behind bars but added that e-cigarettes were an “effective way” for cons to take drugs.
Vaping by prisoners is widespread, with more than 50 per cent using nicotine replacement therapy devices.
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- Category: January 2022
Retailers in Armenia are now banned from displaying tobacco products as some important provisions of tobacco control law come into force.
On 11 February 2020, the Parliament of Armenia voted to pass the Law on reduction and prevention of harm to health as a result of use of tobacco products and their substitutes.
These provisions prohibit the public display of any tobacco product, such as traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, liquid-based nicotine products (vapes), and electronic nicotine delivery devices at trade centers or in public catering establishments, says MP Arsen Torosyan, who was Minister of Health at the time the law passed.
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- Category: February 2022
The European Parliament has adopted a special committee report that calls for stronger EU action on how to prevent cancer, with a provision on the role of e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit, making it the first chamber in the world to recognize tobacco harm reduction (THR) as a public health policy. The Parliament voted 652 to 15, with 27 abstentions on February 16, 2022, to ratify the December 2021 report by the Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) which introduced the THR perspective at the EU level.
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- Category: January 2022
The new year provides changes for those wanting to alter their choices or lifestyle for the better. For many, one of those changes is ditching cigarettes for a healthier alternative. Brad Schmitt, Professor of Psychology and Director of The Anxiety and Behavioral Health Clinic, brings his input for those attempting to drop the smoldering habit. [...] “First off, it’s important to understand that quitting smoking is extremely difficult. More difficult than many drugs," Schmidt said. "Most quitting attempts fail, and most treatments don’t work very well. [...]
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- Category: February 2022
Electronic cigarette use among college students more than doubled between 2018 and 2020, especially among women, who are now more likely to smoke e-cigarettes than traditional cigarettes, a Health Promotion Administration (HPA) survey found.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare agency yesterday shared the results at a news conference in Taipei to encourage the passage of a law that would ban the growing industry.
The Executive Yuan on Jan. 13 passed amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) that seek to ban e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products outright.
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- Category: January 2022
Smokers who want to start the new year off by kicking the habit are being offered vaping devices by Kirklees Council and the charity Yorkshire Cancer Research.
The devices are being offered as part of the Kirklees Wellness Service, a council funded initiative that supports over 18s in Kirklees to live healthier lives. They are also being supported by the Auntie Pam’s Service, which supports new parents and pregnant women to stop smoking.
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- Category: February 2022
A NEWLY updated Cochrane review – widely considered as the benchmark for evidence-based healthcare – has added to growing evidence that using e-cigarettes with nicotine – like vape – can help smokers kick the habit.
The 2021 Cochrane review on electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation which includes 61 studies involving 16,759 adults in 14 countries across five continents found that e-cigarettes with nicotine e-liquid are more effective in helping people quit smoking than other alternatives.